Freindly Fascism

I took a Political Philosophy class, which is basically a political theory course taught by the philosophy department, making it much better, this past semester in which we read a book titled Friendly Fascism by Bertram Gross. In his book Gross spends about three hundred and fifty pages arguing that America, if it is not already a fascist nation, is very quickly becoming one. The most haunting thing about the work is that it was published in 1980, and apart from a grievous misstep regarding the spread of Communism, many of his prediction regarding what a fascist America would look like have come true.

To make a long story short, Gross believes that America has been overtaken by what he calls friendly fascism, which is a form of ideological fascism that has learned from the mistakes of Nazi Germany and other fascist movements from the first half of the Twentieth Century and has taken steps to implement and maintain fascist power through subversion and manipulation rather than force and fear. If you want the whole case then I encourage you to read the book yourself as it is utterly fascinating albeit a bit depressing. However, the real reason I bring this up is that I want to give my own case for it and at the same time try to clear the air of some of this "socialism" that people accuse the American Left of trying to implement.

First, let's define fascism. Fascism, at it's base, is an economy ideology: all of the fear, cruelty, warmongering, and other things that people associate with fascism are either secondary principles or accidental to what people think of as fascism, namely Nazi Germany and Italy under the rule of Mussolini. The driving principle behind fascism is the alignment of the interests of the state with those of certain corporate interests. Thus the difference between the modern definition of socialism and fascism is that in a fascist state the government's primary concern is the promotion and well being of Big Car Company Inc. and in a socialist state the government owns and operates Big Car Company Inc. That said, why don't you take a minute and think about a fairly recent and prominent occurrence that was distinctly fascist. If you can't think of one after a minute or two I'm going to spoil it for you in the next paragraph.

The answer I am looking for the is bailouts. With the real definition of fascism at the ready it becomes clear that the bailouts of banks, mortgage firms, and the U.S. auto industry were nothing but acts of pure fascism. The state doesn't own Ford or Citibank, it simply through billions upon billions of dollars at them: the state socialized the losses and privatized the gains. That is fascism. Plain and simple. Now, according to Gross, this friendly fascist movement is done behind closed doors so the public can't catch wind of what's going on, but that isn't even necessary. This nation has become so politically polarized and ignorant that the fascists don't even have to hide anymore because they can either count on or sway the media to convince the ignorant masses that they are doing something other than what they really are; on the case of the bailouts everyone was convinced that it socialism despite the fact that it was clearly fascism. Oh America, you've fallen a long way.

But I do have one last thing to say before I close this post: fascism is the final, unadulterated form of capitalism. Fascism arises when capitalism is allowed to run rampant. Businesses amass incredible wealth and sink their teeth into government, and once they are in they have more than enough economic power to push and pull legislation any way they please, generally in a direction that favors them. If you don't believe me let me ask you one question:

1. Who has the real power in federal government?

The answer that most people will give is big business, and most people will say that because it's the truth. Between campaign contributions and lobbyists the true power of the American government rests in the hands of big business, and all because those businesses were allowed to thrive, expand, and thus sink their claws into the state itself.

So now that you know what the alternative is does socialism and Marxism really seem that awful? Truthfully, unless you have read Gross you can't fully understand what a fascist America would and does look like, but I can try to give you an idea.

You no longer control your government, Big Business Inc. does. Democracy is now dead.
You are reduced to nothing more than a piece in a machine, and your sole duty is to perpetuate Big Business Inc.
You are only paid enough to keep you from revolting or dying because without workers to exploit capitalism and fascism cannot exist.

That is just a very small taste of what you have to look forward to, and I would say, are already living. Doesn't sound pleasant, does it? Didn't think so. Now let's all go out fight fascism with the sword of democracy and the shield of true socialism.

Sorry, I couldn't help but wax a bit metaphorical there. It had to be done.