The Descent Into Fascism & The Voice of the Future

[keopeli]

Fascism takes a long time to affect it's primary citizens. I expect the next 10 years to be fine, though persistent deterioration internationally will continue. If the trend is not stopped before then, at some point America will stop being a place anyone wants to go to or do business with. We will start experiencing world sanctions. The chief architects will be Russia and China.

The Middle East will still be in turmoil and our military will still be there, although it will no longer be a volunteer only affair. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

I believe our infrastructure is sound enough to sustain our quality of life for some time, though labor will skyrocket in price and inflation will be out of control. In the US, this is how the rich and poor battle it out.

People think Isolationism is a choice, but it seems to me that it is usually imposed. I expect that Nationalism will flourish, but times will be hard because money will be difficult to find. Unemployment and poverty will abound.

God forbid it come to this. I think there's time to stop the mess.

And if we come back to today, there are real possibilities at hand. Many, many competent people have emerged into the spotlight who would defend a Democrat. Likewise, some more sober voices have emerged among Republicans. The Great Silence that gripped our minds in the new Millennium may yet be defeated by the Music of the Spheres. Mother Earth herself may compel us to put an end to this racket that has smeared what was once the voice of the free and the brave.

Free men don't murder innocent children.

Brave women don't tolerate murder, no matter what the rationale.

This must stop and this must stop now.

It's not just a few of us who feel this way. Millions of people marched across America on February 15, 2003, to protest the Iraq War, and that was when support for Bush's War was inconceivably high. Imagine what the number would be today, should Bush want to start another war. Is it enough? Will it be enough? I don't know, but that many people speaking together is something very special.

That is a voice.

And it's not mine. It's ours. Americans.

That's where I'm putting my hope. And, that's why I'm not doing half bad.

Peace.

[Bad Penny]

1. I don't agree

Once the fascists have the reigns they skip headlong toward the hellfire. Bush took a year and a half to get his wars rolling and the neocons have made no secret they intend to make the world hurt. Fascists are always geared toward war profits. 10 more years of these guys won't be fine. We'll be lucky if we can find carrion in a pile of rubble to eat

[keopeli]

2. Good point, but I think they'll want to keep everyone thinking things are

fine and dandy through at least two more presidential elections. Things could collapse sooner if there was surprise aggression from elsewhere.

What we agree on is that something must be done to stop this now.

Peace.

[Selatius]

4. Actually, the smartest corporatists would keep the illusion permanently

At least, they will try to maintain it for as long as possible. The best way to control a population is to make them believe they are living free. If you can make a person believe black is white and up is down, you can make him do anything. It's less of a waste of resources if you can build prisons of fear and ignorance instead of concrete and steel, and you don't have to waste so many bullets and break so many billie clubs on them.

In short, it boils down to drilling this into people's minds:

War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength

It's the things George Orwell wrote about in "1984," and he tried to warn us, but nobody listened. Now here we are staring into the abyss.

[ixion]

7. yep... my thoughts as well...

[keopeli]

8. I agree, but I think the corpratists themselves are dogs and have

factions that battle each other. The current cabal is small and powerful, but their ruthlessness is certainly going to start costing everyone money.

The question then becomes, who has a plan that will sustain the status quo and still make money.

And will they do it with the Democrats or Republicans?

If the successor fails, however, we may see a tipping point economically.

All of this could change with an act of agression, of course.

[Selatius]

9. Oh, most definitely the corporatists aren't all supporting Bush

I'm sure for everyone who made a boatload of money off of Iraq, someone else probably lost money. Perhaps it is why the corporate-owned news media is starting to no longer be Bush's megaphone. They're not happy, so they're slowly opening the door to allow criticism in to weaken Bush.

In the end, no matter what they do against each other, they'd probably still circle the wagons if it came to simply keeping ordinary people away from power. "I want to replace Bush; he's starting to scare the sheep into running, but I'll be damned if I let the herd decide who replaces him without 'media conditioning' beforehand."

[unhappycamper]

3. Off topic, but who is the second head on the left? n/t

[Selatius]

5. Emperor Hirohito of Imperial Japan?

On edit: It looks like Hideki Tojo of Japan, prime minister during most of WW2. Convicted of war crimes and hung.

[ixion]

6. somewhere in between

The thing is this: once the social structure starts to breakdown, ANY government in power is going to have problems with the populace. It aids the fascist cause to keep the infrastructure intact -- keep up the appearance of prosperity -- as long as possible.

The problem is that as long as 'most' people have food/shelter and a job, they're not going to complain. When any one of those three go, so goes the social fabric.

However, I'll give you that we're moving along at a pretty speedy clip towards that ugly endpoint. :-(

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