I’ll get back to the “political office” vs. “run away” vs. “grassroots revolutionary” vs. “grassy knoll” discussion later (and, in case you’re worried, grassy knoll will end up being an unacceptably distant fourth place option).

But for now, this is culled from an old (7/30/03) email from a friend – claimed to be written based on a study of the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Suharto, Pinochet, and others:

FOURTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM:

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.
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’ of even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
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.
5. Rampant Sexism – The government if fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or through sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivation tool by the government over the masses.
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.
   [ note by phaedrus - This one doesn't feel completely right to me - a lot of fascists have been anti-religion, but I'd have to look into it to be sure. ]
9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders in power, creating a mutually beneficial usiness/government relationship and power elite.
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.
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 is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
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.
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 who use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination of) the opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections

In reality, I wonder how much of the above is accurate and how much is spun to condemn our current situation as much as possible, but it is interesting thought fodder…

###

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An article about the death of Nick Berg which gives some interesting insight on America’s rabid right and suggests a possibility that even if everything happened as the PTB (I like that acronym) claim, it still may have indirectly been enabled by anti-anti-war activists.

These people are Americans who, when having found a list of other American’s who were involved in anti-war efforts, did what they could to screw with their lives – to take on “The Enemy Within”.

Michael Berg, Nick’s father, was published on the FreeRepublic as being one of the enemy for being in support of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition’s March 20th protest. His listing also included his company (Prometheus Methods Tower Service – the family radio business that Nick was in Iraq working with).

The Free Republic forum members reported themselves as getting involved in messing with the people on this list. The commanders of people who were active members of the military were sent emails. A Coast Guard member’s background was researched and when it was discovered that he didn’t believe in the wars on drug or terrorism, his chief got a telephone call. Comments regarding being sure the FBI was looking into the list were made.

Less than a month after this list was released, Nick Berg of Prometheus Methods Tower Service was arrested in Iraq. A couple weeks later, he was dead. Possibly coincidence, but possibly a flag next to a name that made him a risk to be arrested and investigated in Iraq.

If the actions of the “FReepers” did play a part in the original arrest of Nick Berg, the irony is that unlike his antiwar father, Nick Berg supported both Bush and the war in Iraq to the extent that he had visited Iraq several times with the desire to be a part of the rebuilding efforts.

Anyway, here’s the article.

And here’s the FreePress posting of names.

###

And if you haven’t gotten a chance to see the site about The Stanford Prison Experiment, be sure to do so. Even if you know the gist of it, reading the site gives a lot of insight.

This link about The Stanford Prison Experiment was on bohemianrapsody’s web log.

I’ll dispense with commentary at this time and simply state that it is a must read.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

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In a comment, krazykat5848 mentioned a book by Michael Parenti that describes Rome’s slip from a Republic into an Empire and the parallels with modern times. A couple times a week, strangeblackcat brings me the latest news and rumors which, when combined with what I am reading and hearing elsewhere, paints a picture of a bad situation getting worse daily.

I feel like I’m faced with a choice: Hunker down and bunker up and get ready for bad times ahead or Stick the neck out and do what I can to make a better future (realistically still getting ready for bad times ahead).

Ditch for Canada, Ireland, Germany, Costa Rica, or a couple dozen other places that may avoid the worst blows of the storm to come? Dive into politics and try and change the system from within? Distribute flyers and leaflets and try and inspire near or total revolution? Look for a good grassy knoll?

Or should I just continue what I have been doing and bitch a bit but do very little beyond that. Continue gardening, working at a night club, and picking up the odd Web site work when I can get it.

Sometimes, I envy those of faith. It would be a relief to believe, deep down, that no matter what I suffer in this life, as long as I work for what is right, I will be rewarded in the next one. It’d make it a little less scary to risk poverty, prison, or worse doing the right thing in this life (although, still not anywhere near easy). Unfortunately for me, to gain this courage would require taking a leap of faith that I have been unable to make.

Sometimes, I envy those who believe what they’re told – who can go on day by day feeling that what the government tells them is the truth, that America is at the forefront of human ethics and achievement, that what they are doing with their life is what they should be doing with their life. Unfortunately for me, that cowardice is only available to those who refuse to recognize the truth around them. While drink and drugs can numb that awareness, they can not eliminate it and when used in an attempt to do so, only increase one’s feelings of shame.

So. Just by looking at the questions I ask, it is pretty clear what the “right” answer is. (It is interesting to wonder where that sense of right and wrong comes from when one doesn’t have faith…)

That leaves me with two new, very difficult questions to answer.

First: What is the best way to proceed?

After that is answered, I have to decide whether or not I can find the will to do so.

So. Best way to proceed.

The idea of running for office has occurred to me, but then, as I look at it, I realize that (as a general rule) to win an office, you need to be a Democrat or a Republican. To run as anything else, you get to choose from being ignored, being ridiculed, or being reviled by those who should be your allies as a “Spoiler”.

While I like aspects of both, I don’t agree with enough of the Republican or the Democratic platforms to run as either without being a hypocrite. For that matter, I’m not sure I can be part of any hierarchical party without being a hypocrite. That leaves me with the Anarchists, and possibly the Greens or Libertarians.

So it doesn’t look like its going to be a political office for me (although, I’d encourage everyone to keep their eye on strangeblackcat who though he may claim to Know Nothing may end up with some curious commentary on the subject).

But, if not office, then what?

###

Fascists! Nazis!

I’ve gone in to this before, but these are terms that have become both deadly insults and meaningless rhetoric due to overuse and distortion.

The overuse thing I am not going to address at this time, but what do I mean by distortion?

Fascists and Nazis have become inhuman devils.

A Nazi is a monster willing and capable of wiping out entire races and cold bloodedly performing lethal experiments on humans as well as able to calmly kill millions of men, women, and children.

A Fascist is a nameless, faceless authoritarian who will imprison or kill any threat to the State without mercy or compunction.

Don’t worry, I’m not about to try and revise what happened during the Holocaust or excuse the evils that occurred. But I am going to claim that those Nazis were no different than any other group of people and that by demonizing them, we lose sight of the fact that under the right circumstances, we could become them.

The library at rotten.com puts it well:

The mistake often made in describing the crimes and actions of the Third Reich is to somehow dehumanize them, turn all the players into demons and monsters, the same techniques used by the Nazis themselves to target and exterminate Jews and other undesirables. To dehumanize Nazis is to turn them into archetypes as opposed to functioning humans; it sets us up to be “surprised” again when traits of the Nazis show up elsewhere, in other places, at a lessened level but with the same misguided goals and logic behind them.

Honestly look into a mirror and imagine yourself to be a German during the early 1930s. You love your country and are proud of your people. Maybe you trust your leaders or maybe you figure politicians are politicians, but it is important to be loyal to your country. You know that you are basically a good person, albeit with a few flaws…

Fundamentally, humans are humans – this had to describe the vast majority of the German people. Yet, within a decade, Germany was inflicting horrors on the world.

Now we revile the trappings of what led to the Nazis, and we are disgusted by anything that seems too close, but yet how different is our view of the turbaned “fundamentalist Muslim terrorist” from the German view of the Yarmulke wearing “greedy murdering Jew”.

Of course, the enlightened American tells themselves, “Not all Muslims are like that – many of them are very decent people – it’s just the fundamentalists – I even know some perfectly decent Muslims.” I have gay friends! I have black friends! Or whatever. I’m sure a lot of Germans in the mid 1930s had a number of Jewish friends too.

“But I’m a liberal, I know that the propaganda is full of shit”

And maybe you do – maybe you’re immune to propaganda of the currently brewing nightmare. However, you’re still human, and unless you are always questioning your feelings and motivations, a different hook and line may have caught you.

Remember, it was humanist liberals that committed the atrocities of the French Revolution and put the imperialist Napoleon into power. Great ideas! Liberty, Equality! All men are created equal! Dreams echoed by America’s own revolution. The aristocracy were their Jews, their Muslims. The Church were their homosexuals and gypsies.

Most of us can be inspired to hate some label or another. Once we see the label rather than the person, we can be manipulated into

Know that unless you are a true pacifist, unless you can’t imagine ever being willing to kill a person for an ideal, under the right circumstance and environment, you could end up being part of the force behind the guillotine. Behind the Gas Chamber. Behind the cluster bombs and DU.

Maybe its “those Jew hating Palestinians” that would inspire you to action. Maybe its those “gay hating fundamentalist Christians” who you would send to the death camp. Maybe its those “earth raping corporate elite”. Maybe its those “jackbooted fascist cops”. Christians? Republicans? Rednecks? The French? Germans? Communists? Corporatists? Jews? Muslims? The Rich? Freeloaders? Terrorists? Hippies? Frat Boys? Masons? The British? Protestants? Catholics?

Are you sure it couldn’t happen to you? If you are, congratulations! I wish I could say I had never slipped a little down that road. That I had never lost sight of the face behind a badge or rifle or flag.

As we’re dealing with the current nightmare, if we can imagine a different variant of the nightmare capturing us, we can reach out more effectively to those who have swallowed today’s propaganda.

###

Fascism. Of course, calling someone fascist or referring to the state or the police or whatever as fascist has little meaning today. It has been overlapped with “Nazi” too often and tarred with the same “inhuman” brush.

But what is Fascism? To dig further, I’d highly recommend reading Wikipedia’s write up (from which much of this is drawn).

Basically, Fascism is an elevation of the state above the individual. To expand the import of the state beyond just a system of governance. The state determines ethics – what is right and what is wrong. The state determines what is good for you and what is not good for you and enforces those choices.

Fascism knows that many individuals are weak and lazy, but that when combined they become strong. Like the Roman fasces, one stick is weak but a bundle is unbreakable.

There are many fascist elements in our society. Our society wasn’t always ashamed of this fact – it still isn’t, but it uses different terms for it.

You can see aspects of it in school loyalties – listen to team cheers sometimes.

You can see it in interstate rivalries – often good natured, but definitely builds an “us and them” mentality.

Sport team loyalties – these sometimes extend to brawls and worse.

Political party allegiances – yes, a party generally represents some set of ideas that you may be behind, but too often, it seems to degenerate into blind allegiance. I still wonder how any self respecting Republican who believes in the ideas of liberty, states rights, etc., can be behind our current President, but the label “Republican” is enough. (Before you get feeling too smug, the same happens with the labels “Democrat” and “Green”)

Nationalism – “My country, right or wrong” could easily be the Fascist motto.

Paternalistic Laws – Seatbelt, helmet, smoking, drinking, drugs, whatever. You exist to be a productive member of society and those things that decrease or eliminate your utility should be banned or restricted.

In many cases, Fascism has also included an aspect of Corporatism. Now, while we don’t give our corporations direct government representation like they did in Italy, we do recognize a corporation as an entity with many of the same rights as a person and it is impossible to ignore that they have far more influence on American politics than most individuals do.

Of course, that’s because a bundle of sticks is a lot stronger than a single stick. One problem with this in the case of the corporations is that often a lot of the individual sticks probably wouldn’t support the policy the bundle ends up pushing if they were fully aware of it.

The little sticks are just looking to make a living or do well on an investment, but those in control of the bundle can wield that bundle to accomplish many things. Great things, and terrible things.

But don’t confuse Fascism with Socialism or Communism. Fascism supports private ownership and private responsibility. The company doesn’t serve the workers, the workers serve the company. Your country doesn’t serve you, you serve your country.

From Wikipedia’s description of Fascism:

As a political science, the philosophical pretext to the literal fascism of the historical Italian type believes the state’s nature is superior to that of the sum of the individual’s comprising it, and that they exist for the state rather than the state existing to serve them. The resources individuals provide from participating in the community are conceived as a productive duty of individual progress serving an entity greater than the sum of its parts. therefore all individual’s business is the state’s business, the state’s existence is the sole duty of the individual. In its Corporativist model of totalitarian but private management the various functions of the state were trades conceived as individualized entities making that state, and that it is in the state’s interest to oversee them for that reason, but not direct them or make them public by the rationale that such functioning in government hands undermines the development of what the state is. Private activity is in a sense contracted to the state so that the state may suspend the infrastructure of any entity in accord to their usefulness and direction, or health to the state.

…

As a political and economic system in Italy, it combined elements of corporatism, totalitarianism, nationalism, and anti-communism.

So it seems that while we have called the word evil and despise the most blatant images of it, we (at least as a country) still embrace many of the ideas behind Fascism.

Well, this weekend I did my first bicycle camping trip in over a decade.

We did pretty light mileage – just over 40 each way, but my bike was pretty darn heavy and going through both the Mississippi and St. Croix river valleys meant quite a bit of hills.

It was a prep trip for next month’s trip to Siren, WI which promises longer days, bigger hills, and (in some sections) harder roads. It went pretty good, so I’m feeling OK about the longer ride. I can feel that my muscles have been used, but nothing’s dying, so I think it’ll be OK.

TheGirl hurt her knee a bit, but we’re not sure if it was from dumping her bike at an intersection or pushing the weight. I’m hoping it was the dump, but we’ll see. The weather was awesome – no rain, moderate wind, moderate sun – but it was a wee bit chilly. Fortunately, the snow storm that hit Madison WI didn’t get to us!

STILL without my motorcycle. At this point, the Hitching Post is going to have to do some phenomenal work to recover their reputation in my eyes. I mean my bike better be spotless with platinum and titanium detailing and get 100 mpg and have a really comfy seat in order for me to feel like the hassle has been worth it. Enh. Tink, Tink, Tink, Kaboom, and all that.

Last Friday was Critical Mass – which turned out to be quite difficult on a 7′+ bike – I didn’t realize how unstable my bike is under 8 or 9 mph because other than on big hills I seldom go that slow. Got a lot more experience with that this weekend (big hills * heavy loads / relative strength = slow speed), but I’ll be using the commuter from now on for mass.

Unfortunately, it turns out that some of the people behaved pretty poorly and made the lot of us look like a bunch of jerks. The original complaint that brought it to my attention inspired this response on my part.

Well, I’d better get the nose down to the grind for a couple more hours.