Patient Fascists

[Martin Hash]

It’s become recognized that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Marxism in America was given free reign because it was no longer suppressed by State propaganda. What isn’t as well known is so was Fascism. America has always had a high percentage of pre-Enlightenment thinking; never more than half of Americans truly believed in liberty, or even knew what it was, and that was with indoctrination in public institutions like schools, government & churches. Many people simply prefer to be told what to do by elites; they revel in authoritarianism, the hallmark of Fascism.

Before WW2, when Fascism was in full bloom in Europe, it also found quite a following here: William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush (the Bush clan patriarch who made his fortune via oil contracts with the Nazis which financed two Bush presidencies), National City Bank, J.P. Morgan, The Union of New York, Sullivan & Cromwell, Coca-Cola, IBM, Singer, Goodrich, Gillette & General Electric, to name some of the most famous; but many, many Americans were fervent Fascists, some were even Nazis. It’s difficult to find out just how prevalent Fascism was in America because its supporters always claimed to be anti-Communist, and that was enough for the time; Fascism was not seen to be a threat; it still isn’t, but it is bigger than ever, just as Marxism is bigger than ever; and liberty, the foundation of U.S. Constitutional government, where people make decisions for themselves, the opposite of authoritarianism; liberty is gone and dead.

[DBTrek]

First fascism was "rule by private elites".
Now it's "reveling in authoritarianism".

... one day we may get to the actual definition of Fascism, but not today.
And by the looks of it, not for a while.

[SuburbanFarmer]

We need a less clunky word for ‘authoritarianism’.

[DBTrek]

We need a less clunky word for ‘authoritarianism’.

Especially since authoritarianism spans across dictatorships, theocracies, communist regimes, and fascism - and can hardly be used as a unique feature of one government type.

[Martin Hash]

Why do I constantly have to repeat:
Fascism is authoritarianism by private elites,
Marxism is authoritarianism by public elites.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Why do I constantly have to repeat:
Fascism is authoritarianism by private elites,
Marxism is authoritarianism by public elites.

Was nazi germany run by 'private elites'? I mean, it was kinda backed by them from the US, but I'm not sure that counts...

[Martin Hash]

Why do I constantly have to repeat:
Fascism is authoritarianism by private elites,
Marxism is authoritarianism by public elites.

Was nazi germany run by 'private elites'? I mean, it was kinda backed by them from the US, but I'm not sure that counts...

Yes. But Fascists don’t pay for the own protection: they exploit the public for that.

[DBTrek]

Because it's wrong, and repeating it a thousand time doesn't make it right.

Private elites can't tax, imprison, or use direct violence against fellow citizens.
A fascist GOVERNMENT can.

The distinction is so clear cut, and irrefutable, I'm surprised you continue down this path.

[Martin Hash]

Dude, you’re clearly the expert. I’m just fooling around.

[DBTrek]

Dude, you’re clearly the expert. I’m just fooling around.

I'm not claiming to be an expert. Just because I know what a doughnut is, doesn't make me a doughnut expert. But it does allow me enough basic knowledge to tell someone that a turtle is not a doughnut.


"That's a turtle, not a doughnut"

"Whooooa everybody! We got a motherfuckin' doughnut expert in the house, who knew? Sit down everyone, let's all pay rapt attention to this doughnut genius over here!"