Our modern society sanitizes this discussion.\u00a0\u00a0We use words like right-wing or authoritarian or populist or nationalists to describe politicians who believe in the power of a single leader of the government to \u201cprotect\u201d society from \u201cbad influences\u201d.\u00a0Those \u201cbad influences\u201d often include race \u2013 that is, the majority protecting its own influence against other races.\u00a0\u00a0If that sounds racist, so be it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGodwin\u2019s Law\u201d is an internet discussion term.\u00a0\u00a0It states:\u00a0\u00a0\u201c\u2026(I)f you mention\u00a0Adolph Hitler\u00a0or\u00a0Nazis\u00a0within a discussion thread, you’ve automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in.”<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0We won\u2019t sully this essay by violating that rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there is a demonstrable commonality among names like Bannon and Bolsonaro, Trump and Netanyahu, Orban and Putin. They all are beyond \u201ctraditional\u201d conservatives. They espouse and represent all those terms mentioned before: right-wing, authoritarian, populist, nationalist, even racist. Without violating Godwin\u2019s Law \u2013 they are neo-Fascists. Godwin didn\u2019t say anything about Mussolini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The date January 6th<\/sup>\u00a0evokes strong memories in the United States; of police officers beaten with poles, the Capitol violated with intruders carrying Confederate battle flags, the very processes of our Constitutional democracy under attack.\u00a0\u00a0It was part of the \u201cFascist handbook\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0to convince the masses to distrust the government, then send them to destroy the symbols of that government.\u00a0Mussolini used that tactic to take control of Italy (and the unspoken to control Germany).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s branded into our national history, along with July 4th<\/sup>\u00a0and December 7th<\/sup>\u00a0and September 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now January 6th<\/sup>\u00a0is not only a date of infamy in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0The neo-Fascists in Brazil used that exact same plan, encouraged by ousted President Bolsonaro.\u00a0\u00a0The images were eerily familiar:\u00a0\u00a0the smashed windows, the crowd control barricades turned into battering rams, the seemingly endless wanderings of the mob.\u00a0\u00a0And the words:\u00a0\u00a0\u201crigged electronic voting machines\u201d and a \u201cstolen election\u201d are straight from the Steve Bannon script.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noticeably absent from the Brasilia mobs were the authorities.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t have their battle on the steps of the Capitol; the police didn\u2019t show up.\u00a0\u00a0Today the Brazilian authorities are questioning the police and state governing leaders.\u00a0\u00a0Where were they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bannon supplied the Bolsonaro crowd with the playbook. He was a cheerleader for them as they stormed the capital and desecrated their government buildings. And Bolsonaro himself: he hung out in Kissimmee, Florida, feigning ignorance of the violence committed in his name. It must have given him a tummy-ache; he checked into the hospital. Not surprising he\u2019s in Florida, it puts him under the \u201causpices\u201d of Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ronald Reagan famously quoted the Bible in describing America. He said we were \u201cthe shining city on the hill\u201d, the example of democracy for the whole world to see. But today, our example has eroded. Even before the Trump era, the failure of the Supreme Court to protect our democracy from partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression made us \u201cless free\u201d. And with the election and actions of Donald Trump; authoritarian views gained a stronger grip on American politics. That culminated in the myth of \u201cStop the Steal\u201d and the reality of January 6th<\/sup>. And it\u2019s not over \u2013 witness the far-right wing power of a small number of Republican Congressmen. America will see plenty more evidence of neo-Fascism in the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today that \u201cShining City\u201d is now tarnished by the grime of Fascism. We are not only threatened internally by neo-Fascists, but exporting the ideology to the world. It\u2019s not like the \u201cold days\u201d, with ships loading guns in the harbor. American Fascism today is transmitted through the algorithmic magic of social media. Almost three billion people in the world are on Facebook, two billion on Instagram and What\u2019s App, three hundred million on Twitter. The American social media trends are worldwide, and the mathematical equations that make money for Meta and Twitter are geared to create discord. It\u2019s not that Zuckerberg and Musk (well, maybe Musk) are neo-Fascists themselves, it\u2019s just the best way for them to make money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like the German industrialists of the 1930\u2019s, who found that supporting authoritarianism was \u201cgood for business\u201d, the social media giants of today are counting their cash through the unrest they create.\u00a0\u00a0They are exporting America’s version of neo-Fascism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they are doing it for the profit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"January 6th<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
City on the Hill<\/h3>\n\n\n\n