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The Driving Forces Behind American Fascism [1]

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Date: 2022-10-12

Trump gave the fascist movement it's fuehrer.

FDR

To defeat American Fascism it’s important to better understand the motives and interests behind the current Republican totalitarian movement. Which reflects unwavering support for Trump and the MAGA crowd. You cannot understand this brand of fascism without understanding the difference between their own goals and the rhetoric they employ to get support and votes.

The political goal of the Republican Party has long been focused on weakening the role of federal government rules and regulations and social spending as they pertain to the corporate world and the wealthy and privileged. And has been so since the days of FDR and the Great Depression.

Some will argue it dates back much further than even this. It should be remembered that FDR, while certainly for capitalism, managed to fend off the American fascist movement in part by making significant labor and social reforms, enough to win four consecutive terms. If you read what Republicans of that era were saying and advocating, it was certainly a line nearly as reactionary as today’s.

The Road to Fascism

America’s fascist movements have always pandered to racism and white supremacy. This KKK March on Washington in 1925 drew 60,000.

Sometime in the last 10-or-20-years Republicans in ruling circles came to the conclusion that a political party opposed to virtually all reforms, tax increases and social spending was doomed to irrelevance. National demographics were eventually not going to provide enough votes for the Republican Party. Making a much further shift to the right necessary in their view. A relatively fair vote would eventually lead to Democratic Party dominance. Democracy itself had become an enemy and obstacle to them as they defined their interests

So, it became necessary for Republicans to move towards politics that could usher in a much more corporate controlled and less democratic system. They began ratcheting up political attacks against the Democratic Party and started demonizing not only the Democratic Party, but their supporters and liberal and progressive ideas as well. Republicans began launching a new culture war and racist counter offensive in earnest, headed by a more open embrace of white supremacy and hate-the-other politics. The two-party system which had long ruled was in jeopardy and is barely on life-support today.

The Role of Trump

The devilish face of the “new” Republican Party

This move did not take off in earnest, however, until they managed to get Trump into office in 2016. He was able to demolish and further demonize the Democrats in the eyes of many poor, working and middle-class mostly white Americans by doing what many Republicans were hesitant to do, which was to pander much more heavily to racist, misogynist, and anti-immigrant sentiments despite the dangers. Other Republicans added attacks against gay folks and the transgendered. It eventually snowballed into a dangerous totalitarian movement which threatens democracy, free speech and the Constitution itself.

Republican Devolution

Republican recruitment has been extended to all sorts of deranged and violent groups and individuals. Candidates for office were increasingly selected for their extremism, Trump loyalty and malleability. Even help from Putin was considered acceptable. They are well aware that they have no rational measures to offer to many of the voters and supporters they rely on for voting majorities. So, they have rhetorically embraced those with long held irrationalities and biases, culminating with the coup attempt on January 6th by the more violent among them, led by Trump himself. The Republicans have found that openly pandering to long held biases is popular enough to gain the votes then need.

After the defeat of win by Trump in 2016 even though he lost by 3 million votes and the previous 8-year presidency of Obama, they knew that might never again win the White House again. So thanks to the boldness of Trump and how he was enabled by the media, they began moving toward dictatorship and open fascism, which of course our corporate media will never call it by its proper name. The subsequent loss by Trump by 7 million votes in 2020 confirmed their fears and desire for an authoritarian styled dictatorship.

Where Republican Blood Money Comes From

It should not be overlooked that enormous, almost unlimited funds have been made available to the fascist cause. Despite a trend in America which has increased the wealth and power of the upper classes and lowered the economic standards of the middle, working class and the poor, these backward forces desire complete power and dominance. Unlike the motives for fascism in the Germany of the 1920s and 30s, there has been no World-wide depression to exploit. Pure arrogance, the lust for power and greed are behind the motives of the Republican Party. Capitalist greed and the primacy of high profit rates.

Wall Street, the hub of market capitalism.

Support for fascism in ruling circles is hard to quantify numerically, but the situation has been long in the cards. It has also grown stronger with the decline of an independent labor movement (national union membership has dropped from about 33 % to as low as 14 % of the labor force since WWII by 1998). Due mainly to the shifting of industrial labor, which had expanded greatly in the 1930s and during WWII, to overseas countries and technological advances, both of which precipitated massive labor layoffs. It was only a matter of time before more and more elements in upper class circles would feel they could return to the good old non-union days of economic tyranny. So, to answer the question as to why some seek to establish a fascist state, it is largely because they think they can under current conditions, and it will increase profits and decrease taxes if they succeed.

The Dilemma of Upper-Class Anti-fascism

Senate Majority leader Schumer and House leader Pelosi.

The anti-fascist forces of the upper classes are comparably weak. One major reason is that they are also privileged and also rely on capitalism for their own standard of living. Only by calling on those classes most affected negatively can we hope to defeat it soundly. Fascist and reactionary tendencies have now gained a foothold in the working and middle classes, further complicating matters.

The increasing polarization between the two dominant parties must of necessity generate changes in the current Democratic leadership and policies, which cannot survive and maintain a centrist middle of the road orientation. To resist a move towards reform and progressive policies is political suicide. There is a reason why the Republicans are inherently opposed to reform and progress. Capitalism under them, which they represent in its rawest most backward form, considers profit and economic domination in the interests of the upper classes as the ultimate goal of our society. It is incapable of a balanced form of development that has an incentive to address the consequences of industrial waste, toxicity, and pollution.

And Alternative View of Capitalism

Capitalism is destroying the planet.

Capitalism is an imbalanced, unsustainable economic system that is destroying the planet. It is mistakenly equated with human freedom and democracy. It demonizes attempts to build a more socially responsible, just and humanitarian system. It stands only for the freedom of capitalist ownership to exploit labor and technology for all its worth and to give back as little as possible to the society it exploits. It is both unwilling and incapable of stopping the destruction of the planet by environmental pollution and the advance of global warming.

Flooding of Biblical Proportions

It has been known by science for at least 50 years that the use of fossil fuels will cause world-wide devastation. Most of the world’s big cities will be swallowed by the melting polar caps, and that’s not speculation, it’s in our future. And it will likely happen before the turn of the century. Capitalism has evolved into a planetary death spiral. Finally, it has shown its proclivity to maintain its vast wealthy interests via violence, scandalous military spending, tyranny and war.

Capitalist Development is not Sustainable

What capitalism does not represent is progress and a more sustainable way of life for planet Earth. The relatively privileged standards of many Western countries come from dramatically severe exploitation of both the underdeveloped countries and segments of underprivileged workers in their own countries.

We want, what I want, is for the Democratic Party to be on the morally right side of history. In order that our children and the children of the world will have a future. It should not accept the unregulated, irresponsible and criminal rule of market capitalism. It is not our friend, but the mortal enemy of civilization hidden behind a smiley face.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/12/2128253/-The-Driving-Forces-Behind-American-Fascism

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