American
Fascism
Since
Donald Trump became the 45th American president, we hear a lot of
talk and hinting about Fascism in America. It is important for us to
be as clear as possible about our current condition.
Fascism
is a form of authoritarianism. The government's powers have no limit.
Popular opinion carries no weight. All power is in the hands of a
fascist party. There are no elections. What laws there are, are
decreed by different government officials. Citizens may not appeal
the orders of the government to an independent judiciary. Citizens do
not have any protection against the government police power. If the
government believes you to be a threat to its power, they can arrest
you and if they so choose kill you. You may disappear and never be
heard of again.
In
a fascist society there are no rights to privacy. Any organization
you may belong to, is organized and run by the government. With the
rise of a facist government, labor unions are turned into branches of
the government as are other previously voluntary organizations. Clubs
of stamp collectors, clubs of genealogists, garden clubs-- all become
official state-sponsored organizations.
Fascist
governments tend to be paranoid. They have their spies everywhere.
Families are disrupted when some members belong to the official
fascist party and spy on other members of the family who may be less
enamored with the new government. It is not safe to make negative
comments about the government in your workplace; someone may report
your jokes to the police and you may find yourself arrested in a
concentration camp before you know what hit you. The government
controls education. The government takes books off library shelves
that it regards as hostile to its own mission. The government decides
that certain kinds of art and music are unacceptable. They may not be
performed in public. Private performances expose the performers to
government suspicion. The government declares certain groups of the
population to be no longer legitimate citizens. In extreme cases,
such as Nazi Germany, these select groups consisting of Jews, of
homosexuals, of communists were slaughtered in large numbers.
The
government institutes a reign of terror. Citizens who are disaffected
will be very careful not to voice their criticisms for fear of
disappearing in prison camps. The new fascist party and its
government are in complete control.
Fascist
governments are wild eyed nationalists. They incline towards military
adventures in order to expand the nation's territory and power. They
do not tire to boast of the superiority of their nation and its
culture over other neighboring nations.
Can
Americans in 2017 recognize themselves in this portrait?
Yes
and no. We may point to President Trump’s "America First"
rhetoric. But we need to acknowledge that American nationalism has
been in the ascendant for a long time. We have invaded and bombed
foreign countries in order to promote our particular form of
government which we call "democracy." The belief that our
institutions are superior to those of other countries has dominated
American foreign policy for at least a century.
But
our politics, you say, is not dominated by one party. After all we
have the Democrats and the Republicans and they are at each others’
throat quite regularly. But this two-party system does raise
interesting questions that need a lot more reflection than is
possible here: it often seems to many people that we really have only
one political party – the party of the rich and that those of us
who are not rich are not represented.
We
do have, we think, an independent judiciary. There are constitutional
protections of citizens against the government. The government cannot
just make you disappear and even kill you if that's what they feel
like—unless you are undocumented.
The
government cannot freely censor literature and art. It is not free to
determine what children will learn in school. It is not independent
of popular opinion about schools or cultural matters. It cannot
simply cleanse libraries of books it considers a threat to its own
power.
We
do have private organizations that are not arms of the government.
The local kids sports or poetry organizations are not under
government or fascist party control. It would be completely illegal
for the government to try to take over those private groups.
Moves
in the direction of fascism are always a threat. Since 9/11 Congress
has allowed the government new forms of supervision of private
communications by citizens. It has allowed government police forces
such as the FBI or CIA to interfere with private citizens and their
property in ways which are of dubious legality. The freedoms we brag
about are much more precarious than we are willing to admit and their
defense is a continuing effort – an effort that is not always
successful.
But
none of that makes the US a fascist country. For most of us fascism
is a constant threat, but not a reality.
Fascism
is a constant threat but not a reality if you are a middle-class
white person, especially if you are a man. Your world is very
different if you are a black youngster or even a black adult – man
or woman.
In
2016, long before Pres. Trump
got elected,
more than 250 black persons were killed by police. 34% of unarmed
people killed by police were black men. Black men constitute 6% of
the population of our country. Very few of the police involved in
these killings were indicted. Even fewer were convicted.
If
you are black in America your government resembles a fascist
government much more closely. You may be arrested and killed pretty
much at the discretion of the police. You have no recourse to the
court system to protect you.
The
Constitution protects citizens very unevenly. White middle-class
citizens live in a more or less constitutional democracy. The country
in which black Americans live resembles fascism a lot more closely.
And
God help you if you are undocumented.
Is
America a fascist country? There is no unambiguous answer to that
question. The answer you get depends a whole lot on whom you ask and
who you are. Sadly, white citizens do not frequently enough recognize
that Black citizens live in a very different America from that
inhabited by Whites.
