Rosio Pavoris

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all

I’ve probably linked an article like this before. I’ve certainly had the discussion often enough.
A lot of people—Americans, mostly—seem to have knee-jerk reactions immediately dismissing any comparisons between the Bush administration and various fascist(oid) regimes as hyperbole, but it really isn’t as far-fetched as all that.

The main problem seems to be that people don’t understand what fascism was, having some mental image of a giant, nation-sized concentration camp somewhere halfway between 1984 and Latveria.
Once you start discussing actual features of fascist regimes (things like ridiculously strong nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, corporatism, &c.), and the steps that led up to them, the situation suddenly becomes much scarier.

Of course, half the people I’ve talked to then just shifted the goalposts and said the problem they had was that talking about the US in those terms wasn’t helpful, even if it were true, which is bullshit. How are you going to contain a problem if you’re unwilling to discuss it frankly?