Reply #20: Our fascism is more subtle than Germany's and Italy's [View All]

Unlike corporatist regimes of the past, the government does not own the news media. Instead, the corporatists themselves own the media and lend a sympathetic ear to their allies in government. It's not state-run media, so you can argue that our press is still technically "free."

Unlike in the past, there is no need to arrest thousands of political dissidents and have political opposition parties liquidated. They already control the legislature and the executive branches and are nearly in control of the judicial branch. There is no need. The smart thing to do is to leave them in order to have the appearance of diversity of opinion and democracy.

The relationship between corporations and the state is not a true partnership. It is more indirect than in previous incarnations of corporatism seen in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Back then, both the state and corporation openly collaborated to achieve their goals. In our case, what happens is that corporatists heavily fund candidates who are willing to carry out their agenda in government. Where previous incarnations had one binding with the other, in our case it is one influencing the other, sometimes heavily. It is more subtle and hard to detect.

In the end, our version of corporatism is far more efficient. They have succeeded in establishing the illusion of free government. Therefore, they do not have to devote as much time and resources to keeping the people in check because they see nothing wrong. In more overtly authoritarian regimes, huge amounts of energy must be diverted just to keep the people from rising up. The more efficient approach is to trick the people into believing they still live free. As long as the illusion holds, the people are less likely to rise up. It is an excellent example of social engineering.