THOUGHTS AT LARGE

This was the name of a famous column by Sydney J. Harris, a famous columnist for the Chicago Daily News, who thought one newspaper column should be devoted to reason and analytical thinking. I want to open up some thoughts now on the underlying topics of the news.

FASCISM

For years, it has been dismissed by the mainstream media as just one epithet hurled by left-wingers at right-wingers. It is, however, the actual name of an actual political ideology and the system installed to implement. It is not to be confused with conservatism, although it usually is. It is far more popular than generally conceded; indeed, there are millions of fascists in this country, who generally claim to be conservatives, but are not. It is sometimes seen in left-wing circles where it can be especially vicious.

What is fascism? Some define it as corporate control of society, but that's not a reliable definition, because, as German corporations learned during the Third Reich, the fascist tail can and frequently does, wage the dog. Some assume that fascism is always racist, but in Mussolini's Italy, Jews could be and were members of the Fascist Party up until 1939. Fascism as a system requires an all-powerful government, but as an ideology it can do quite well without actually being in power.

So what is fascism?

1. Belief in omnipotent rule by one class, one group, one nation or group of nations, one sector of society based on the idea that this one entity alone is responsible for civilization and its survival and triumph trumps all other considerations, including universal rights for all, justice, even human decency.

2. The assumption that the perservation of the ruling group, the special group, and all things essential to it is absolutely necessary for the sake of civilization. In today's common language, belief that some things are too big to fail.

3. Belief in Manicheanism, also known as "Us vs Them", the idea that either you're with the special group or automatically against them, that there is no middle ground, intolerance is a virtue, fairness and open mindedness are weaknesses, and life is about exterminating or caging your enemies, not making friends of them or trying to win them over to your point of view.

At this point, let's back up a minute. Am I saying the original TARP, last fall's massive bailout, was an example of galloping fascism, not creeping socialism? Yes, because the goals of socialism include spreading the wealth and with it the opportunities for all people to advance., and also, because fascism reserves the right to dump capitalism when it's not achieving the goals of fascism, which George W. Bush did in this case. In capitalism, there is no such thing as anything too big to fail. Failure is to success what death is to life. The capitalist solution was to let the global financial system collapse last September, on the assumption that something better would have emerged from the wreckage. Indeed, the banking system was deemed too big to fail, because without Wall Street, American hegemony ceases to exist and without American hegemony, the special class loses its hegemony. The door to a new world order which means to work for everyone opens.

Is President Obama a fascist? No way, although he is not completely without fascist influences himself. Notice the drastic difference between the handling of the auto industry and the banking system. Almost every argument made for letting GM and Chrysler go into bankruptcy could be made about most of the financial services system, but it wasn't because the auto industry is no longer deemed necessary to the survival of the fascist system, but the financial services industry still is. In short, a stockbroker is a more needed worker than an autoworker. Our ruling class doesn't mind having an auto industry controlled by Japan, Germany and Italy, but it does mind having one dominated by labor unions. So, now, back to what is fascism?

4. Equality is not considered a principle, but part of the problem. Society is not supposed to work for everyone. Some people are not needed. Some people are not needed. Some people don't matter.

In regard to Point 3, bear in mind the eventual elimination of labor unions is an essential goal of fascism. People do not have rights. They only have options, but there are limits even to those because....

5. There is no room for disagreement, or for standing up for your rights under fascism(see Point 3).

6. Fascism is macho male-dominated, obssessed with obtaining and holding on to power, believes totally that the ends justify the means-what else would-hence the current debate over torture, and the willingness of some to use the death penalty against those who haven't killed anybody. What is normally called sociopathology, the mindset of people without a conscience, is always considered strength in fascism. Compassion is always derided as weakness. Hate and anger are always valued more in a fascist society.

7. Fascism is better described as corporate management of society by those corporations which are part of the special class. After all, if corporations really ruled America, GM and Chrysler would not have had to go into bankruptcy.

Now, you can have fascism without racism, but it is hard to have fascism without any prejudices at all, because fascism is the favorite ideaology of those who believe if no one is out to get them they must be doing something wrong.

This would not be so bad if fascism didn't also believe that bigotry, the institutionized form of prejudice, is the government's duty to promote, instead of being the ultimate evil to eliminate from any society that works for all its citizens. This is why we continue to argue over such things as gay marriage. In a truly socialist America, the elimination of all kinds of bigotry is a requirement of citizenship. In a truly conservative America, the fight would be over whether to have marriage licenses in the first place. If government can dictate anything involving your private life at home and you don't mind, then you're neither a socialist nor a conservative You are a fascist and millions of Americans are.

Am I saying the Republican Party is, for all practical purposes, the fascist party of America? Yes, although I repeat you can find fascist ways even in supposedly liberal groups and institutions. Is fascism to some extent already part of the American way of life? Yes, and has been for decades. What separates America from the world is the failure of fascists to achieve their No.1 objective, absolute power in this country. As a result, fascism is usually going two steps forward and one back. When I was a kid, there was Selective Service, a far more evil form of fascism than the national conscription systems many countries still have, because it was based on the assumption that only some had to serve the country, not all, and the government got to pick and choose. Obviously, we've progressed since then, but, now, there's TARP.

The next time you see nonviolent demonstrators crusading in the streets for some cause, remember they're part of the reason fascists have never been able to obtain absolute power in America. So are labor unions. Remember also, because many liberals never want to, that the two biggest forms of fascism ever allowed in this country, chattel slavery and Jim Crow, were ultimately brought down by a civil war and a protest movement which fought in both the courts and the streets.

By the way, consider this. Although Benito Mussolini, of Italy, is considered by textbooks the founding father of fascism, the principles of fascism can be summed up in one line of the Dred Scott decision, a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court: "A Negro has no rights a white man is duty-bound to respect." Substitute "Jew" for "Negro" and "Aryan" for "white man" and you get Nazism, the most extreme, German form of fascism. Substitute "misfit", "oddball", "dissenter", "malcontent", for "Negro" and "society" or "the state" for "white man" and you have fascism. Substitute "capitalist" for "Negro" and "the masses" for "white man" and you have communism. Think about it.

More to come.