I do not believe, and have never written, that the main threat of fascism in the United States comes from "a few Ayran-nation weirdos." I have written repeatedly that the main threat of fascism in the U.S. does not come from places like the Bush administration, as horrid as it is, but from right-wing populist mass movements of white people: The overwhelmingly white Christian Right; nativist and xenophobic anti-immigrant movements; and jingoistic anti-Islamic ultra-patriotic militarism.
This is a central premise of Right-Wing Populism in America by Matt Lyons and me. Has anyone on this list actually bothered to read it?
Chip Berlet
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Thank you. And I apologize. I have to confess two things. No I have not read your book (I ordered it, so stop with the guilt). And second, I deliberately prodded you to get an answer---an answer something like the above, because it is very helpful. It helps me organize how to think my way through what is going in this nut-house. You usually don't contribute much to LBO voluntarily, so it takes a kind of annoying trick to get your attention.
I have been very remiss in my reading duties to the writers on LBO. I haven't read Doug's last book, I haven't read Michael Perelman's either. I did finally get Michael Yates' Cheap Motels and Hot Plates, and sympathize with taking the fall down to the working class life---for obvious reasons. I should have read Ehrenreich's last two books also, but I didn't. And Naomi Klein as well. However, I haven't finished Popper's Open Society and its Enemies, Weber's The Protestant Ethic, or Mills, Power Elite, yet either.
But I want to ask you to explain, why you don't think a fascist threat comes from the Bush administration? I am serious. In my view they are not just horrid or icky, they are dangerous. (offlist if you want. I am not interested in starting a flame war or a spin-off topic.)
The Bush administration has driven the country straight down the road to fascism with internal changes in the executive branch to consolidate their power, changes in law, policies, programs, and actions. For me, these changes in the federal government coupled with the spineless and accommodating Democratic opposition are a lot more alarming than the populist Christian rightwing cheering section. After all it's the US government that is waging wars in two countries, conducting mass surveillance with no oversight, engaged in routine mass arrests, detentions, and deportations almost entirely in secret, and so forth, and not the US Populist right movements. The latter might cheer approval. But for the most part they are not performing these deeds. And then, just because Bush and his crew are not very good at being fascists, it doesn't follow that they wouldn't like to do better.
I guess what is annoying me, is that the standard bar for fascism is set so high that what is already accomplished fact is completely dismissed as normal proceedure.
CG