Phil,
It's nice to see you attempting to apply moderation to some of the more robust pronouncements here. Why have passion when we can have pabulum, eh?
Re: But one would hope that in a Moderate forum we would use words correctly and accurately.
Alright then. George Bush is not a dictator. He's a proto-dick-tator in a chrysalis stage of bloom. Bush is about at the same level of imperious arrogance that the world was witnessing from Adolf Hitler circa 1936. You'll recall that the world press was swooning about Hitler about that time, and that no one but the rare oddball critic like Winston Churchill was raising much of a fuss about Hitler's profoundly positive impact on the German economy masking a much darker purpose. Let's just suggest that Churchill could smell the evil, while Henry Booth Luce could only smell a good cover story. (Hitler was Time Magazine's Man-of-the-Year in 1938, and praise was effusive.)
And, as you suggest, America is not a completely fascist state.
Rather, it is at a stage that can best be described as quasi-fascism. Think for instance about the implications that in 1970 there were about 100 lobbyists lurking in the halls of Congress intent on seeking special privilege for the business sector, but that today that number has swelled to 30,000 registered lobbyists. Almost exclusively devoting all their time to flaying another steak off the carcass of the general public.
Here's the most succinct guide I've seen recently for measuring how far our great Republic has slid down the slippery slope toward fascism:
oldamericancentury.org
If you can honestly suggest that you don't see America in the dangerous shoals of fascism, you're a blinder philosopher than me. |
