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The Danger of American Fascism

This article was published in 1944 by VP Henry Wallace. Some highlights:

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful. Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. They are doing this even in those cases where they hope to have profitable connections with German chemical firms after the war ends. They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

Democracy to crush fascism internally must demonstrate its capacity to "make the trains run on time." It must develop the ability to keep people fully employed and at the same time balance the budget. It must put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels. As long as scientific research and inventive ingenuity outran our ability to devise social mechanisms to raise the living standards of the people, we may expect the liberal potential of the United States to increase. If this liberal potential is properly channeled, we may expect the area of freedom of the United States to increase. The problem is to spend up our rate of social invention in the service of the welfare of all the people.

created by Chris99 on Feb 21, 2008 at 10:10:35 pm     Comments: 7

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Comments ... #

After I saw the word "liberal" I stopped t got to people, then I had it.reading. And then after I saw the word "welfare" I started reading until it. Buzzwords flip the old noggin off and on like that.

I think Henry was referencing this Henry.

posted by charlatan on Feb 21, 2008 at 11:26:29 pm     #



I think over a hundred years ago, when the courts decided that corporations were people, there was lots of discussion that it would end democracy. Henry's words seem 100% relevant today. Corporate control is the elephant in the room that the media won't speak to , because they are part of it. That's why the internet, so far, is a threat to the system. Its become more of a "telescreen" though, and someday we will receive penalty for speaking our minds.

posted by prime3end on Feb 22, 2008 at 12:08:23 am     #



Someday we will get penalized for speaking our minds? That started about 20-30 years ago!

posted by CharlieA-Z on Feb 22, 2008 at 10:41:07 am     #



True, especially now in Toledo and especially if you speak against power.

posted by prime3end on Feb 22, 2008 at 10:51:42 am     #



Teh internets allows for pretty much free and unfettered free speech, unless you have a myspace account and make fun of it for being a spam company and Rupert Murdock for making the brilliant move of pissing off his wife, who initially was content on accepting little in a divorce settlement but then settled for half. I don't think people that short-sighted and undiplomatic should have so much power.

I think it's not necessarily the structure of corporate law, which can be changed with a few strokes of a populist pen or a proggy judge... it's the minute percentage of people who own most of corporate America and it's financial largess.

The concentration of financial wealth keeps us in the same boat as the Russian style communists, where no common people really own anything just payments on depreciable "assets". (which quickly become liabilities through overuse and pricing bubbles)

posted by charlatan on Feb 22, 2008 at 05:32:17 pm     #



guess my post was removed.

posted by Linecrosser on Feb 23, 2008 at 06:42:43 pm     #



nevermind was wrong post i was looking at.

posted by Linecrosser on Feb 23, 2008 at 06:43:59 pm     #