Fascist America, in 10 easy steps(from the London Guardian)

[cas]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/...ticle_continue --full article here
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

Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

After we were hit on September 11 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it. We were told we were now on a "war footing"; we were in a "global war" against a "global caliphate" intending to "wipe out civilisation". There have been other times of crisis in which the US accepted limits on civil liberties, such as during the civil war, when Lincoln declared martial law, and the second world war, when thousands of Japanese-American citizens were interned. But this situation, as Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda notes, is unprecedented: all our other wars had an endpoint, so the pendulum was able to swing back toward freedom; this war is defined as open-ended in time and without national boundaries in space - the globe itself is the battlefield. "This time," Fein says, "there will be no defined end."

2. Create a gulag

Once you have got everyone scared, the next step is to create a prison system outside the rule of law (as Bush put it, he wanted the American detention centre at Guantánamo Bay to be situated in legal "outer space") - where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

5. Harass citizens' groups

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

[axmdr40]

[billamj]

+1000! The sky is falling, the sky is falling....

[chemist308]

Here's what we know:
* Bush allowed the World Trade Center attacks--flame away, but it's the truth,
* As a result we now have a state of perpetual war with Muslim nations of the world (never ending war on terror)
* We now have a Department of Homeland Security that operates outside the law
* A prison outside the boundaries of law now exists

It's scary.

[phillyd2]

I really hate this kind of simpleton crap. Sad to see that even some of our own members buy into this kind of stuff.

Words matter. Words like: Fascist, Gulag, Nazi, Police State, etc. have meaning. One has to be a special kind of stupid paranoid nut case to every use any of these words to describe (even as a hint) the USA. Never in the history of mankind has any people been as free as Americans are today. Of course we must continue to be diligent and skeptical but this kind of cynical BS really is a exercise of self hate that goes beyond the level of acceptable discourse.

[axmdr40]

Here's what we know:
* Bush allowed the World Trade Center attacks--flame away, but it's the truth,
* As a result we now have a state of perpetual war with Muslim nations of the world (never ending war on terror)
* We now have a Department of Homeland Security that operates outside the law
* A prison outside the boundaries of law now exists

It's scary.

-Of course you know Bush "allowed" 9/11 to happen! Duh why didn't you say that in the first place. And you know this because Michael Moore told you right?
- Oh poor Muslim fundamentalist, we have caused their pain and suffering and now invade their countries and slaughter their women and children for no reason.
- Oh no! the Big Bad DHS!! they are here to steal our rights. How dare they proactively seek out those who support terrorism and may be planning future attacks upon the American people!
- End the oppression of the enemy combatants at Guantanamo!!! They shouldn't be allowed to have guaranteed meals, shelter...leave them in their mountain caves and huts where they operate to kill our fellow Americans! We don't have the right to interogate them for information that could save lives!

I'm terrified of the government, look what they are doing! We have no rights anymore. We are living in a facist state!! We can't speak against the state, less we be hunted down and strung up by are toes!


YEEEEEAAHHHHH RIGHT.

[1911shooter]

I really hate this kind of simpleton crap. Sad to see that even some of our own members buy into this kind of stuff.

Words matter. Words like: Fascist, Gulag, Nazi, Police State, etc. have meaning. One has to be a special kind of stupid paranoid nut case to every use any of these words to describe (even as a hint) the USA. Never in the history of mankind has any people been as free as Americans are today. Of course we must continue to be diligent and skeptical but this kind of cynical BS really is a exercise of self hate that goes beyond the level of acceptable discourse.

i'm with you 100% on this one. you are perfectly right phillyd2

a voice of reason. this is stupid and immature to say the least......

[TonyF]

8. Control the press

Good grief! Gimme a break.

And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all

Naomi Wolf? Double gimme a break.

If she wasn't such a hottie I'd completely despise her. As such, I only despise her politics.

[TonyF]

--flame away,

Not even worth the effort.

[dgg9]

Some of the individual points are valid, but they pertain to modern government in general. To suppose that the trend towards the Surveillance State, aka Oceania, has been immaculately conceived by George W Bush (as opposed to that great lover of individual freedom and limited government, Bill Clinton), is partisan nonsense.

But then what do you expect from an article whose guiding light is Joe Conason?

The ultimate naivete is that people like Wolf and Conasan WANT the Leviathan State, but actually believe that it will a force for good when in Democratic Party hands. Clearly they haven't read 1984 as well as they suppose..