The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism (With notes pertaining to current events 12-10-16)
Free Inquiry 5-11-3
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1 Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
MAGA
Red Hats
Memes
"Lock her Up"
"Build the wall"
2 Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
BUILD THAT WALL
TRUMP: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Trump on torture: “Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works… Waterboarding is fine, but it’s not nearly tough enough, ok?”
“Well it’s not the American way to have heads chopped off and have people drowning in steel cages,” Trump said, presumably referring to videos released by the Islamic State that show such execution methods. “And so we can have our disagreements, but we’re going to have to get much tougher as a country. We’re going to have to be a lot sharper and we’re going to have to do things that are unthinkable almost.
“Unthinkable, when you look at what’s happening to us, when you look at what’s going on in this country and throughout the world and we don’t want, you know they’re allowed to cut off heads and they’re allowed to chop off heads, and we can’t waterboard. So people can have disagreements, but I feel we have to get much, much, stronger, tougher and smarter.”
"We have to play the game the way they're playing the game. You're not going to win if we're soft and they're, they have no rules,"
"Did somebody tell ISIS, 'Look, we're going to treat your guys well. Will you please do us a favor and treat our guys well?' They don't do that. We're not playing by -- we are playing by rules, but they have no rules. It's very hard to win when that's the case," Trump said, adding that the United States' ban on waterboarding is a sign of weakness.
"I think we've become very weak and ineffective. I think that's why we're not beating ISIS. It's that mentality," Trump said, adding that ISIS "must think we are a little bit on the weak side."
"The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families”
3 Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4 Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
Trump: "I love war"
Trump: “Our military is a disaster.”
Trump: "History shows that when America is not prepared is when the danger is greatest. We want to deter, avoid and prevent conflict through our unquestioned military dominance,"
Trump said in a speech to the Union League of Philadelphia that he will ask Congress to reverse cuts to defense spending enacted under the 2013 budget sequester once he takes office and submit a new budget to rebuild the US military, which Trump described as unprepared to confront the threats the US faces. (http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/politics/donald-trump-defense-spending-sequester/)
'The U.S. spends close to what the entire rest of the world spends in defense'
'No other military or combination of militaries could even begin to inflict the slightest numbers of casualties on the United States military in a conventional war. Consider: The U.S. spends close to what the entire rest of the world spends in defense. $711 billion. Per year. The next closest is China at $143 billion.' (https://www.military1.com/all/article/402211-how-much-stronger-is-the-us-military-compared-with-the-next-strongest-power/)
5 Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
- Trump: ""I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there, and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything." (It's not clear who Trump was talking about.) "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."
6 Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
Trump uses his Twitter account to spread things that are not true: Trump via Twitter: "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally"
Trump about journalist and the media: "“They’re scum,” Trump said. “They’re horrible people. They are so illegitimate. They are just terrible people.”
Mike Pence tried to start a state run media outlet.
The taxpayer-funded news service, was intended to provide pre-written news stories to Indiana news outlets, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star.
(http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/29/indiana-governor-ends-plans-state-run-news-outlet/22529471/)
7 Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Trump: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”
Trump: "would certainly implement" a database system tracking Muslims in the United States,"
"I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump said in Newton, Iowa, in between campaign town halls.
"There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases," he added. "We should have a lot of systems."
When asked whether Muslims would be legally obligated to sign into the database, Trump responded, "They have to be — they have to be."
(http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database-n466716)
8 Religion and Government Are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9 Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
- Trump appointed three Goldman Sachs Executives to be in key positions in his administration
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38269257)
It's worth mentioning Steve Bannon is also a media producer who happens to run a website that caters the the "alt-right" a new "name" or "label" being used by modern fascists.
10 Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
Trump via Twitter: "Chuck Jones, who is President of United Steelworkers 1999, has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country!"
"If United Steelworkers 1999 was any good, they would have kept those jobs in Indiana. Spend more time working-less time talking. Reduce dues"
11 Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
A website was created by "Turning Point USA" run by to help report academic professors who are guilty of "liberal academics". It tracks their full names, locations, offenses and sometimes photos.
http://www.professorwatchlist.org/
Turning Point USA, a 501c3 led by Trump supporter Charlie Kirk a 22-year-old who didn’t himself attend college, spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer.
12 Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
- Slogan - "LOCK HER UP"
Trump via Twitter: "Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail. Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election"
Trump: "I didn’t think I’d say this and I’m going to say it and I hate to say it. … If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception,"
Trump: "I would do stop-and-frisk,"
Trump via Twitter: "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!"
13 Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
- Sarah Palin on Trump's Carrier deal: "When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent, meanwhile, the invisible hand that best orchestrates a free people's free enterprise system gets amputated. Then, special interests creep in and manipulate markets.Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail"
14 Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
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