Fascist America (But Not From Where You Think)

First, take a look at this Guardian quote:

Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.

They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the ten steps.

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these ten steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush Administration.

Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens’ ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognise the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don’t learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of “homeland” security - remember who else was keen on the word “homeland” - didn’t raise the alarm bells it might have.

It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his Administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable - as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here. And that we are further along than we realise.

Conason eloquently warned of the danger of American authoritarianism. I am arguing that we need also to look at the lessons of European and other kinds of fascism to understand the potential seriousness of the events we see unfolding in the US.

Now compare that with this Toledo Blade piece penned by somebody who thinks just like Naomi Wolf and Joe Conason:

Now, how would one disarm the American population? First of all, federal or state laws would need to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and one year in prison per weapon to possess a firearm. The population would then be given three months to turn in their guns, without penalty....

There goes what's left of the Second Amendment (without its formal repeal, natch).

Hunters would be able to deposit their hunting weapons in a centrally located arsenal, heavily guarded, from which they would be able to withdraw them each hunting season upon presentation of a valid hunting license. The weapons would be required to be redeposited at the end of the season on pain of arrest. When hunters submit a request for their weapons, federal, state, and local checks would be made to establish that they had not been convicted of a violent crime since the last time they withdrew their weapons. In the process, arsenal staff would take at least a quick look at each hunter to try to affirm that he was not obviously unhinged....

Was Seung hui-Cho "obviously unhinged"? Or would it really matter, since by the tenor of Dan Simpson's overall argument the "look" at each hunter would obviously be a lot more than just a "quick" one.

But here's the punchline:

The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm. ...

On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for "carrying." [emphasis added]

Annnnd there goes the Fourth Amendment, to join the Ninth, Tenth, and most of the First on the bypassed, eviscerated, and discarded components of the Bill of Rights. Indeed, as Cap'n Ed points out, Mr. Simpson's argument is precisely what the Second Amendment was inserted into the Bill of Rights to prevent.

But it's George W. Bush who is "turning America into a police state."

Sounds like classic fascist misdirection to me. And looky who's warming up in the on-deck circle for January 2009, just waiting to make Dan Simpson's dreams come true.

Naomi Wolf is right in her anticipation of "American authoritarianism," if not its source. With the political momentum behind the American Left, and an unmitigated disaster about to be perpetrated in the War Against Islamic Fundamentalism via the unforced retreat from Iraq, we are indeed "farther along than we realize."

And when it does "happen here," people like Wolf and Simpson will be celebrating, as the Polyester Curtain descends, bringing the Churchillian "New Dark Age" right along with it.

You know all the center-right talk radio hyperventilation each election cycle about that election being "the most critical in American history"? In 2008 that'll be an understatement.