Cosmic Irony

I’m reading a book by Thom Hartmann called “Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class.” The idea it presents is that the neoconservative powers are being paid by corporations to control the will of the American people so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This will create an elite ruling class and drive wages down so Americans will work for next to nothing while the corporations reel in the dough. In short, they are all fascists.

They direct blame onto ethnic groups such as illegals (Mexicans), and terrorists (any brown person from the middle east). This causes discrimination and prejudice that keeps American attention elsewhere. Radio show hosts with bad attitudes hide behind freedom of speech and lie to the public about the real reason the economy is crap, their life-saving prescriptions are not covered by their insurance, their children can’t afford to go to college and many other core issues that effect each American personally. Continually spouting a call to “traditional American values,” they distract the people from the fact that the single most important American value, the freedom from tyrannical rule fueled by an elite class of large business owners, is being ripped out of the constitution. Perpetual war in the name of patriotism is keeping America blind to what is happening in the White House.

I already knew all this before I started reading the book, though. What I didn’t know is that the plan to rule America through corporations goes all the way back to Hitler’s days. The Bush family has modeled their rise in power on that of Hitler himself. In chapter 7, a section titled, “Hiding Behind the Flag” on page 109, Hartmann describes Hitler’s use of patriotism and industry to rise to power. The process is nearly identical to Bush’s own. Both created fear in the minds of the people, saying that only one way works to combat any threat to people’s liberty. Both have invited corporations to fund the government. Both have removed checks and balances that were put in place so that one man cannot have too much power, all for fear of another attack. Both have set up a “single new national agency to protect the security of the Homeland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single powerful leader” (109).

On page 120 Hartmann quotes FDR’s vice president Henry Wallace to show how American fascists of that time are carbon copies of the conservatives today. Wallace says, “The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate pervasion of truth and fact.” Limbaugh and Micheal Savage come to mind. Wallace is quoted, “The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.” No one is beating the American people into submission of tyrannical dictatorship. Instead, the American people are being duped into believing it is the best way to live free.

Seeing as how Rush is one of the most popular hosts on talk radio and roughly half of the country votes republican, it seems this method is working wonderfully. People that vote Republican don’t know they are feeding into fascism. They have been convinced that they are merely fighting for free market, family values, and the safety of the American people. If only it were that simple.

Hartmann closes the chapter by saying thus, “Today we again stand at the same crossroad Roosevelt and Wallace confronted during the Great Depression and World War II. Fascism is again rising in America, this time calling itself “compassionate conservatism” (121). These neocons are controlling the airwaves and buying our government while the American middle class continues to shrink. The people that have fallen out of the middle class are blamed for their own situation as the poor are blamed for being poor. Immigrants are supposedly taking our jobs (yes, so many Americans out of high school want to work in fields for twelve hours a day). The threat of terrorism has given our president unlimited military power to do with as he pleases. He doesn’t even need to fight terrorism anymore, he just uses patriotism and false sources of ‘evidence’ as sound reason to invade other countries. Like, maybe Poland-oh, I mean Iraq. (I’m really getting Bush confused with someone else now. Lines are getting blurry, I apologize). Same problems, different era.

If you are Republican and you are reading this, please, please open your eyes. Your needs are not important to the people you are putting in power. Your money is. Think of this, conservative media is still blaming the state of the country on liberals and progressives, and yet Republicans had controlled the House for twelve years and we have had a Republican Executive for seven. Isn’t that enough time to improve the condition of the country? Don’t let the American dream die. Go pick up Hartmann’s book and read for yourself.