andie nachgeborenen -
But it is an inaccurate appellation (for most of them)
^^^^^ CB: Well, no , I'm arguing that it is accurate ( see many previous threads on LBO-talk and related lists). The situation we find ourselves in is by the influence of the most reactionary, chauvinist sectors of finance capital. It is creeping toward wider and wider _open_ terrorist rule. This is the significance of all the violations of due process principles, and violations of other constitutional limitations on power, which I know you are not happy with. The giant increase in the prison population is itself a fact of more terrorist rule. There are other elements described over the years on the various threads. The growing length of time of the dominance of all three branches of government by a historically relatively rightwing Republican party, with Democrats as junior partners going along with the rightward drift. At some point , quantitative change may turn into qualitative change.
I don't think the fact that there are no mass communist and socialist parties is determinative. There is still a class struggle, even if the working class masses are less conscious of it than in other historical periods. The transnational ruling class _seems_ to be in ultimate triumph. Neo-liberalism was imbued with great triumphalism. Now the New Economy has whithered away. Can the new big bourgeoisie really avoid crisis _for themselves_ forever ? The point is there can arise new contradictions that make the U.S. ruling class desparate, contradiction other than a directly rising socialist workers movement as at the beginning of the 20th Century where fascism arose in Europe. Sufficient desparation for them to crackdown on the working class.
The media mind control is comparable to the fascist systems. It is actually more controlling , in my opinion. That it is the anti-thesis of democracy makes it worthy of folding in as an element of a _fascist_ control system.
Finally, fascism was _theoretical_ riproaring, pro-capitalist/anti-socialist , corportist , as Mussolini said. The U.S. 2005 is that. The absence of a Soviet Union, and therefore explicit anti-Bolshevism, does not make it non-hypercapitalistic (supercalifragalisticexpialadosious)
I'm not talking about some masses . I'm talking about the militant core politicos on the right. O'Reilly/Limbaugh as a Goebbels node.
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and drags up irrelevant distractions.
^^ CB: No, I'm saying it brings up appropriate historical comparisons. It is much better to use historical comparisons than "hateful" or "wicked" because those are psychological ,moral epithets. "Mongols" is not only more remote historically, but the Mongols were the good guys. "Mongol" an ancient ethnic slur in the West. Again "Conquistador" is a lot more historically inaccurate than "fascist". "Tyrants" is ancient too. "Barbarian" is very old. All the quaint insults/ old ethnic slurs are _historically_ less appropos than "fascist".
"Lapdog" is clearly...claiming they aren't members of the human species. You know "pig" "dog", "rat", "shark". All obviously less accurate than "fascist".
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The second is a worse problem than the first. Of courese you can do what you like, but we can describe what they do, denounce it as wicked, attack them as hateful, withourt saying they are fascists, Mongel invadaers, conquistadores, or whatever. They are aggressive, greedy theocratic, militaristic, imperialistic lying lapdogs (or members) of the rich and powerful who have betyrayed civilization and the values of this country and the civilized world for personal gain or advancement. Does "fascist" add anything to that?
^^^^ CB: It says it more succinctly. It is awkward to write all of what you just did everytime you want to refer to them. It's a short epithet like "hateful". It's more poltical than "odious".
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It almsot gives them to much credit, of adherence of an ideal, when they are mainly unprinciples highway robbers or relifgious fruitcakes.
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CB: I don't know. These American fascists have as many "ideals" as the old country fascists did. And the point is that a lot of the ideals are the same as the original fascists had.