America-
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -- DEFINETLY (see Pledge of Allegance, flag burning laws)
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -- Yes (anti-gay, Abu Ghraib incedent)
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -- Somewhat (Osama Bin Laden, although justified, but unjustified support against Iraq, "liberals")
4. Supremacy of the Military -- Sort of(TV ads, possible draft)
5. Rampant Sexism -- Very little... I'l say no.
6. Controlled Mass Media -- I'd like to say so. I may be right.
7. Obsession with 'National Security' -- ABSOLUTELY!!!!!
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -- Not yet...
9. Corporate Power is Protected -- WITHOUT A DOUBT
10. Labor Power is Suppressed -- Not really
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts -- Not yet
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment -- Yes
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -- MORE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD!!!!!
14. Fraudulent Elections -- Yes... Combination of Bush buying election in 2000 and the ploy to eliminate those who are right from the political process.
So America has approximately 8.5 out of these 14....
I challenge any of you damn "neo-cons" to step up and defend this dictator.
Because it should be 0.
I would certainly challenge all of you "damn" (using your word there) Libertarians to take that chip off of your shoulder. The world is not out to suppress you. You remind me of that guy from the
Holy Grail "Help, help I'm being repressed". You think that others are activly out to "put you in your place" and you fail to realize that the reason others talk you down is because you are being generally disagreeable.
Anyway, while neo-conservatism is certainly authoritarian on some issues it is far from facist. Words have inpact it is your responsability to use them responsably. That being said:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -- No. Patriotism and trying to bring on a sense of national pride and identification is not "Powerful Nationalism". And since when is nationalism in it self a bad thing?
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -- No. People are defended by the law in this country. If we are so horrible, why are the ACLU and Amnesty International still around?
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -- No. They provoked us and we are in a
real war. We do not go around identifying "Arabs" or "Muslims" as the enemy. The enemy is "terrorism" a force that really seeks to do us harm.
4. Supremacy of the Military -- No. There will be no draft. We have commercials to recruit people into what most would deem an honorable living. Is there something wrong with respecting the military?
5. Rampant Sexism -- No. We do not force people into traditional rules as they did in Nazi Germany.
6. Controlled Mass Media -- The government doesn't control the media here. If you want a good example of where this is going on, turn to France.
7. Obsession with 'National Security' -- In todays world, national security is important, but it is not the Bush teams only preoccupation. In different times, idfferent issues are important because of events. That doesn't mean "Facism" is upon us.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -- Don't know what they mean with this. Usually facist regimes declare war on traditional religious institutions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected -- It's a free market.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed -- No.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts -- No.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment -- Here again we see "obsession" used as a criteria. There is no "obsession" here.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -- Not only is "rampant" far too strong a word, but both parties do it.
14. Fraudulent Elections -- The 2000 election obeyed both the Florida Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Later studies proved that Bush would have won, no matter the method applyed. It is true that people were denyed the right to vote because of the "ex-con" confussion, but many who voted the other way voted in two states, so....
