No, I don't think it will be that obvious. Fascism will arrive the way that the Right wants it to; by slowing boiling away our freedoms and liberties. This has been clear to me for a long time, beginning with the first time I heard a so-called conservative say: "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.
At one point, she gets into a lengthy series of post about the ten step program towards a fascist state:
1) Invoke a terrifying internal and external threat – the shock;
2) Create a prison system outside the rule of law;
3) Develop a group of thugs to terrorize citizens;
4) An internal surveillance system is established;
5) Infiltrate and harass citizens groups;
6) Create a list that subjects those listed to arbitrary detention and release;
7) Threaten key individuals with their jobs, or worse, if they don’t toe the line;
8) Control the press;
9) Cast dissent as “treason” and criticism as “espionage” ; and
10) Suspend the rule of law.
I haven't read her analysis yet, but I shall. In the meantime, it seems to me that we are well on the way, with at least five of the items in progress (1-4, and 6), with attempts and/or partial success to do 5, 7, 8 and 9.
#10 is the biggie. And if Bush carries out his planned attack on Iran, and Iran manages to pull off a retaliatory strike, look for them all to fall into place.
We are not that far away from it. And the most depressing thing is that at least 20-30% of
(More later, Blogspot is about to go offline for posting)
those posts were great -- i told her she should publish them
ReplyDeleteyou are right -- we are heading down that road -- and many people would welcome it....