That’s what Hillary Clinton said on Saturday at a Wellesley college alumnae event. She was speaking with Madeline Albright, author of Fascism: A Warning.
“The idea that it just can’t happen here is just old fashioned, my friends. The demagoguery, the appeal to the crowd, the very clever use of symbols, the intimidation, verbal and physical. This is a classic problem. There is nothing new about it, it is just different means of message being delivered.”
My late Dad lived through the Great Depression and World War II. As a boy, I remember him warning me that just because we had defeated Hitler, the poison seeds of Fascism had been permanently planted in the minds of many and would rise again like the phoenix. I didn’t believe him then.
I do believe him now. The world is gradually morphing from liberal democracy into anti-democratic fascism.
Wake up, America!
It’s not coming. It’s already here. 🙁
I think the LGBTQ pride marchers attacked by Nazis this weekend in Detroit would agree with you, Betsey and Fred. Fascism is already arriving and setting up shop.
But I’m sure our illegitimate president (post-Mueller Report, any thoughtful person who knows the first thing about electoral politics would finally admit that he is not a fully legitimate American president) would say there were “fine people” among the Nazis that were attacking innocent people just trying to celebrate their lives there in Detroit.
I find the attacks by the Catholic Church even more disturbing than the Nazis in Detroit. They come from the Vatican as well as from individual Bishops.
The Nazis are widely viewed as extremist even in Red State America.
The Catholic Church, on the other hand, is the epitome of mainstream power. I find the Nazis a bit too easy as a target — the Roman Catholic hierarchy is far more powerful and far more threatening to our freedoms (especially for women) than the Nazis.
There are those who may wish it, but our system will stay put. We are much more resilient with stronger traditions than those nations which have actually succumbed to fascism.
Multiple sources concur that it is devilishly difficult to define “fascism” in any meaningful way.
I think if you could magically resurrect people from, say, 1959 or 1969 and ask them whether or not America of 2019 is — fill in the blank — “Communist”, “Socialist”, or “Fascist”, you’d get substantial numbers of people who say “Yes” for each.
I therefore think it’s important to define what we mean by “Fascist”, then use that as a benchmark to examine America of 2019 as well as other nations.
Vice President Henry Wallace wrote a prescient April 9, 1944 New York Times op-ed piece titled “Wallace Defines ‘American Fascism’“. It is well worth reading.
I invite you to consider just this one excerpt:
It seems to me that we really do need to define what we mean by “fascism” before we relax in the comfort of how “resilient” our system is.
“Fascism is the control of government by crony capitalism driven by right-wing ideology and bellicose nationalism.” Heritage dictionary definition of fascism
Let me see. The last election was rigged by the Russians and the Republicans through a propaganda campaign, the disenfranchisement of voters, and, possibly, the fixing of votes on voting machines without a paper trail. Trmp’s maladministration has been alienating long-term allies, coddling dictators and seeking common cause with them, and destroying the USA economy. Trmp himself has just announced that he is ready and willing to sell out this country in order to retain office.
Fascism is coming to the USA? Nah, it’s already here just not evenly distributed yet.