The fascists have been cooking up a storm. They're stirring up that 23% of the population that counts as Right-Wing Authoritarian. They've been gaming the system to get as close to absolute power as they can get. They even had a nice little Reichstag Fire on 9/11 to increase the fear level and get the plebes to go along with their new rules. They have an organization of brown-shirts in place, aka the Department of Homeland Security. The media's their puppet, making propaganda that would do Goebbels proud. They're stirring up the bigotry, setting up targets including Muslims, Hispanics, gays, intellectuals, atheists, and pretty much anyone else who isn't white and Christian or asks too many questions. They even have concentration camps going up across the country. Some are already being used to house immigrants, and of course, there's Gitmo and Bagram and other hellholes outside of the U.S. There are those FEMA "relocation camps" that KBR has a contingency contract to build. If that contract is activated, they'll be up and running in a matter of weeks. The administration has had six years to gather the ingredients needed to create a new fascist order that will destroy freedom and democracy in this country.
There's just one ingredient missing from their fascist brew: desperation.
Desperation. The economy, while in serious trouble, hasn't really gut-punched most ordinary Americans yet. Most of us can still find a job, get a place to live, have cars, plenty of food, etc. And when people are content, they can find time to get their bearings, think, and put the authoritarians in their place. That's what happened in November 2006. The people saw Bush's mismanagement and war crimes in Iraq, saw Bush's mishandling of Katrina, saw the corruption in the administration and in Congress, and saw through the lies. As a result, Bush lost that rubber-stamp Congress, and now he has an opposition Congress asking lots of uncomfortable questions. America's love of freedom and tradition of democracy is strong, and even that Reichstag fire couldn't destroy it. The fascists will require something more to gain ultimate power, and they'll throw in that last ingredient, desperation.
So how will they make the people desperate? Cause a huge national crisis. Attacking Iran is the perfect way to do it. If hostilities commence, Iran will take out a few of our warships and shut down the entire Persian Gulf with their Exocets and Sunburns, bringing oil shipments to a halt, causing fuel prices to skyrocket. On the radio this morning, I was hearing speculation of $7.00 - $8.00 per gallon at the pump if this happens! People won't be able to make their commutes to work, there will be lines at the pumps, and the effects will cascade across the entire economy and cause a cataclysmic meltdown. Millions will be unemployed, losing their homes, unable to get food, shelter and health care. That's when the fascists come in, promising a way out of this mess. All they have to do is Follow The Leader. At that point, the people will be angry, hungry, scared and desperate, and many of them will drink the Kool-Aid. At the same time, Bush (or more likely his replacement) will start taking emergency measures to address the crisis, which will likely include martial law, suspension of elections, and assumption of dictatorial powers through something like the Nazi's Enabling Act. When the fascists (or more scientifically, the double-high Right Wing Authoritarian/Social Dominators) get this power, they will stop at absolutely nothing to destroy their enemies and secure it. Protests and dissent will be ruthlessly suppressed in the name of national security. This isn't blind speculation. Bob Altemeyer has been researching
Right Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation for decades, and he's documented how they get ordinary people to support their agenda. John Dean has written a great deal about Bob Altemeyer's research in
Conservaties Without Conscience.
Once the double-highs get absolute power, the real fun begins, starting with purges. With all the civil disorder coming from a second Great Depression, it could start with a repeat of Krystallnacht. Then come the political roundups. Anyone challenging the authority of the President is going to have rough men with guns coming after them. If you're reading this, you are a target. The NSA and FBI are already tracking you today. My advice to you is to be ready for fight or flight. If you surrender, get on those boxcars to the camps, you're dead. That's the mistake all the victims of the Nazi Holocaust made - doing what they're told and boarding the trains. You'll never leave those camps alive, and you'll likely get tortured, starved or worse. You have nothing to lose if the only alternative is Gitmo or its copies. Also targeted will be Muslims, Hispanics (especially illegal immigrants,) blacks, gays, athiests/agnostics, feminists, Wiccans or anyone who isn't white, Christian, and at least superficially supportive of the new order.
Assuming you didn't get rounded up, what's in store? Your freedoms will be gone, and you will live in a surveillance state. If you have weapons, the civil disorder will "compel" the government to demand that you surrender them. Criticism of the government will be ruthlessly suppressed. Travel will be restricted. You'll have to be a Good Citizen to be allowed anywhere near an airport, train station or bus station, and if you want to drive, you'll encounter checkpoints everywhere. You'd better have identification and travel permits with you at all times. The Internet will be heavily censored. You'll need a permit to have Internet access, and some permits will grant more privileges than others. Most citizens will be able to surf to commercial sites such as CNN, online stores and such, but blogs, forums and chat rooms will be monitored, censored and restricted to those who have enhanced privileges on their Internet permit. Your email will be scanned for anything subversive, and your phone conversations scanned with voice recognition software and live humans listening for dissension. Anything you do online will be recorded and logged, so you'd better keep away from anything that isn't government approved. If you use tools like PGP, GnuPG, Tor or any other tools to encrypt your traffic and prevent the authorities from tracking your Internet activity, you're going to prison. Ironically, people will still routinely get away with piracy. TV and radio will stay about the same as it is today...
As for where you'll live, maybe you'll be lucky and be able to keep your house. More likely, someone richer and more well connected will get your house, and you'll be moved to some crumbling slum or decrepit trailer park. If you're a minority, Democrat or otherwise one of the many groups being targeted, you'll end up in something like the Warsaw Ghetto. As for work, if you're a good German, you'll probably find some service sector job - flipping burgers, waiting tables, etc. There will be more of those available once the illegal immigrants are pushed out. There might also be more openings for butlers, servants, housekeepers, limo drivers & such - the ruling elite will want to be waited on. If you're on good graces with the new order, the better jobs will become available: managers and salesmen or you could join the DHS and become one of the oppressors. They get perks. You could also make extra cash by becoming an informant and snitching on your neighbors. There will still be professional jobs out there - engineers, programmers, etc. though there won't be very many of them, and you'll have to be well connected and off of the DHS blacklists to get them.
Church will be mandatory, complete with fire and brimstone. There will be no freedom of religion, just freedom of their religion. Fundamentalists will have an iron grip on government, and with fundamentalism comes all sorts of new, draconian laws. Blasphemy, heresy and apostasy will be severe crimes, punishable by death. So will homosexuality and adultery. Abortion will get you the death penalty, whether you're the one getting the abortion or performing the abortion. Movies, music and books will all be censored, and anything that offends fundamentalist Christian sensibilities will be burned. Kiss goodbye to Harry Potter. If you have a collection of Dungeons and Dragons books, you're in a world of hurt. If you're not Christian, you're a second class citizen. Muslims will be the first to be sent to the camps, and Jews will also be targeted. If you practice any other religion such as Buddhism or Wicca, you'd better go deep underground, as the sentence for practicing such religions is death. You'll see some old school execution methods, like stonings or burnings at the stake. Schools will be Christianized, and look like the documentary
Jesus Camp. Kids will be taught strict Biblical Creationism in science class, and they'll be kept away from advanced sciences and such. If you're a good Kool-Aid drinking Christian boy (not girl, you'll be expected to be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen) you might have access to classes that teach engineering and such. Advanced education will only be for the elite - the plebes will be considered unfit for advanced knowledge, as it may cause them to question their beliefs.
This certainly sounds like hell, so how do we avoid this? Non-violent civil disobedience.
Non-violent civil disobedience. NOW, while there's still time. That attack on Iran must be stopped, or the fascists will collapse our economy and get that desperation, that last ingredient they need to create their totalitarian state. Bob Altemeyer's research found two ways to combat fascism by decreasing Right Wing Authoritarian thinking. One is college education, and the other is non-violent civil disobedience is the other one, and a very powerful one.
Non-violent civil disobedience is even more powerful than tens of thousands of guerrillas and an arsenal of heavy artillery. The reason for this is the Gandhi Trap. With a large enough non-violent protest, the government might be tempted to call in the riot cops and the tear gas and bring the hammer down. If they do this, and the targets are completely non-violent, the images of people being beaten and killed in the streets will cause a huge
anti-authoritarian backlash. Witness what happened in the Civil Rights movement of the 60's. When Bull Connor turned the firehoses on black protesters, he eventually lost all of his support. The Ku Klux Klan was reduced to a shadow of its former self after turning Birmingham into Bombingham. The aftermath of Kent State resulted in a tragic loss of life, but brought the end of the Vietnam War that much closer. The abuses of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay helped bring Bush's approval levels from the 80's to the low 30's. The Gandhi trap doesn't always work. The People's Republic of China was able to put down the democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and maintain Communist rule, though they did pay a heavy price in international prestige. Still, the Gandhi Trap's our best shot at saving our democracy, restoring human rights and making our leaders pay for their crimes.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(819 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
