BrownBingb at aol.com wrote:
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> So it is with the history of fascism. We look to general patterns in
> it that may give insight into fighting "open terrorist dictatorship by
> the most reactionary sectors of capital" should it develop in the
> present or near future.
My point is that focusing on the history of fascism is potentially as misleading as to the present as focusing on the anatomy of rabbits would be to the understanding of a species of mammal hitherto unknown. In every field of thought it is misleading to mix levels of generality.
You won't avoid a speeding train by having your eye peeled for low-flying helicopters.
Most of the dangers to civil liberties which threaten in the U.S. look very different from the mode of operation of fascism -- and we can't fight them in the ways that an earlier generation fought fascism. If you want a historical parallel, don't look to Germany & Italy. Look to the post-reconstruction south. That too would probably confuse as much as it illumined, but it would be less confusing than the fascist model.
Carrol