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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (99025)	5/24/2003 12:53:46 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Fascism existed long before NSADP, and persists long afterwards -- it's a genuine problem of democracy and nationalism. Comparing Ba'ath and NSDAP helps tease out the structure of the beast - where it comes from, how it gets started, why it's so hard to stop. Fascism doesn't have to lead to mass murder, but it does make it easier. FWIW, I think that the US has flirted with fascism on more than one occasion. I see Jacksonian democracy - by which I mean the historical Jackson - as having protofascistic tendencies - Manifest Destiny, putting Native Americans onto reservations, taking land from Mexico, attempting to take land from Canada, conquering other nations. The incestuous relationship between the US government and defense contractors is also protofascistic, as is the extremely nationalistic reaction to 9/11. Flags everywhere - I have them myself - two on the outside of the house, four decals on my car, and - I kid you not - a neon flag sign in the living room window that we turn on at sunset. My mother and husband both flew actual flags on their cars which I thought was disrespectful because they were out in the rain and became tattered. But inventors built a better flagpole - now you can hook it on the car window and take it in when you are not driving. Intolerance of dissent. Shouting down dissentors as "traitors," threatening them. Naming certain ethnic groups as problems, isolating them, sporadic violence against them -- at least it's not sanctioned by the government except for putting some members into prisons without charge, without bail, without access to lawyers. We're on the slippery slope, my friend, we're on the slippery slope.