I moved myself into a spot where I have started looking at politicians whose operations and presentations give symptoms of fascism. It has been interesting – with each president, I am reluctant to use the term fascist, yet I find conduct that I can imagine Benito Mussolini approving. I am very uncomfortable.
In this 21st Century, we’ve seen Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and Trump again. Each has shown something that seems kind of fascist. I got tripped up on the Patriot Act when I needed to become a signer on the Lodge checking account. Glacier wanted my social security number and told me it was a Patriot Act requirement. Now I will give Tammy credit – when I argued against it, she went back to her bosses and found they were exceeding the law’s requirements. Even so, the experience gave me a long look at how much government control had been added to banking under Bush. And don’t get me started on those bastards who wear rubber gloves at airports. Bush got more government control over the transportation and banking industries with the Patriot Act. Benito Mussolini would have approved.
Obama had been President for just a month when he fired the CEO of General Motors. Technically he asked for Rick Wagoner’s resignation as the condition for giving GM more Government Money (amazing how the initials fit either general motors or government money). Still, it was an act that would have fit well in the Italy that was governed by Benny the Moose. Again I see an act that seems congruent with fascism’s doctrine. Today I’m reading that Obama called for “experimenting with new forms of journalism” – that “will require some government regulatory restraints.”
Mussolini rose to power in Italy with an emphasis on making Italy great again – the concept of returning to the power, the prestige of the Roman Empire. The MAGA concept of Make America Great Again seems similar. I’m no more willing to call Trump a fascist over this similarity than I want to call Bush or Obama fascists over their steps into congruency – but I can see how our democrat friends can seize on the similarity. I just can’t see how they ignore the similarities that come from their own guys.
And during Biden’s presidency – like Trump, Slow Joe made speeches calling for law and order. Trump’s prosecution in New York has definite similarities with – well, hell, either you see it or you don’t. The legal system was used to bust on Trump. The legal system is now being used to bust on those who busted on Trump. Biden’s “Red Speech” did have a format with more similarity to the Third Reich than to Roosevelt’s fireside chats.
I suppose that the problem is that I don’t see left and right as legitimate descriptors of our political system. As a sociologist, I’m pretty much Weberian – government has the exclusive legitimate power of violence. The question is, how much of that power will they use? Which side will leave the most to country’s citizens?
Benito Mussolini could find something to like about both political parties and all of our presidents – but the word fascist still seems to be flung around irresponsibly.
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