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August 20, 2004
Fascism, American Style
Many on the left have been terrified of what they see (and call) a slide towards Fascism under our current President Bush. The evidence is there, if one cares to look for it...
However, I don’t think Bush (nor the Republican Party per seis necessarily responsible for the ugliness infecting our culture. Neither do I believe that this is part of a conscious strategy on the part him or anyone else. After all, many of the most obnoxious parts of the USA PATRIOT act were first proposed by Bill Clinton (and opposed at the time by John Ashcroft)...
What I fear is a deeper yearning towards the darkness on the part of the American People. It isn’t based in Racism, a la Nazi Germany, but rather a sense of our own cultural superiority which has its antecedent in the Italian Fascism party...
We seem to have come to a place where we are mystified at the idea that anyone could be afraid of us. Perhaps this is the most frightening thing of all. American law and philosophy is based around a very healthy fear of Power. Now that we are the world’s only Superpower, we seem to believe that Lord Acton’s warning about power is no longer applicable-- at least to us. After all, haven’t we always and only done good things with our power?
Of course we haven’t. Our history has incidents as ugly as anyone’s. We do well to remember those ugly incidents along with the good...
Prescriptions for fixing this will have to await another day...
Posted by Andrew at August 20, 2004 02:28 PM
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Comments
You know, it really bothers me that, as an American, I never considered us the "only" superpower out there. I think of countries I always considered bigger, countries large in population, area, technological advances, etc., and I think some kind of closet patriotism within me convinces me that we aren't capable of committing the atrocities that we hear happening in some of the countries around us. However, absolute power can corrupt, even (perhaps especialy) when those who have such power don't even realize it's there. If, on an individual level, Americans realized their power not only on their own government but on the sway and effect that government has on the rest of the world, then perhaps change for the better could be reached.
Posted by: sarah at August 25, 2004 04:25 PM