the smartest fascist?

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Wed Sep 4 14:17:07 PDT 2002


At 12:18 PM 9/4/2002 -0700, Ian quoted:


>Do you challenge a fascist dictator with rallies and demonstrations (that
>is, if
>people are not afraid of being put in jail)? Will the left continue to
>underestimate Bush's shrewdness? It wasn't just the accident of hanging chads
>and butterfly ballots that let the Bush brothers manipulate the result in
>their
>favor. The left doesn't want to throw the legitimacy of the political process
>into question, and so it treads softly.

Well, if that were the case, there is not much the Left or wussy liberals can do other than buying a one way ticket to Europe and Canada before it is too late. Hitler initially got slightly over 9% of the votes - which did not prevent him from taking over the state. Do you think a fascist dictator worthy its name would simply give up power if faced by opposition or no confidence vote?

I am ambiguous on this issue. Sometimes I think Shrub is a buffoon, sometimes a shrewd fascist, although there is little doubt in my mind that Shrub Sr or Cheney Dick are of the latter variety. But what keeps me from embracing the latter view is its inevitable fatalism. If it were true, the only rational choices the left would have is to either shut up or leave the country. I am not ready for either, at least not yet.

wojtek



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