Assuming he's correct about the 4% of the US population that is "fascist" (I have no idea where he got this "statistic" from), then there is no way for them to gain power. In a European democratic system, this 4% might win enough seats in Parliament to become a crucial partner in a coalition government. Here in the US, they would just be fringe kooks who either grudgingly vote for Republicans, vote for some minor-party candidate, or don't participate in elections at all.

The GOP is hardly pursuing this tiny percentage. They are, in fact, shaping their message in such a way as to attract moderates, independents, conservative Democrats, and Hispanics. Hardly the stuff of a rising "fascist" party.

You were right in your opening sentences:

""Fascist" is a word devalued through overuse. It's been used as a generic term of abuse so much, especially by leftists, that a great many people have forgotten what the word really means."

You should have quit while you were ahead...

That pretty much sums up Nader's pull in the electorate. Perhaps "Communism" is on the rise as well?

I didn't think the rightwing usual suspects would like this posting.

Have either of you two actually read Neiwert's article?

So, what is the true definition of "Fascism"?
Thanks for the tip, I started to read Nieuwirt's article, but I am trying to see if he has anything to say under all the words. I would have liked for him to give the definition of fascism that he means to examine right at the start. I will read more of it later, though.

MAybe you should be a little less quick to hammer on right-wing posters, the left can be just as petty and vicious. This fact is also ignored in
the quote you provide above, and you yourself ignore what is printed from the "left", which I think would have been a more comprehensive way to address this subject.

RJ on facists in America: "...there is no way for them to gain power."

You've got a typo there, doodles. It should be "There's no way for Bush to lose power."

You're welcome.

Whoops! Gotta run! Black booted brown shirts knocking down my door!

Whew. Nevermind. I'm okay. I got rid of 'em.

It was just a couple of Mormon kids sellin' cookies and assault rifles.

It's probably worth reading the Rosenfelder piece first (it's much shorter, for a start) He's got a definition of what he thinks Fascism is there. The link to the much longer Neiwert article actually appears in an addendum to that.

I haven't read the book, but a reviewer of Robert Paxton's The Anatomy of Fascism," says it includes a list of what he calls the "mobilizing passions" of fascism:

• a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond the reach of traditional solutions;


• the primacy of the group, toward which one has duties superior to every right, whether individual or universal, and the subordination of the individual to it;


• the right of the chosen people to dominate others without restraint from any kind of human or divine law, right being decided by the sole criterion of the group's prowess within a Darwinian struggle.


• the belief that one's group is a victim, a sentiment that justifies any action, without legal or moral limits, against its enemies, both internal and external;


• dread of the group's decline under the corrosive effects of individualistic liberalism, class conflict, and alien influences;


• the need for authority by natural chiefs (always male), culminating in a national chieftain who alone is capable of incarnating the group's historical destiny;


• the superiority of the leader's instincts over abstract and universal reason;


• the need for closer integration of a purer community, by consent if possible, or by exclusionary violence if necessary;


• the beauty of violence and the efficacy of will, when they are devoted to the group's success;

reading many of the political posts here on BC, and the replies, i can see a similar situation to what we have here in the uk slowly developing in the US.
See, here, it isn't hard to see alot of people (maybe not a majority, but certainly a noticeable amount) who aren't happy with Blair & co., but aren't too keen on the conservatives either, and the lib dems are kind of just a patchwork mix of aspects from both parties, and the fringe groups we have are mostly too extreme to gain alot of wide-reaching support, so we aren't left with alot of choice.
Although it's taking a little longer to get this way in the US

I read it. And everyone is entitled to their opinion, but he sounds like a conspiracy theorist to me.


Rush makes lots of joking comments, and if some nutjob out there takes it seriously, then that's their problem. Blaming Rush for their mental shortcomings is misguided.

What amazes me is the monolithic view on politicial-social movements expressed, particularly by USAians.

"Oh, don't worry about that cancer, it's not the "big C" cancer, in fact I think it might be the good cancer".

Just like communism has many divergent threads and skeins (or are you going to argue Marshal Tito and Pol Pot are exactly the same, and it was only because Tito had the discourtesy to die that genocide came about?)

So too, fascism is a developing danger. Or is there some grand unified theory of fascism which can link General Franco, Oswald Mosley, Charles Lindberg, Juan Peron, Margaret Thatcher, Huey Long and Augusto Pinochet all together? (okay maybe bad choice of a limited field)

It's an evolving political ideology, and it is still a threat, just as calling mercenaries, contractors, doesn't change what they are.

true enough, rush cannot be blamed for some listener's mental shortcomings.

but more disturbing is the fact that his show is sent out over armed forces radio...so the rest of the world can think we're all nuts.

C'mon Mark, you're just not thinking positively enough. Look at those Russian bastards, they used the best propaganda radio and press tools they had, and look at the success they had in Afghanistan, whereas the USA just took it in a cake-walk.

Why, you bastards beat those bastards to the moon, which is why today the International Space Station is supplied by the fleet from the best Space Agency in the world.

And look at the rise in the use of International Observers to monitor elections to ensure that democracy prevails, instead of a sham election resulting in the appointment of a head of state.

Why, it's just one big freedom fest.

Shark typed:

You've got a typo there, doodles. It should be "There's no way for Bush to lose power."

You're welcome.

Whoops! Gotta run! Black booted brown shirts knocking down my door!

********

I thought you lived in Texas, Shark, not in Liberal Fantasy Land...

re: Hal's (PAXTON'S) List - (comment #8)

Wow.

Throw in

* a bankrupt nation,
* an ill-advised foreign war that further drained monetary resources,
* an ultra-rich ruling elite that flaunts its ostentatious lifestyles while millions suffer from ill health and poverty
* an unfair tax system burdening those least able to pay

--- and it sounds like the next thing on that list is an American Robespierre, (which way to the local bastille?), a nation of Joe sans-coulotte Sixpacks -- and Laura and George doin' the perp walk toward a guillotine on The Fear Factor during prime time.

Can't wait!

(Shark armed with rusty melon baller and attempting to scale walls of nearby gated-community:

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!!!

Laura: "Let them eat Texas toast..."

not, of course, to be confused with French toast.

(or is it freedom toast now?)
(or is it many of our freedoms are toast now?)

If any of you are going to read the Nieuwirt article to find out what Fascism is do this:

1. Try hard to forget the title, it's a manic distraction.

2. For the same reason, skip the Introduction, Section I and Section II.

3. Start reading in Section III, which looks like he finally gets to the story (I'm only on page 22).

The earlier parts may belong in the piece, but perhaps in an appendix or as illustrative anecdotes sprinkled through the piece (not overdone, though).

Amerika the Fascist?

In the past, I would have said, hell no!

But now? I really wonder?

Most of the pre-cursors to Fascism in the US are being fulfilled.

Many of my Republican friends and family are extremely defensive of their choices as well. Arguing about how morals ought to lead the National discussion very defensively, but I think the real issue is POWER at any cost, even to the exclusion of those who don't follow THE PARTY line, i.e., hard-line Replubican.

I am extremely fiscally conservative and don't believe a word out of any GOP liar. When was the last balanced budget by a Republican President? Over two decades ago or further away no doubt, I don't know when a Republican last produced a plus balance.

On the other hand, I spent 9 years with the American Military in Germany and studied the Nazis and Fascism in detail and the elements are here too.

Control the people, Patriot Act.

Secret Police.

Thought control.

Uber-nationalism.

Morals over real issues (or true Christianity, for that matter, Jesus NEVER abided by war and gave himself up rather than start a violent Revolution).

Power. Everything in name of POWER!

My stomach won't stop turning, as I have a real bad feeling about the current situation in the US.

BTW, Bankruptcy is not out of the picture for the US if we do not control out of sight spending!