The Last Major Hurdle

Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis have a good article, "Fighting the 5 Fascisms in Wisconsin and Ohio" posted on Common Dreams today.

As defined by its inventor, Benito Mussolini, fascism is "corporate control of the state." There are ways to beat around the Bush -- Paul Krugman has recently written about "oligarchy" -- but it's time to end all illusions and call what we now confront by its true name.

The fights in Wisconsin, Ohio, and in numerous other states are about saving the last shreds of American democracy...

Below I will quote the 5 basic realities the authors list and provide my own take on each one. Of course, as usual, I urge you to read the article in its entirety.

1) The bulwark of modern democracy is the trade union. This has been true since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. All social programs can trace their roots to union activism, as can the protection of our civil liberties.

I certainly agree with Point #1. Almost every progressive bit of legislation passed over the past century began as an initiative of one or more unions.

2) The material essence of fascism is the extreme separation of rich and poor, a massive transfer of wealth from those on the bottom to those on the top.

I'm not sure how ANY thinking person could say that this type of separation is not happening in the US today. Almost every bill before the Congress in the past several years -- regardless of how progressive it might seem at the outset -- always contains provisions that seek to shift ever more wealth and power up the food chain.

For one example, look at health care reform. The centerpiece is forcing Americans to purchase private health insurance while NOT including any provisions to rein in the costs of that mandated insurance. Sure, coverage might be a scant bit better, but you can be sure we will pay through the nose to receive those meager upgrades at a rate far exceeding inflation.

3) The crisis crippling states everywhere is directly related to the massive destruction of social resources by war. Since the end of the New Deal and World War II, the American elite has engineered the biggest dump of material wealth by military means in human history.

Can you imagine how much better off the American public would be today were it not for the waste of trillions of dollars fighting imperialistic wars? Not only would it save boatloads of moolah, but think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been negatively impacted by our militaristic follies!

4) Mussolini also made it clear that corporate control of the media is essential to fascist rule. Whoever would seize power first took the radio stations, then the television stations. Now the internet is under attack. The free flow of information is fascism's ultimate enemy.

The vaunted mainstream media has become some sort of sick joke. They spend vastly more time and resources seeking to prop up governmental propaganda than reporting facts. This recent development only underscores that the mainstream media only is as liberal as the conservative mega corporations that own them.

5) It is no accident that the "job loving" union-hating governors of Wisconsin and Ohio (along with Florida) have rejected billions in federal funds for re-building passenger rail service that would create thousands of jobs.

Green jobs could revolutionize this nation's economy. It would repair our faltering infrastructure and help to make Planet Earth a more hospital place to live. Yet, for all the talk in Washington about job creation, neither the Republicans NOR the Democrats seem all that interested in moving in a green direction. Instead of focusing on the bona fide long-term benefits, the major political discussion focuses on the potential for short-term costs to the bottom lines of corporate power players.

I will admit, however, than one line in this article is a bit troubling to me, possibly not for the obvious reason.

For the hard-right, this is about busting unions, the last organized force standing in the way of total corporate control of the United States by the rich and richer...

The inference here is that the conservatives want to crush the last independent campaign finance resource. If labor unions can be dismantled, then all viable political candidates will only be able to turn to the elite class to fund their campaigns.

My problem with this point is that labor steadfastly refuses to back third party or independent candidacies. Every two years they pour all their time, money and muscle into Democratic candidates who, once elected, turn around to crap all over the unions that supported them. As long as organized labor remains mired in this rut, there is no chance whatsoever for a populist party representing the vast majority to gain any momentum.