Corporate Fascism and the Republican Party
I guess I hadn't really thought much about this until last week someone made a great post about the Koch's via Bernie Sanders and how one of the Koch's ran for VP of the Libertarian Party in 1980 and how after losing his mission became to influence the policies and conversations on the right.
That post lead me to many websites including one that showed this:
A poster that was, depending on reports, published in the Dallas Newspaper on the day of the JFK assassination, or else printed as a flyer and distributed in Dallas on that day. This flyer was made by the John Birch Society which was co-founded by Frederick Koch, father of the Koch's and the person whom they inherited their business from. It also lead me to a story about how Frederick Koch built his wealth by working in Russia for the communist Joseph Stalin.
I was then lead to a website about Corporate Fascism which list these 14 characteristics of Fascism:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic motto's, 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.
Here is the website:
http://www.fascismusa.com/
To me it sounds like the Republican Party. It seems like there is a master plan whereby every false story that they create via Fox News and Right Wing Radio to get 'their base' riled up and angry about some bullshit that they repeat over and over and over and over again and again and again in order to brainwash their base is nothing more than a diversionary tactic that they use so that their base will look one way while behind the scenes they are dismantling workers rights and passing laws that benefit corporations. It feels like they are trying to implement a Corporate Fascist state within the United States.
I'm writing this because it's a new concept for me at least in the way it is now penetrating my thoughts and in the way that I am seeing it clearly. I am posting this so that there is an opportunity to discuss this and share information with each other and to hear what your opinions are on this.
Thanks.
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