Is the US becoming more of a fascist state?

[Pangloss]

K, that's enough of the ad-hom. Move along.

 

Rev we're ok with you sticking around so long as you're raising interesting points politely, but we're not cool with you stirring up trouble and annoying people and refusing to acknowledge their valid opinions just because they differ from yours. You know the rules, and everybody here knows your game. In fact as far as I'm concerned I'm willing to suspend most of the rules when applied to you, so that means they get cart blanche attacking you when you're being a jerk and I'm not going to allow you to respond in kind. Call it the RevPrezRule if you like. If you can't behave yourself on that basis then we'll just have to throw you back in silent mode again.

[pcollins]

K, that's enough of the ad-hom. Move along.

 

There's no trading of insults here, just two grown men engaging in some banter in the midst of a discussion. That said, bascule picked an arbitrary model of political ideology--like you--and declared it valid by fiat. Tell me how this isn't going to descend into yet another "conservative/liberal" label debate?

 

In fact as far as I'm concerned I'm willing to suspend most of the rules when applied to you, so that means they get cart blanche attacking you when you're being a jerk and I'm not going to allow you to respond in kind.

 

Sounds good to me. They could use the handicap.

[iNow]

Yeah... so to the other readers, IYO, is the US becoming more fascist yes/no?

[Blade]

14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=fUdZnxtKR2A

 

clear enough.

 

michael moore fore president 2008

[ParanoiA]

michael moore fore president 2008

 

You want to trade one hack for another?

[Blade]

You want to trade one hack for another?

 

grow up byond name calling

[Sisyphus]

grow up byond name calling

 

This from the guy supporting Michael Moore for president?

 

 

 

 

(My this thread is just a paradigm of maturity...)

[iNow]

What might some examples be... either in support of or counter to the claim that the US is becoming more fascist overall than it has been previously?

[DrDNA]

The Patriot Act is a prime example.

[D H]

The author of this ad for air conditioned car seats was fired recently to stave off complaints.

[DrDNA]

""Former Columbia University Professor Robert O. Paxton has written that:

 

Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."

 

Paxton further defines fascism's essence as:

 

...1.a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of traditional solutions; 2. belief one’s group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits; 3. need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts; 4. right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint; 5. fear of foreign `contamination."

 

"".........the state as an organic entity in a positive light rather than as an institution designed to protect individual rights, or as one that should be held in check. Fascism universally dismissed the Marxist concept of "class struggle", replacing it instead with the concept of "class collaboration". Fascists embraced nationalism and mysticism, advancing ideals of strength and power as means of legitimacy. These ideas are in direct opposition to the liberal ideals of humanism and rationalism characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment.

 

Fascism is also typified by totalitarian attempts to impose state control over all aspects of life: political, social, cultural, and economic, by way of a strong, single-party government for enacting laws and a strong, sometimes brutal militia or police force for enforcing them. Fascism exalts the nation, state, or group of people as superior to the individuals composing it. Fascism uses explicit populist rhetoric; calls for a heroic mass effort to restore past greatness; and demands loyalty to a single leader, leading to a cult of personality and unquestioned obedience to orders (Führerprinzip). Fascism is also considered to be a form of collectivism."""

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

[ParanoiA]

Awesome, D H.

 

By they way...what ever happened to the good ole days when they just spied on everybody anyway? Wasn't that better? You can't prosecute anyone with the intelligence, yet you achieve a priceless advantage.

[pcollins]

The Patriot Act is a prime example.

 

If the Patriot Act is the core of your underlying reasoning, then the US is only as fascist and possibly less so than it was under most of the Carter Administration.

[DrDNA]

If the Patriot Act is the core of your underlying reasoning, then the US is only as fascist and possibly less so than it was under most of the Carter Administration.

 

Please explain.