I’m well within my wheelhouse for this space if I just write from my hip and don’t bother with facts. This post felt like it needed seasoning with a bit of fact. I posted this on FB:
100+ years of some degree of Socialist Democracy and the Bern says change means even more Socialism? I don’t understand.
There was some back & forth with my anarchist friend. Then I said, “Socialism is fascism”. No, not by itself. It needs help. Fascism, as defined on Wikipedia: “a form of radical authoritarian nationalism“. Socialism is, for those that don’t want to go look at my prior post on this, “is a variety of social and economic systems characterized by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production; as well as the political ideologies, theories, and movements that aim at their establishment.” Socialism become fascist with Hitler and Mussolini before WWII.
Socialism isn’t fascist until it is. To the social ownership and democratic control of production you also need fierce nationalism and an authoritarian government. What we have now is a fierce loyalty to a tribe and fierce anger at anyone outside the tribe. We also have a government that is in a rather authoritarian mood and pitching more of this as the best plan going forward.
Democracy in action often means endless meetings and frustration. Because we are a democracy those other people are hard to shut up. You have to talk to them, listen to them, maybe compromise with them. So annoying. For those who wish for a living wage, for free education all the way through college, for safety from triggers and micro-aggression, for free medical care, for a social safety net that means a job isn’t a necessity, for all the things we’ve been promised for over a century, the opposition is an unfortunate annoyance. It seems like it would be so much easier if we just had a king who would do the needful.
Ok fine if that king is benevolent and agrees with what you wish. There is a problem with kings. They can legally have you killed. They are the rule of law so at the end of the day, it’s do as the king wants or die. I’m cranky. I don’t behave. I write about drunk aliens and questionably sane emperors of People’s Park. I’d be safe as long as the king didn’t pay me much mind. But . . . troublemaker that I am, I’d probably end up on his radar and he would not be pleased. Kings are bad for my health.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who want Billary & Sanders as our next president. I have a hard time with the claim that a bigger, more authoritarian executive branch is the change we have been promised for over a century. My ancestors came here seeking hope & change. They left their manor homes to escape religious persecution. They thought that coming here would mean starting over in a virgin pastoral utopia where they could finally live as they believed God called them to live. That itch to just tear it all down and start from nothing has remained a constant melodic thread through our history. Obama got elected pitching a new beginning for America and a fundamental transformation of the Puritan experiment. His transformation was, wait for it, a bigger executive branch that has become more authoritarian.
Socialism becomes fascist when a charismatic leader draws us into revival fever full of tribal pride and seduces us into believing that the answer is greater government control of business, industry, assets, and property. Billary & Sanders are smart. They are not preaching a brighter future. We were sold a timeshare in hope & change by a brown man in a nice suit and can’t afford the monthly payments. They are preaching the apocalyptic warnings of Isaiah and the Revelation of John. They are warning us that if we don’t let them expand government control we are doomed. It is a sermon the yungins are feeling deeply.
Government control of industry can reign in their evil, polluting ways and save the planet. Government regulation of wages can assure everyone of a living wage and end our forced viewing of those doe-eyed kids on TV who we are told are starving and need our donation of just a dollar a day. (Those kids were on TV when I was a kid. I’m guessing they have grandchildren now.)Government regulation of work rules can assure us of two months of paid leave. We already have Obama care and while it does help some people it works because those younger pay higher costs so that those older can pay lower costs. Old folks get nice silicone dildos while the youth get red oak covered in ferrous oxide sandpaper.
I get my claim that socialism is fascist from talk radio. I said socialism is fascist out of fear and ignorance. I didn’t do my own homework. Socialist democracies have become fascist but socialism isn’t on its face fascist. The danger is in making the president more powerful and authoritarian. What worries me about supporters of Billary & the Bern is that they are rushing toward a more authoritarian executive branch in the name of change and fairness.
Can we not repeat more of the same in the name of real change, of real hope & fairness? I am also in an apocalyptic mood. My bet on the dead pool for this country has a lot of squares. I’m not betting on any square beyond another century or so before the American experiment collapses into regional fiefdoms. There is a revolution afoot. It started right around the time the socialists got elected here almost a century ago and elsewhere and began to dismantle our democracy as we knew it.
The work is almost done. We don’t have far to go before the festering puss of failed socialism bursts through our abscessed skin. We are not fascists yet. All we need is more socialism paired up with a weaker congress and a stronger, authoritarian president ginning up national (pride isn’t the word) sentiments favoring the fashionable tribe. We almost have it. We saw elements of it in the protests of the Black Lives Matter cadre against the police. You’ll know we achieved it when this blog is taken down by the government because it is deemed hate speech promoting micro-aggression and containing overmuch triggering.