Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
(Note: I have had this article rattling around in my documents folder for years. I just thought I would post it.)
Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Red vs. Blue = Theater for the masses.
Mass spying on Americans? Both parties support it.
"Looking forward" and letting war criminals off the hook? Both parties support it.
Deciding torturers are patriots? Both parties support it.
Militarized police, crushing of dissent, and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention and evisceration of due process? Both parties support it.
Secret laws and secret courts? Both parties support it.
Hamstringing or eliminating FOIA? Both parties support it.
Mass propaganda and smear campaigns aimed at citizens? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.
Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in the cabinet? Both parties support it.
Tolling our interstate highways? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
TISA corporate overlord agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks? Both parties support it.
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Privatization of the TVA? Both parties support it.
Immunity for telecoms? Both parties support it.
Trillion dollar increase in nuclear weapons. Both parties support it.
New war in Iraq. Both parties support it.
New war in Syria. Both parties support it.
Carpet bombing of captive population in Gaza. Both parties support it.
Selling off swaths of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling? Both parties support it.
Drilling along the Atlantic Coast? Both parties support it.
Chilling Legal Memo From Obama DOJ Justifies Assassination of US Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654954
Matt Taibbi: The Obama administration and the biggest financial cover-up in history
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025776300
Hillary Clinton's leading role in drafting the TPP
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667554
Obama administration complicit with private prison industry: President Obama's IncarcerNation
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655
Study: Obama and Hillary's "Trade" Deal (TPP) Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/09/the-verdict-is-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-a-sweeping-free-trade-deal-under-negotiation-with-11-pacific-rim-coun.html
Obama’s Latest Betrayal of America and Americans in Favor of the Big Banks: TISA
("Oh, shit. Here I go again!"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/26/1309671/--Obama-s-Latest-Betrayal-of-America-and-Americans-in-Favor-of-the-Big-Banks-TISA-by-Bill-Black
Obama, Democrats Push to Make Bush Spying Laws Permanent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022084702
Obama administration quietly approves new loopholes to help insurance companies gouge patients:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4970298
Obama seeks longer PATRIOT Act extension than Republicans (December 2013)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x380450
When it comes to civil liberties, apparently Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022101960
NSA's Massive New Spy Center to Track Your Emails, Internet Activity, and Phone Calls
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101620852
Obama Quietly Signs Abusive Spy Bill He Once Vowed to Eliminate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022104861
Obama repeals Magna Carta, asserting powers our forefathers denied to Kings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101655620
Obama's Memo on Killing Americans Twists 'Imminent Threat' Like Bush
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654919
Obama no better than Bush when it comes to security vs. civil liberties.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022355307
Obama Admin Seeks Permission TO LIE In Response To FOI Requests - Even To The COURTS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2185303
NDAA on trial: Obama Administration fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101748688
NDAA, signed by Obama, is a direct attack against legitimate protest and dissent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022064803
NSA Whistleblower: All Americans under constant surveillance, all info. stored, no matter the post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002193487; http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021935289
Bipartisan Congress Disgracefully Approves the FISA Warrantless Spying Bill for Five More Years
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022087323
While Public & Media Focused on 2nd Amendment, 5th Amendment Quietly Dismantled
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022390581
How the Obama administration justifies extrajudicial killing of Americans,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022318187
Judge Says Under Law Executive Branch Can Commit Acts That Sure Do Seem Unconstitutional
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022122464
Obama Justice Dept. says wiretap lawsuit should not proceed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014337039
NDAA Lawsuit- Hedges v. Obama, The Last Thin Line of Defense
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022357078
Federal authorities step up efforts to license surveillance drones for law enforcement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022383596
Big Banks and FBI worked together vs Occupy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022095056]
FBI Investigated 'Occupy' As Possible 'Domestic Terrorism' Threat, Internal Documents Show
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022061578
FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occupy Monitoring (Updated the OP)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022057064
Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021965291
Street artist behind satirical NYPD 'Drone' posters arrested
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021920967
The Obama DOJ urged the Supreme Court's endorsement of strip searches.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002521527
Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1074474
Anonymous to FBI: hey, dudes, maybe you could take a break from...investigating activists....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022145621
Half a billion dollars for drones to spy on Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021876414
From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz -- The Government's Inhumane Persecution of Brave Truth Tellers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276941
The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire...on Houston's south side
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276742
Kiriakou and Stuxnet: the danger of the still-escalating Obama whistleblower war
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275570
Can the DEA Hide a Surveillance Camera on Your Property?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022237059
Social Media and the Stasi
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888029
Homeland Security Wants to More Than Double Its Predator Drone Fleet Inside the US, Despite Safety/Privacy Invasions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014312823
CIA Behind Bizarre Censorship Incident At Alleged 9/11 Plotters’ Gitmo Trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022280285
“I Am Wearing My Conviction As A Badge Of Honor.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275128
Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12525281
How Secrecy Corrodes Democracy
http://election.democraticunderground.com/101655009
Obama Quietly Issues Ruling Saying It's Legal For The FBI To Break The Law
http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7545687
US Pulls Plug on Iran Cable News (Press TV)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014394770
DHS Watchdog OKs 'Suspicionless' Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022339091
One Of The NSA's Original Whistleblowers Says The Goal Is 'Total Population Control'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025225549
Petition Calls On Obama Stop Intimidation Of Journalists And Whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025509395
U.S. Plunges in Global Press Freedom Rankings As Obama Wages War on Whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024488178
Obama Promises, Including Whistleblower Protections, Disappear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014549454
President Obama on Whistleblowers: Then and Now -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x536574
Obama's unprecedented war on whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101613051
James Risen: Obama Is 'Greatest Enemy To Press Freedom In A .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025401662
An Assault from Obama's Escalating War on Journalism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025030391
Obama administration to reveal legal justification for killing Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014808253
Obama's Memo on Killing Americans Twists 'Imminent Threat' Like Bush
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654919
NSA Phone Snooping Cannot Be Challenged in Court, Feds Say ..
http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/1014542562
Democratic establishment unmasked: prime defenders of NSA bulk collection
http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/10023337088
NSA can store a billion cell phone calls.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023125853
N.S.A. Examines Social Networks of U.S. Citizens (Decision Made In Secret 2010)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014605329
PBS Frontline Exposes (Softly) Bush's and Obama's Authorization and Coverup of NSA Spying
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-zuesse/55928/pbs-frontline-exposes-softly-bushs-and-obamas-authorization-and-coverup-of-nsa-illegal-surveillance-of-
Stopping police militarization = confronting corporate politicians (increased under Obama)
...http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416709
Federal grants drive the militarization of police departments
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025383806
Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023300531
James Clapper Calls Journalists "Criminal Accomplices" -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017174990
Rachel Maddow on David Miranda and the White House
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/19/1232435/-Rachel-Maddow-on-David-Miranda-and-the-White-House
Obama Pentagon Employs Bush-Era Propagandists to Screen Embedding Journalists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6380567
Obama the Conservative: Little Hope for Change
http://www.obamatheconservative.com/
Obama: After 911, we tortured some folks.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014860709''
Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/12/wikileaks-cable-obama-quashed-torture-investigation
"My Head Exploded When Obama Sanctimoniously Said, 'We Tortured Some Folks'"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025339047
Obama Administration: Further Legitimizing Targeted Assassinations by Drones
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/05/02/further-legitimizing-targeted-assassinations-by-drones/
Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/17/endless-war-on-terror-obama
President Obama’s Dragnet (New York Times Editorial)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022960012
Obama Justice Dept. declines to pursue allegations that CIA spied on Senate Intelligence Committee
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014843337
Obama DOJ Asks Court to Grant Immunity to George W. Bush For Iraq War
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11781446
NDAA on trial: Obama Administration DOJ fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101748688
DEA and DOJ Struck Deal with Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4410768
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1#ixzz2qKWem3w8
Chilling Legal Memo From Obama DOJ Justifies Assassination of US Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654954
DOJ lied to Supreme Court about domestic surveillance
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140514/06214727229/doj-still-trying-to-hide-fact-it-flat-out-lied-to-supreme-court-about-domestic-surveillance.shtml
The Obama administration/DOJ war on whistleblowers and federal unions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5586389
DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021911441
Holder/Obama administration seeks to legalize lying in response to Freedom of Information requests.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5586380
NSA Phone Spying Cannot Be Challenged in Court, Feds Say ..
http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/1014542562
The Obama DOJ urged the Supreme Court's endorsement of strip searches for minor traffic stops.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5586369
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002521527
Holder overlooks DEA abuse of spying information, construction of false evidence trails against Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1168570
DOJ goes all the way to the SC to argue for warrantless GPS tracking on cars
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5586375
Obama/Holder War on Journalism coming to a head (Risen)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699216
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/08/04/obamas-war-journalism-coming-head
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1269998
Obama/Holder more hostile to medical marijuana patients than any president in history
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002650922
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5585204
Feds seek hard prison time for rural Washington pot growers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014801804
Obama DOJ spying on AP reporters, editors re: leaks; other news organizations
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/opinion/spying-on-the-associated-press.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014487549
Obama/Holder DOJ drags out Tesoro investigation (Refinery Explosion) for 4 years; no criminal charges vs. Big Energy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025407823
Obama DOJ drags feet at accountability on Deepwater Horizon
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/04/22/doj-sits-on-its-thumbs/
Obama DOJ Allows Bank of America to Deduct $12 Billion of $17 Billion Settlement
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5427407
Exporting Corruption (Asset Forfeiture), DOJ Looks for Lucrative Overseas Partnerships
http://www.forfeiturereform.com/exporting_corruption_doj_looks_for_lucrative_overseas_partnerships
Obama/Holder Leak Investigations Outrageous and Unprecedented
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/05/obama_s_justice_department_holder_s_leak_investigations_are_outrageous_and.html
The DoJ under Obama/Holder refused to prosecute anyone for torture...but Holder had no problem prosecuting a CIA agent who leaked the name of a torturer
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022846735
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/us/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-in-leak-case.html?_r=0
Too Big to Jail: Letting criminal banks and bankers off the hook
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024906501
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017201343
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025558689
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014571503
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025503531
Obama Justice Department Sues Telecom for Challenging National Security Letter
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014170619
Obama DOJ Argues ‘No Constitutional Right Not to Become an Informant’
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10025309330
Operation Choke Point- The DOJ using banks to shut down industries they don't like
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024880788
Obama/Holder DOJ Looks To Overturn Ruling That Would Apply Fair Sentencing Act Retroactively
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023334909
How Eric Holder Facilitated the Most Unjust Presidential Pardon in American History
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023253563
Holder and Obama Dishonesty On Mandatory Minimums, the Drug War and Mass Incarceration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023492539
US & NSA Accused of (Holder defends) Criminal Privacy Violations in Dozens of Nations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023086724
Obama DOJ defends NSA's Associational Tracking Program; No justification even in Patriot Act
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023455121
US declares socialists Freedom Road a terrorist organization
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/09/raid-s29.html
ACLU sues as DOJ ignores surveillance transparency law
https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/aclu-sues-doj-ignores-surveillance-transparency-law
Obama Justice Department has launched twice as many Espionage Act prosecutions against domestic leakers as all previous administrations combined.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276941
The only official punished by Obama DOJ for the illegal NSA program was the one who discussed it. The same is now true of torture.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/27/obama-war-on-whistleblowers-purpose
DOJ Drone Memo revealed: Government can overrule 4th amendment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11784727
Heavy Redactions in DOJ Memo leave doubts on Data Surveillance Program
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016101952
Justice Department And NSA Memos Proposing Broader Powers For NSA To Collect Data
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023114180
DOJ's outrageously aggressive prosecution of internet activist, Aaron Swartz
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/al-franken-eric-holder_n_2934627.html
Under Obama DOJ, Bradley Birkenfeld, UBS Whistleblower, Finds Himself in Federal Prison
http://www.cnbc.com//id/41257962
Obama/Holder DOJ sided with Rove in politically motivated prosecution of fr. AL governor, Don Siegelman,
Then, the person who handled the paperwork, got onto the Supreme Court.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Elena-Kagan--Willing-Acco-by-Michael-Collins-100622-971.html
Last edited Mon Mar 30, 2015, 12:01 AM - Edit history (1)
WE'RE STILL FREE! WE CAN TYPE ON THE INTERNETS!!!!111!!1
(There's a facile argument around here somewhere...)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5596182
All these indignant denials that we're in trouble take the same form:
We're not being burned alive in ovens, or we're still ridiculing politicians on the internet, or we aren't being lined up in the streets and shot (well, that one's starting to get debatable, isn't it...).
As though the corporate owners of the United States of America, who rely on its reputation as the beacon of freedom and democracy in the world, can't find more effective and less politically damaging means to make sure dissent never materializes into anything seriously threatening to the PTB.
Psst. Our president has a "Kill List." And indefinite detention. And a surveillance state. And an entire secret government, secret laws and secret courts, operating alongside the one we are taught about in school. And all it takes to become part of that is for someone to invoke the word, "terrorism" and relate it to you.
"But that's a high bar!" all the sensible woodchucks will protest. "I TRUST my president! And it's only for TERRORISTS!"
Really? And do you trust the next one?
Actually, we're all being spied on. And "terrorism" is being invoked as a weapon against political dissent.Report Details How Counter Terrorism Apparatus Was Used to Monitor Occupy Movement Nationwide
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12527647
Whoop, There It Is... 'Evidence Homeland Security Coordinated Occupy Crackdown' -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002462465
ACLU discovers FBI is labeling peace activists as 'potential terrorists'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4500788
And the most sinister aspect of all of this is the fact that the language of terrorism and espionage is being actively expanded to include whatever citizens or groups the corporatists consider to be irritants: political enemies, protesters, even journalists.Protestors against Energy Company charged with terrorism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024175848
Mission Creep: When Everything is Terrorism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023279560
US Uses Espionage Act To Convict Manning Using Words Added In 1990: "with a computer"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023375845
Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365713
NY Times: White House Uses Espionage Act to Silence Employees, Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101616764
Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080388
If you are a One Percenter trying to effectively use the government you have purchased to manage unpleasant press about what you are doing, what do you do? Well, one tactic might be to try to get the government into the business of deciding who is a journalist. That way you can claim to establish "protections" for whistleblowers, when what you are actually doing is creating categories through which you can exclude from protection those you don't want to protect.http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023708417
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976082
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955
Yeah, journalism isn't doing too well in this country. One might say it is being murdered. There's a reason it's supposed to be protected by the First Amendment. That reason is not compatible with increasingly totalitarian corporate control.Petition Calls On Obama Stop Intimidation Of Journalists And Whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025509395
Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023300531
James Clapper Calls Journalists "Criminal Accomplices" -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017174990
Reporters without Borders: 'Security interests threaten press freedom'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11333723
US Plummets In Press Freedom Rankings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024487392
Obama's escalating war on Freedom of the Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023314296
Risen Case: War on Journalism coming to a head
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699216
Government Surveillance Is Crippling Press Freedoms, Report Shows
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023902153
So....you shut up the journalists.
And you shut up the protesters.
Who else do you need to shut up?
Ah....all the people who work for the government, many of whom can be assumed to still have consciences and thus be potentially dangerous to the corporate coup of democracy. How do you handle them?
Well, you can fire them. See, it's *useful* for the government of an ostensibly free nation to have highly visible groups like, say, the Black Panthers, etc....and not to deny them employment or do anything serious to them. It gives the illusion of freedom. But look what we learned of just this week, about how government employees are expected to treat Goldman-Sachs. Look at what we learned about how and why firings *really* happen at the Fed:The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025587384
And look what we learned about why. About our own government's aggressive cover-up of the crimes of Wall Street:Matt Taibbi: The biggest financial cover-up in history
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025776300
But protecting and actively covering up the crimes of Wall Street criminals and firing government employees who might expose them is just a start. You can also wage legal war against their power to function as whistleblowers. And you assault the unions that protect them:The Obama administration/DOJ war on whistleblowers, federal unions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5586389
You can institute draconian snitch rules to intimidate those who might be thinking about whistleblowing:President's 'rat out your co-worker' plan unlikely to work, experts say
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023214675
And you claim the right to spy on them even at home.
You let the dissent flourish, as long as it's safe dissent. But you take care of the stuff that has the potential to be truly threatening. Most importantly, you make a vicious example of those who carry through with revealing corruption:Daniel Ellsburg: Snowden would not get a fair trial today, was right to flee US
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11784497
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023198130
Bradley Manning: top US legal scholars voice outrage at torture
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x871563
That includes those who whistleblow on financial institutions, not just the government. Since you're not prosecuting the banking criminals, you have plenty of time to send up a guy who tried to identify them:Bradley Birkenfeld, UBS Whistleblower, Finds Himself in Federal Prison
http://www.cnbc.com//id/41257962
It's a delicate line to walk, all this intimidation while still claiming to be the beacon of freedom for the world. But the intimidation is necessary, because people are starting to catch on.
No, nobody has sent the jackboots to line up the protesters in front of everyone and methodically kill them. But we're seeing the next best thing.
Militarizing the hell out of the police departments. That way it's blamed on some "programs"....but it sends a clear psychological message to the upstarts.Stopping police militarization: Once again, the solution requires confronting corporate politicians.
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10025416709
Federal grants drive the militarization of police departments in America.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025383806
And then you get this:
And this:
Three of the five Occupy violence pics I used to use regularly now I cannot find anywhere on the internet; if I could, I'd put them here, too. The elderly woman tear-gassed, the mobs of jackbooted storm troopers surrounding a few people on a blanket...
And, meanwhile, out in the community, the militarized police are starting to terrorize ordinary citizens, mostly the impoverished and voiceless ones. But the corporate-controlled federal government keeps sending the hardware and the storm trooper uniforms, even encouraging it with grants, and they refuse to keep records on how many citizens have been murdered. How many were there this week?"What I've Learned from Two Years Collecting Data on Police Killings...
...I'm convinced to my core: The lack of such a database is intentional."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025429276
Twenty-Three People Killed by American Police in the Span of One Week
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025593137
We're all suspects, potential terrorists now. and the mechanisms are in place to ensure that any dissent that begins to bubble up can be handled and eliminated before it materializes in any serious way.
The truth is that you don't know what dissent may have already been cut off at the root, because of the elaborate, secret, unaccountable system that has been put into place. We know that the president has sought the power to lie in response to Freedom of Information requests. We know that data collected from NSA spying has been used to imprison Americans using false evidence trails. We know that the CIA can spy on the Senate Intelligence Committee with impunity and nothing is done about it, and that Clapper can lie to Congress and the Department of Justice can lie to the Supreme Court about spying and nothing is done. These are just the things we know.DEA Manuals Show Feds Use NSA Spy Data, Train Cops to Construct False Chains of Evidence
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4507611
Obama Admin Seeks Permission TO LIE In Response To Freedom of Information Requests - Even To The COURTS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2185303
DOJ lied to Supreme Court about domestic surveillance
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140514/06214727229/doj-still-trying-to-hide-fact-it-flat-out-lied-to-supreme-court-about-domestic-surveillance.shtml
The sensible woodchucks keep telling us that someone has to be actively involved in VERY SERIOUS TERRORISM against the United States of America in order for our government to start throwing *that* word around, or showing an interest in us. But we are all surveilled, and the methods for it keep expanding. If you think about it, it's GOOD for corporate control to have people posting dissent on the internet. It helps you know whom to watch. Voiced dissent is USEFUL as long as it doesn't lead to anything...you know, serious. Our corporate government is keeping an eye on us.
OKC protestors slapped with terrorism charges
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024175848
A Nation of "Suspects"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5011487
http://www.truth-out.org/nation-suspects/1314810046
American Protesters Declared Enemy for Weapons Testing Purposes; Rules of Engagement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2132808#2139011
DoD Training Manual: Protests are "Low-Level Terrorism"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/100227662
Ridiculous FBI list: You might be a domestic terrorist if...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1790765
Doctors asked to identify potential terrorists under government plans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1261120&mesg_id=1261120
Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002257966
Top US counterterrorism official: drone critics are Al Qaeda enablers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002279862
"Arrogant complaining about airport security is one indicator Transportation Security Administration officers consider when looking for possible criminals and terrorists"
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/15/tsa.screeners.complain/
N.S.A. Examines Social Networks of U.S. Citizens (Decision Made In Secret, in 2010)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014605329
Now, you tell me.
Why would the corporatists who have purchased into our government and rely on its reputation as the beacon of freedom and democracy for the world, use such heavy-handed and politically damaging tactics as shutting down the internet or ostentatiously lining up protesters to shoot them in the streets, when they have already put into place and legalized this elegant system to control dissent?
Yeah, I'm typing on the internet. That PROVES we're free.
the police state, in particular.
Q: Who defends torture and calls torturers, "patriots"?
A: Those complicit in torture and defending it. And there is great complicity across our corporate and MIC-owned government now.
Note how many of these discussions are now missing from DU. I had to go looking for many of the original sources online. This is why it's important to title articles with the actual titles of the sources...Pres. Obama Never Rescinded Bush Memo On Torture- Still Part of Military Interrogation Doctrine
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025347198
Obama Justice Department indicts ex-CIA agent for exposing torture
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002528908
Obama has stated flat out the USA does not Torture, BUT does it ...
(original discussion missing)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8817920
Obama's Torture Problem (Cover-up of torture at Guantanamo and CIA black sites)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9640662
(original discussion missing)
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/nov/18/obamas-torture-problem/
Fellow Nobel Peace Laureates to Obama: Stain of US Torture Your Job to Repair
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025722026
Obama's Torture Bind (Torture, CIA "black sites"
(original discussion missing)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5454518
What Is Obama Doing At Bagram? (Part One): Torture Under the Obama Administration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x540433
Target of Obama-era rendition alleges torture
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6277906
(original discussion missing)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/target-of-obama-era-rendi_n_256499.html
The ACLU on Obama and Core Liberties
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2069714
(original discussion missing)
http://www.salon.com/2011/09/07/liberties_3/
Or this topic:
Obedience is conditioned into us early now by our corporate State.
http://election.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5859731Quite a few (seven, I think) of these links don't work anymore. For one of them, I was able to find an alternate link. I put them here anyway so you can see the titles of the missing OP's. With the exception of torture policies under Obama, I can't remember ever finding so many broken links on DU for a single topic.
This isn't about safety, it's about obedience
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9608293
Excessive Loyalty and Obedience to Malevolent Authority
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9588288
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5751677
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Time%20for%20change/593
The stench of fascism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7765352
Is obedience the only way to avoid police brutality?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025544025
Either you are a rebel or a slave---Choose---But choose fast .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2030062
OBEY. - I'm a cop. If you don't want to get hurt, don't
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025411360
Submissiveness required by zero tolerance, no excuses (Corporate Education)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11249559 http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025714928
Seven years of silence, chanting, and obedience: Argosy Collegiate Charter School
http://edushyster.com/?p=1425
Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate and Control ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101644596
With little fanfare, the TSA has expanded to sporting events, music ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023416581
Noam Chomsky: How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101623207
Submissiveness required by zero tolerance, no excuses.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11249559
Students Terrorized as Police Officers Draw Guns During Unannounced ‘Active Shooter Drill’ At Elementary School
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025826009
'I don't want to go to Disney World anymore': Parents' fury as TSA agents detain their crying, wheelchair-bound daughter
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022408410
Police set up roadblocks to 'voluntarily' collect DNA, blood
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023016470
The President decides. TSA groping will continue ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9598152
Civil liberties disappear in the 2012 Democratic platform.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021267747
TSA detains woman for "attitude"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021317581
Pennsylvania street checkpoint asks drivers for mouth swabs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024195885
The National Security State: Cultivating a Culture of Fear and Obedience
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017222034
#TSA%20groping%20people%20640x360
?v=5
are not the "characteristics that define fascism"? 
Yes, that's certainly the Lesser of Two Evils Scam that the two colluding corporate parties keep using on us.
The two corporate-owned parties deliberately diverge on some non-economic social issues that are important to people but which the One Percent could not care less about, in order to blackmail people into voting for the predatory economic, war, and police state agenda that the One Percent DO care about and that the parties deliberately share.Red vs. Blue = Oligarchy Theater for the masses.
Mass spying on Americans? Both parties support it.
Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in the cabinet? Both parties support it.
Tolling our interstate highways? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
TISA corporate overlord agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks? Both parties support it.
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Privatization of the TVA? Both parties support it.
Immunity for telecoms? Both parties support it.
"Looking forward" and letting war criminals off the hook? Both parties support it.
Deciding torturers are patriots? Both parties support it.
Militarized police and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.
Trillion dollar increase in nuclear weapons. Both parties support it.
New war in Iraq. Both parties support it.
New war in Syria. Both parties support it.
Carpet bombing of captive population in Gaza. Both parties support it.
Selling off swaths of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling? Both parties support it.
Drilling along the Atlantic Coast? Both parties support it.
BUT, we are reminded by sneering corporate Democrats, Republicans will do all of this to us, too, PLUS inflict transvaginal ultrasounds!
What a vicious scam by the colluding Red and Blue Teams to ensure the success of their profit agenda and to justify relentless, predatory evil. To demand that we vote for our own sellout and exploitation and the dismantling of our democracy itself.
And we're 14/14 on that list. 
