The 14 Characteristics of Fascism
Lawrence BrittLawrence studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, which he calls the identifying characteristics of fascism. This piece has made its way all over the internet. It is from a longer piece called “Fascism Anyone?”
The 14 characteristics are:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism — Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights — Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause — The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military — Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism — The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6. Controlled Mass Media — Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security — Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined — Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected — The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed — Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts — Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment — Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption — Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections — Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times, elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Lawrence is a political scientist. “Fascism Anyone?” appeared in the Spring 2003 issue of Free Inquiry, a journal of humanist thought. For more information on the journal, contact <FreeInquiry@SecularHumanism.org.>
Source: THE EXCAVATOR
“Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.” – Sophie Scholl
When you hear the word “Nazi” don’t think jack-booted thugs, mass murder of civilians and Jewish extermination camps, think breakdown of the rule of law, destruction of individual rights, and silent obedience to authority because they came before the final endgame.
These same trends that led Germany and Europe to the abyss in World War II are visible in America and the Western world today. Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” is a must read. Watch her talk about the book in this 2007 lecture, and read her article ‘Fascist America, in 10 easy steps.’ Her book came out during the late stages of the Bush era. It was clear by then that the Executive Branch is in charge and Congress is ceremonial. Nothing has changed under President Obama.
These same trends that led Germany and Europe to the abyss in World War II are visible in America and the Western world today. Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” is a must read. Watch her talk about the book in this 2007 lecture, and read her article ‘Fascist America, in 10 easy steps.’ Her book came out during the late stages of the Bush era. It was clear by then that the Executive Branch is in charge and Congress is ceremonial. Nothing has changed under President Obama.
It will take a country to rebuild America’s core institutions and constitutional laws, not one president.
The cruel joke is that the President is not on the side of the American people, the rule of law, and freedom. Obama is not interested in saving America’s constitutional republic. He is in contempt of Congress and the Constitution along with the entire political elite in Washington. The traitors who run the U.S. government want to surrender America’s sovereignty to a dictatorial world government owned by criminal private banksters and traitorous oligarchical corporations that hate the free market and free competition. They are Nazis in the sense that they believe big government and big business should control human life and manage the global economy in a centralized and dictatorial fashion.
If there is going to be a reversal to American decline and Western decline then it has to come from the bottom, not from the top, from the periphery, not from the center, from the people, not from the oligarchy. The first step is recognizing that the heart of Western politics has been taken over by a criminal oligarchy that wants freedom to die and all nation states to perish into history. Obama and the two-party establishment in America are in line with this hidden, undemocratic goal.
A culture of obedience to authority in Nazi Germany produced mass death and mass destruction. America is more likely to be delivered from its evil totalitarian government because it was founded by thoughtful revolutionaries. The American people have never embraced obedience and authority for their own sake because deep down they know protecting individual freedoms is more important than following government orders. Everything good that has been achieved by mankind has been a result of disobedience, and of conscientious rebellion.
America’s revolutionary tradition is alive in people like Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Alex saidyesterday that America is the Nazi Germany of the 21st century and he is dead on right. The U.S. government was hijacked by Nazi sympathizers and a criminal ruling elite. It is not a coincidence that George Bush’s grandfather was a financial supporter of the fascists in Europe. These rats didn’t disappear from history, they just learned to hide their evil designs from the people behind a well-oiled propaganda machine in Washington.
President John F. Kennedy was not killed by a looney lone assassin. He was murdered by criminal factions who control the CIA and the entire apparatus of the United States government. Their murdering ways have continued for half a century all around the world. After killing one of America’s most promising presidents five decades ago they are now prepared to destroy the American experiment in liberty, and bring America under a North American Union that is designed to be connected to a one world totalitarian government.
If you are not convinced that America is run by traitors, thieves, and Nazis, below are ten characteristics that the Nazi government in Germany and the totalitarian government in America have in common with each other.
1. Use of False Flag Terrorism: It is a known fact that Hitler staged the Reichstag fire to increase his power, and create popular support for his wars and discrimination policies. This tactic is commonly used by all sorts of governments: democratic governments, totalitarian governments, and religious governments. The U.S. government has used false flag terrorism to start wars and make people fear for their lives for a century or so. The two most famous false flag attacks are the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the 9/11 attacks.
The cruel joke is that the President is not on the side of the American people, the rule of law, and freedom. Obama is not interested in saving America’s constitutional republic. He is in contempt of Congress and the Constitution along with the entire political elite in Washington. The traitors who run the U.S. government want to surrender America’s sovereignty to a dictatorial world government owned by criminal private banksters and traitorous oligarchical corporations that hate the free market and free competition. They are Nazis in the sense that they believe big government and big business should control human life and manage the global economy in a centralized and dictatorial fashion.
If there is going to be a reversal to American decline and Western decline then it has to come from the bottom, not from the top, from the periphery, not from the center, from the people, not from the oligarchy. The first step is recognizing that the heart of Western politics has been taken over by a criminal oligarchy that wants freedom to die and all nation states to perish into history. Obama and the two-party establishment in America are in line with this hidden, undemocratic goal.
A culture of obedience to authority in Nazi Germany produced mass death and mass destruction. America is more likely to be delivered from its evil totalitarian government because it was founded by thoughtful revolutionaries. The American people have never embraced obedience and authority for their own sake because deep down they know protecting individual freedoms is more important than following government orders. Everything good that has been achieved by mankind has been a result of disobedience, and of conscientious rebellion.
America’s revolutionary tradition is alive in people like Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Alex saidyesterday that America is the Nazi Germany of the 21st century and he is dead on right. The U.S. government was hijacked by Nazi sympathizers and a criminal ruling elite. It is not a coincidence that George Bush’s grandfather was a financial supporter of the fascists in Europe. These rats didn’t disappear from history, they just learned to hide their evil designs from the people behind a well-oiled propaganda machine in Washington.
President John F. Kennedy was not killed by a looney lone assassin. He was murdered by criminal factions who control the CIA and the entire apparatus of the United States government. Their murdering ways have continued for half a century all around the world. After killing one of America’s most promising presidents five decades ago they are now prepared to destroy the American experiment in liberty, and bring America under a North American Union that is designed to be connected to a one world totalitarian government.
If you are not convinced that America is run by traitors, thieves, and Nazis, below are ten characteristics that the Nazi government in Germany and the totalitarian government in America have in common with each other.
1. Use of False Flag Terrorism: It is a known fact that Hitler staged the Reichstag fire to increase his power, and create popular support for his wars and discrimination policies. This tactic is commonly used by all sorts of governments: democratic governments, totalitarian governments, and religious governments. The U.S. government has used false flag terrorism to start wars and make people fear for their lives for a century or so. The two most famous false flag attacks are the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the 9/11 attacks.
2. Use of Preemptive War: Hitler’s assault on Europe began as a vision in his mind. He was never on the defensive. The same is true for the neocons’ assault on the Middle East. America is not fighting defensive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Libya. The U.S. government is the aggressor, invader, and occupier. Throughout history all criminal aggressors have been beaten and destroyed because aggression invokes the self-defense instincts of good men. The men who are resisting U.S. occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan are not “terrorists” but heroes of their land.
3. Indoctrination of Children: This is where it gets weird. The current U.S. government is following in the Nazi government’s footsteps by brainwashing government agents as young as fourteen into believing that America is threatened by “right-wing extremists” and fed-up military veterans. In May 2009 the New York Times published a story called “Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More.” I see the picture in that article and I don’t think “great defenders of the law” but “army of death.” Hitler, like all tyrants, knew that when you build your army to conquer the world it is better to take troops while they are still young and impressionable. It is sickening that the U.S. government is following the same procedure.
4. Creation of Goon Squads And Secret Police: The TSA is a goon squad. It can only justify its existence by hyping the non-existent terror threat. But they are mild lab rats compared to private security guards, and the military police who will be activated once society breaks down and martial law is declared in America. The police and military in America have been trained and taught to do one thing: Kill The Enemy. They have been told to forget search warrants, the Constitution, and the rule of law. And who is the Enemy? Domestic terrorists, i.e. people who question the false narrative of 9/11, people who want to restore the U.S. constitution, people who want to end the private and foreign owned Federal Reserve Bank. In other words, patriots and freedom fighters.
5. Use of Propaganda, And Terms Like “Homeland Security”: Before any tyrant or group of tyrants can conquer the world they must first conquer the word. The art of rhetoric is not taught in school today because people would then be able to defend themselves against corporate and government rhetoric. The use of rhetorical propaganda to collectively brainwash the people and make them believe a false reality has been developed to a highly technical stage. Hollywood and the mainstream media are utilized by the Pentagon and the CIA to indoctrinate the American people and contaminate the culture with fake government storylines like the one about the 9/11 attacks.
6. Spying and Surveillance: Criminal regimes spy on the citizenry to create an atmosphere of paranoia and fear, as well as to obtain sensitive information for blackmail purposes. Every Western nation today has a covert and illegal surveillance program. Tom Burghardt is probably the best writer who is keeping tabs on the development of the global stasi state that is happening behind our backs. Read his article ‘Perfecting Citizens the Stasi Way.’
7. Use of The Big Lie: It is easy to understand the immorality of totalitarian regimes if you begin with the big lie. Evil leaders think of themselves as above the people so they justify lying to the public on a grand-historical scale. The big lie about 9/11 is created and protected by criminal traitors like Philip D. Zelikow who have a totalitarian mindset and believe history should be stated managed. In the worldview of totalitarians like Zelikow, Bush, and Obama there is a dumbed-down history for the masses, and a higher history for the elite. This conception of the world is based in their belief that the masses don’t have a destiny, that they are here on Earth to eat, sleep, and work, not to decide government policy. Hitler had the same worldview.
8. State Repression and Intimidation of Activists and Patriots: When propaganda fails, the state’s repressive apparatus kicks in. Government agents in America and the West have been mentally enslaved and brainwashed into believing that the threat of terrorism is more dangerous than white collar crimes or government criminality at the highest levels. Intelligence agents and cops have been brought under the will of a criminal ruling elite and will be unleashed against “domestic extremists” and activists. If you resist the wars in the Middle East you’re considered a bad person. If you believe in freedom you’re considered an extremist. But don’t get mad at the cops and secret intelligence agents. They are trained to be slaves, to follow orders like dogs, to have no will and no independence. They don’t have any understanding of what has been done to America and the Western world. Read Kevin Gosztola’s article ‘Obama DOJ’s War on Free Speech & Activism,’ to learn more about the U.S. government’s suppression of dissent.
9. Demonization of Innocent People – Jews, Muslims, Christians (Right-Wing Extremists), Freedom Fighters: All tyrants and criminal governments dehumanize people before killing them and smear countries before invading, plundering, and occupying them. The Nazis dehumanized Jews to such an extent that it ended in genocide. Today, Arabs are demonized as “terrorists” to make their heroic resistance to occupation appear irrational and barbaric. The same tactic is being used against Americans who want to free America from the corrupt tyranny of the Federal Reserve, and anybody in the West who wants to get rid of the private banking occupation of Western governments.
10. Destruction of The Rule of Law And Civil Liberties: Breaking the law is the most barbaric act a government can do. A society goes to hell once it allows government officials to get away with breaking the law. What arises is Anarchy for the elite and Tyranny for the masses. This is the state in America and the Western world. But this two-tiered justice system won’t last forever. Anger and resentment will build up in the people over time until a tipping point in the crisis is reached when only a total revolution from below or a total war from above will resolve the conflict. Right now the evil traitors in the U.S. government are conducting a total war on the masses, which, according to Webster Tarpley, will culminate in mass murder and genocide. If a popular resistance movement within America does not rise to return the government into the hands of the people and restore the Constitution then the whole world will suffer a global tragedy.
3. Indoctrination of Children: This is where it gets weird. The current U.S. government is following in the Nazi government’s footsteps by brainwashing government agents as young as fourteen into believing that America is threatened by “right-wing extremists” and fed-up military veterans. In May 2009 the New York Times published a story called “Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More.” I see the picture in that article and I don’t think “great defenders of the law” but “army of death.” Hitler, like all tyrants, knew that when you build your army to conquer the world it is better to take troops while they are still young and impressionable. It is sickening that the U.S. government is following the same procedure.
4. Creation of Goon Squads And Secret Police: The TSA is a goon squad. It can only justify its existence by hyping the non-existent terror threat. But they are mild lab rats compared to private security guards, and the military police who will be activated once society breaks down and martial law is declared in America. The police and military in America have been trained and taught to do one thing: Kill The Enemy. They have been told to forget search warrants, the Constitution, and the rule of law. And who is the Enemy? Domestic terrorists, i.e. people who question the false narrative of 9/11, people who want to restore the U.S. constitution, people who want to end the private and foreign owned Federal Reserve Bank. In other words, patriots and freedom fighters.
5. Use of Propaganda, And Terms Like “Homeland Security”: Before any tyrant or group of tyrants can conquer the world they must first conquer the word. The art of rhetoric is not taught in school today because people would then be able to defend themselves against corporate and government rhetoric. The use of rhetorical propaganda to collectively brainwash the people and make them believe a false reality has been developed to a highly technical stage. Hollywood and the mainstream media are utilized by the Pentagon and the CIA to indoctrinate the American people and contaminate the culture with fake government storylines like the one about the 9/11 attacks.
6. Spying and Surveillance: Criminal regimes spy on the citizenry to create an atmosphere of paranoia and fear, as well as to obtain sensitive information for blackmail purposes. Every Western nation today has a covert and illegal surveillance program. Tom Burghardt is probably the best writer who is keeping tabs on the development of the global stasi state that is happening behind our backs. Read his article ‘Perfecting Citizens the Stasi Way.’
7. Use of The Big Lie: It is easy to understand the immorality of totalitarian regimes if you begin with the big lie. Evil leaders think of themselves as above the people so they justify lying to the public on a grand-historical scale. The big lie about 9/11 is created and protected by criminal traitors like Philip D. Zelikow who have a totalitarian mindset and believe history should be stated managed. In the worldview of totalitarians like Zelikow, Bush, and Obama there is a dumbed-down history for the masses, and a higher history for the elite. This conception of the world is based in their belief that the masses don’t have a destiny, that they are here on Earth to eat, sleep, and work, not to decide government policy. Hitler had the same worldview.
8. State Repression and Intimidation of Activists and Patriots: When propaganda fails, the state’s repressive apparatus kicks in. Government agents in America and the West have been mentally enslaved and brainwashed into believing that the threat of terrorism is more dangerous than white collar crimes or government criminality at the highest levels. Intelligence agents and cops have been brought under the will of a criminal ruling elite and will be unleashed against “domestic extremists” and activists. If you resist the wars in the Middle East you’re considered a bad person. If you believe in freedom you’re considered an extremist. But don’t get mad at the cops and secret intelligence agents. They are trained to be slaves, to follow orders like dogs, to have no will and no independence. They don’t have any understanding of what has been done to America and the Western world. Read Kevin Gosztola’s article ‘Obama DOJ’s War on Free Speech & Activism,’ to learn more about the U.S. government’s suppression of dissent.
9. Demonization of Innocent People – Jews, Muslims, Christians (Right-Wing Extremists), Freedom Fighters: All tyrants and criminal governments dehumanize people before killing them and smear countries before invading, plundering, and occupying them. The Nazis dehumanized Jews to such an extent that it ended in genocide. Today, Arabs are demonized as “terrorists” to make their heroic resistance to occupation appear irrational and barbaric. The same tactic is being used against Americans who want to free America from the corrupt tyranny of the Federal Reserve, and anybody in the West who wants to get rid of the private banking occupation of Western governments.
10. Destruction of The Rule of Law And Civil Liberties: Breaking the law is the most barbaric act a government can do. A society goes to hell once it allows government officials to get away with breaking the law. What arises is Anarchy for the elite and Tyranny for the masses. This is the state in America and the Western world. But this two-tiered justice system won’t last forever. Anger and resentment will build up in the people over time until a tipping point in the crisis is reached when only a total revolution from below or a total war from above will resolve the conflict. Right now the evil traitors in the U.S. government are conducting a total war on the masses, which, according to Webster Tarpley, will culminate in mass murder and genocide. If a popular resistance movement within America does not rise to return the government into the hands of the people and restore the Constitution then the whole world will suffer a global tragedy.
We live in dark, but also hopeful times. The future of mankind is up in the air. Either the oligarchical traitors who run the U.S. government will survive and rule the planet through a dictatorial world government, or the American people will recognize their crimes against humanity and peacefully overthrow them.
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