Is the U.S. becoming a fascist state?

I have read several blogs and webpages concerning this subject lately and I have to admit the authors of these sites present some very compelling evidence to show that our government is indeed becoming fascist.

This is an extremely scary prospect that needs to be closely examined. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, considering myself scholarly enough to tackle this question but as an American I feel deeply compelled to take heed of some very serious warning signs.

One of the blogs I have read is Vermont Commons, in particular, an article entitled “Speaking Truth to Power: The End Of America--The Police State Is Right Here, Right Now” shows the 10 steps to becoming fascist.

All of these actions took place to convert Germany from a democratic to a fascist state during Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s and because history does have a habit of repeating itself, I am in agreement with many others that these steps need to be scrutinized to see if this conversion can happen here.

As you go down this list, make note of anything that can be attributed to America today:

• Invoking an external and internal threat
• Establishing secret prisons
• Developing a paramilitary force
• Surveiling ordinary citizens
• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
• Targeting key individuals
• Restricting the press
• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
• Subverting the rule of law

Can anyone deny that these steps will lead to fascism?

Can we deny that any of these things have taken place during George W. Bush’s term as president?

Let’s examine each one.

• Invoking an external and internal threat
George has been warning us for how long now that if we pull out of Iraq then the terrorist will follow us and we will fight them in our streets. Does anyone really believe his threat?

The Bush administration has repeatedly linked Iraq to the attack on the World Trade Center and we were told repeatedly and insistently that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, against proof to the contrary. Enough people believed these blatant lies that they gave him the go ahead to commit our troops over there, ostensibly to search for them. Saddam had nothing to do with bombing the World Trade Center nor did he have weapons of mass destruction.


• Establishing secret prisons
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at Soviet-era compounds in at least eight countries in Eastern Europe. This is in addition to Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. This has all been verified by current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

See this article for further information.


• Developing a paramilitary force
My understanding is that a paramilitary force is not part of the regular armed forces of any nation but looks like them in their training, equipment and organization. In other words they look, act, and feel like a military force but aren’t considered ‘regular’ army. For example the Nazi SS was paramilitary. They were an elite security force operating in tandem with the regular German army.

The U.S. did create a paramilitary force of Iraqi militiamen to confront insurgents in Iraq while the regular U.S. military performed their duties. But I don’t think this is the same thing.

Can a private security force such as Blackwater USA be considered a paramilitary force? Not in the strictest sense. And because the U.S. ‘hired’ them to assist the military to act as bodyguards, can this be considered ‘developing’?. I am not convinced that private security forces meet the criteria for this step.

The CIA does have a paramilitary force.

So this could meet this criteria.


• Surveiling ordinary citizens
Oh yeah. Everyone who pays attention knows about this.


• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
See Surveiling ordinary citizens


• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
Just look at Guantanamo and remember that this is the first administration since the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II to enact special laws for a specific ethnic group. Non-citizen young Muslim men are now required to register and subject themselves to interrogation. Many hundreds have been arrested and held without trial or access to legal assistance--a violation of one of the pillars of American democracy: habeas corpus. In Guantanamo Bay, where it is said that they are now preparing execution chambers, hundreds of foreign nationals – including a 13-year-old and a man who claims to be 100 – have been kept for several years in a limbo that clearly contravenes the Geneva Convention.


• Targeting key individuals
See Surveiling ordinary citizens

I am not certain about what is meant by ‘key individuals’. Maybe terror suspects can be considered key.


• Restricting the press
Mainstream media is doing this themselves, or are they being coerced or threatened behind the scenes? True, they are not being restricted as far as not being allowed to report on certain aspects of daily life in the U.S. or government but you have to go to alternative news sources to get the whole story about what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Mainstream media is definitely painting a rosier picture than what the alternative news sources are.

I began questioning the mainstream media during their reporting of the Vietnam war and it turned out I was correct to do so. Only after the war was over did I learn more about what was really going on. Maybe this could be attributed to national security but I have always hated it when someone hides behind that reason for not exposing the whole truth.


• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
Florida student tasered by campus police at a political rally.

This one has nothing to do with Iraq or terrorism but why did the police insist on tasering this guy while John Kerry was saying he would answer his questions? This is just a very small sample of the police state we are currently living in. If you think this is inflammatory of me to call our nation a police state then look at all of the cases where police brutality charges have been dismissed or swept away by the very police departments who have the biggest interest in not going forward with them. Look at all of the police shootings that have been deemed ‘justified’ and the officers allowed back on the streets. There is no such thing as an ‘independent’ review board when it comes to investigating the police.

We have witnessed police brutality and shootings on video and still the officers involved go unpunished. Police state, hell yes.


• Subverting the rule of law
The Senate recently gave Little Bush ‘temporary’ expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants. The purpose of a court warrant is to involve an impartial judge so that citizens rights are not abused. Bush considers this requirement as a stumbling block to his freedom.

Can we truly trust this man to make a determination as to who is and who is not a terrorist? Since he lied to us about Iraq being a terrorist state out to destroy the U.S. and got us into an illegal war it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that he can ‘see’ terrorism anywhere in the world, including right here in the U.S. among our neighbors. Perhaps you or perhaps me. What is to stop him? Don’t even think that common sense has anything to do with it because that train left a long time ago.

What about all of the instances where he has evoked 'executive privilege' to get around a law to get what he wants or to protect one of his ‘cronies?

After examining these requirements for fascism for myself, I am not convinced we are in a fascist state, yet. We are on the precipice because no one can deny that all of the earmarks are certainly there. And, even though we are so dangerously close, there are too many other factors in play that will not allow this nation to fall under that evil ‘ism’.

Another blog that deserves mention if only because it highlights some of the dangers we face from having George Walker Bush as our president is this one. This blog goes a little deeper into identifying why King Bush Jr is such an insidious threat to our freedom. The blog deserves to be read by every American, free-thinking or otherwise.

There are others, there certainly is no shortage of what could be called ‘conspiracy theorists’ and I hesitate to label all of them so harshly, because this term is gaining a negative, lunatic connotation. But when there are so many people saying the same thing, coupled with the fact that we as a nation are becoming more and more apathetic about what our government leaders are doing, I think we owe it to ourselves to at least look into it.

I have been watching politics for many years, hence my general cynicism and skepticism about all political motives, and until just recently I haven’t really ‘seen’ what is happening to us. Now that I have opened my eyes I do not like what I see.

This administration is the most radical government in modern American history. George W. Bush’s ideologies, or rather the true ruling junta behind him, have become so pervasive and well-accepted that the main stream media doesn’t even realize that they are now a part of it.

There is no doubt that Little Bush has damaged this countries psyche, but, in the final analysis, I think we are a strong enough nation to withstand even his bungling attempt at leadership.