The Rise of Pseudo Fascism Part I:
The Morphing of The Conservative Movement

From the always thought provoking Seattle journalist David Neiwert:

What's become clear as this election year has progressed -- and especially in the wake of the Republican National Convention -- is the actual shape of this fresh beast.

Call it Pseudo Fascism. Or, if you like, Fascism Lite. Happy-Face Fascism. Postmodern Fascism. But there is little doubt anymore why the shape of the "conservative movement" in the 21st century is so familiar and disturbing: Its architecture, its entire structure, has morphed into a not-so-faint hologram of 20th-century fascism.

It is not genuine fascism, even though it bears many of the basic traits of that movement. It lacks certain key elements that would make it genuinely so:

-- Its agenda, under the guise of representing mainstream conservatism, is not openly revolutionary.

-- It is not yet a dictatorship.

-- It does not yet rely on physical violence and campaigns of gross intimidation to obtain power and suppress opposition.

-- American democracy has not yet reached the genuine stage of crisis required for full-blown fascism to take root.

Without these facets, the current phenomenon cannot properly be labeled "fascism." But what is so deeply disturbing about the current state of the conservative movement is that it has otherwise plainly adopted not only many of the cosmetic traits of fascism, its larger architecture -- derived from its core impulses -- now almost exactly replicates that by which fascists came to power in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s.

It is in this sense that I call it Pseudo Fascism. Unlike the genuine article, it presents itself under a normative, rather than a revolutionary, guise; and rather than openly exulting in violence, it pays lip service to law and order. Moreover, even in the areas where it resembles real fascism, the similarities are often more familial than exact. It is, in essence, less virulent and less violent, and thus more likely to gain broad acceptance within a longtime stable democratic system like that of the United States.

And even in the key areas of difference, it is not difficult to discern that those dissimilarities are gradually shrinking, and in danger of disappearing.

Click here for the rest.

Of course, it is now cliched to point to the superficial similarities between post 9/11 America and the rise of the Third Reich; however, Neiwert isn't your typical knee-jerk, outraged liberal: he has devoted quite a bit of his research and writing energies these last few years to studying neo-Nazi hate groups in America. That is, Neiwert has an understanding of the motivations and machinations underlying European fascist movements of the past, and how such thinking operates within American communities today. In other words, if anybody is qualified to truly meditate on the potential for fascism in the United States, Neiwert's your guy.

Which is kinda scary, given his assessment.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$