AmerCon : Corporate Fascism

If you believe fascism doesn't exist in the United States, think about informing your
boss you have persuaded a group of people at your firm into joining or starting a
"Union."

~~~

We do not fear remote and unlikely challenges; we fear immediate and real threats.

We fear the term fascism because it exists very close to the surface of America's skin. We
are wise to be afraid. We are unwise to ignore the subject.

Corporatism, or corporate fascism, is the American form of this disease. It has thrived here
unchallenged for several decades. And it has rewritten our language of social discourse at
the same time it has taken half the wealth of this nation and concentrated it in the hands of a
few.

~~~

Becoming a Democracy is no panacea for the potential ills of self governance. Tyranny of
the majority can come in many forms, and one of them is corporate fascism.

Among the most dangerous states in modern history were two Democracies, Italy and
Germany. Both chose, by democratic means, the leaders of their respective political parties
and nations -- and then terrorized the world. Both nations, civilized and Christian and
modern, lost their way.

History teaches us that in times of perceived crisis, even citizens of good will can choose
badly, and then be unable to turn back.

The warning signs around us are clear and abundant -- a rising nationalism that approaches
jingoism; an open and aggressive anti-liberal sentiment that labels dissent un-American and
castigates moderates as traitors; a disregard for international opinion and even international
law; misuse of the military in poorly-justified (and potentially unending) wars; a desire to
change the Constitution and other instruments of governance in order to disenfranchise
various left-wing (not right-wing) minorities; and the use of symbols like "freedom" and
"democracy building" to justify misinformation, war, and the actual trammeling of freedom and
civil rights (the very foundations of democracies).

As a nation, we are on dangerous ground.

~~~

When did we become a people who disdain nuance? Did it become simply too hard to keep
up, and easier to tear down those who tried?

When did we, the people who invented the most beautiful form of democratic government in
history, come to dislike and distrust government so much that we would elect people who ran
on the explicit platform of dismantling it?

When did we become a people who would use labels like "liberal," "lawyer," "tree hugger,"
"card carrying member of the ACLU," and "union member," as epithets?

Our country is called a liberal democracy; it was founded by lawyers; I've never met anyone
who didn't actually prefer trees to a parking lot; I love the Bill of Rights and am a friend to all
who protect it; and a union is just a group of people, a formulation God himself has already
blessed.

How did we come to accept the lie that the ACLU, singularly dedicated to the protection of
the Bill of Rights (which includes freedom of religion for everyone), is un-American and
anti-religion? Who benefits if the ACLU is weak?

Why are we listening to corporate voices and propaganda that would take from us everything
we've struggled for centuries to build? Why are we dismantling government oversight and
regulation of corporate activities, shunning unions that protect workers' rights (from
corporate abuse), weakening the powers of lawyers to protect us (from corporate abuse),
and giving the governance of our country into the hands of monied corporate interests?

When in our history has unbridled, unmoderated, unregulated corporate power protected us?

The corporate idea of governance is a CEO. The equivalent in political nomenclature is a
King. Corporatists believe a President should conduct policy in secret and have unlimited
powers.

Once upon a time we envisioned a different narrative for America. Our foundation myth had
no place for this chapter.

Once upon a time we invented America to end the time of Kings. This was our gift to the
world.

We declared independence, the divine right of individuals (unalienable rights), and shed
blood to end the divine right of kings -- and to vanquish national yearnings spawned not from
logic but from random faith; not from reading, but from gut instinct.

We now step backwards into history with the full force of our country. As a free people we
have chosen this path.

Our forefathers cut the shackles from our wrists. We now purposely pick them up again and
help enslave each other.

It is one thing for a people to support a president in wartime, but it is utterly wrong for a
president to rig intelligence, stifle diplomacy, purge informed and accurate but dissenting
advisors, and manufacture wars (potentially without end) so he might garner wartime powers
that transcend every law of a moral land.

ehj2