How Fascism Sneaks Up On Us

Ironically, Tea Partiers call Obama a fascist while their Tea Party rallies are being funded by giant corporate lobbying interests, including the Koch brothers.

The TPers rant and rave and weep about "taking our country back" and lament the long-forgotten time of our founders. While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting your country to be better and stronger, and there is certainly nothing unAmerican about taking to the streets to rail against the establishment, what we are witnessing is in some ways nothing but silly, illogical hysteria.

What do they mean when they say they want to "take the country back?" Back from whom? Or what? To when? What has happened in the last 2 years to change the way of life in this country so starkly that they are threatening bloodshed and violence?

Assuming for argument's sake that the Tea Party is not just populated by people who are pissed that their President is black, what is it that they see lacking in our country? What is wrong?

Has anyone been able to decipher precisely what the Tea Party wants? I cannot figure it out!

To me, being an American is all about choices. Freedom is, essentially, the power to choose. And I make choices based on (1) the world we actually live in, as I understand it, (2) the goals I would like to see our society pursue, (3)avoiding the path I DO NOT want our country to head down, and (4) the likelihood of success.

So when I hear people screaming about shrinking the federal government, I want to know: which parts of the federal government do you want to shrink or eliminate? (If I knew, I might agree! Why do we still subsidize tobacco, for example? That's stupid!)

When I hear people exclaiming "keep your government hands off my medicare," I know they are obviously confused.

When I hear vague, sweeping criticisms followed by violent threats to "resort of 2nd Amendment remedies" if they don't get their way, I know I'm hearing from people who are seriously upset about something they seem unable or unwilling to articulate who have decided they no longer want to live in a democratically elected republic.

Here is our current situation as I see it. We have a large federal government. We also have local and state governments of varying sizes and influences. And we have a very large, rich and powerful corporate lobby that is comprised (mostly) of 6 industries: defense contractors, energy (including oil), banking, agriculture, health care (insurance), and telecommunications. (Some retailers are pretty powerful too, but those industries are far more competitive. The 6 named above are basically functioning as cartels now, IMO. That gives them SO MUCH POWER!)

In this real world that we have created, power will be wielded. It will be wielded by either the government or by corporations. Since the government is an extension of me (and you and all the people), I choose to empower the government. Empowering government is an extension of ME exercising MY power. If I abdicate my power, I hand it over to the private sector, which, right now, is controlled by CORPORATIONS (not small businesses or individuals or even local governments).

All this rhetoric about the government having too much power is bizarre to me. We elect the people! We should exercise our vote to control how they govern!

So, we don't trust our government, that we elected, but we do trust Goldman Sachs, BP, and other large corporations? How does that make sense? Those corporations do not answer to us AT ALL!

Giving power to corporations to control our society is a scary proposition. Government may be inefficient, but it's raison d'etre is to serve the people (you and me). If it fails to do so, it is most likely because we have become lazy and we do not elect better leaders. In contrast, the purpose of corporations is to make a profit. Period. No moral code, not ethical guidelines, just make a profit. Corporations are necessary, they perform a vital function in our economy and our society. But they are not people, and they are NOT ON OUR SIDE!


If we want to wield more power in this country then we should engage and GET BEHIND YOUR GOVERNMENT INSTEAD OF UNDERMINING IT. In a democratically elected republic, we each wield power through our elected officials. If we tie their hands and weaken them to the point that they cannot do our will, protect us, and provide the vital services we need, then our choices are reduced to corporate government (fascism) or anarchy. Those are choices I wish to avoid.