[lbo-talk] Re: 14 characteristics of fascism

[Carrol Cox]

Justin wrote: "We also have things to be proud of: the Bill of Rights,
Abolitionism, Emancipation, the labor movement, the partly successful
struggle for civil liberties and civil rights, . . . . The analogues to
our dark side in Nazi Germany's brief history are the best things about
the Nazis. (The Autobahn and the VW aside.)&nb! sp;The worst things
about them -- the Einsatzgruppen, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor,
Chelmno, Maidenek, T4 -- have, thank God, no echo in ours."

A query.

There have been periods of expansion and periods of contraction of civil
liberties in the U.S. My query regards periods of expansion. Has such
expansion _ever_, even once, been initiated by president and/or congress
or has it _always_ been a response from the government to great pressure
from _outside_ the electoral system?

To put it another way, is there _any_ evidence that Johnson & Dirksen
(and Dirksen was every bit as important as Johnson) would have attempted
a civil-rights act except for the growing chaos which the lack of one
was promoting?

Carrol