Fascism is a blurry concept. It's not 100% clear what defines Fascism. When the average person hears it, they think of a negative concept. It's like hearing "Nazi", "Communism", etc. But beyond the stigma associated with the word, there is a set of ideals that define fascism.
The primary ideal has to do with the business community in a fascist nation.
In a democracy, the governing body has to answer to the people. It is the people who give the government power, and the people can take it away.
But in a fascist society, the government answers to businesses that give them power. The business leaders of a country use their immense power to install a government that will legislate and enforce based on the desires of that business. They ensure that certain politicians remain in power and in exchange, the politicians ensure that the businesses who got them into power remain successful.
What role do the people play? The non-government, non-business types? They hold the system up. Without them, the system would not work at all. But typically, the populace is jaded. They're led to believe that if they just work hard, stay in line, follow the law, pay their taxes and spend money, well, they'll be just fine.
So consider this. Consider a nation that calls itself a "democratic republic". A nation where the people cast votes for candidates and laws that they believe in.
And now, consider this: What if the business community in that nation bankrolled the campaigns of the candidates they wanted in power, and thus, that candidate was elected by the people thanks to the support of a private business?
You can make the case that people don't have to vote for the candidate who had the largest campaign bankroll. But they usually do. Whichever candidate has the most money to tour, promote, air TV spots, hire staff, and so forth, that candidate will probably win.
But then what? Once that guy is put into office, he has to compensate those who truly put him into office. The business community. So he passes laws in the congress, rules from the court or signs from the executive in favor of those whom he owes. Failure to do so will result in a failed re-election campaign.
This model is essentially how the fascist idea is put into practice. It doesn't inherrently call for a totalitarian dictatorship. Any nation that outright labels itself "fascist" will probably have a totalitarian dictatorship. But it's possible to employ the concepts of fascism without labeling one'sself fascist.
So what about a country that calls itself a "Democratic Republic"? What if that country claims to embrace a capitalist economic system, with minimal government involvement in the business sector? What if the government stays out of business, as they are supposed to, and sits back and watches the business community make billions of dollars by using deception? And then, what if that same government decides to get involved when those businesses are in serious trouble because of bad decisions they made? What if the government uses the tax money paid by the people to fund the services like police, fire, teachers, transportation, and so forth, if they used that money to keep poorly managed businesses afloat?
Does that not go against the laissez-faire attitude that enables these business to inflate worthless things into valuble things? I mean, no one intervened when things were going too well. No one stepped in and said, "Why the heck is the DJIA way higher than it should be?" When people ask why no one stepped in to see what was up, the counter-argument was that a capitalist society doesn't mess with buisness much.
But now, capitalism has gone out the window.
In a truly laissez-faire society, a poorly run business will go out of business. And someone else will come along and provide the service lost by the business that went away. And this new one will probably not make the same mistakes made by their predecessor. Sometimes these failures result in bad economic times, including depressions. But that's part of the capitalist package. If you dont' like the prospect of this happening, you can live in a socialist nation and you won't have to worry about it.
In case you haven't figured out, I'm talking about the American Government's bail-out of poorly run businesses who really should've gone under. There are plenty of excuses about how AIG or whoever else is simply too big to fail. If we let them go, we're all screwed. And that may be the case. So it's logical to intervene now, and prevent that from happening.
But why didn't someone intervene when these problems were beginning? Because government has no place messing with the private sector.
And now, we're talking in circles because that's clearly not the case when we give a private business $150 billion of money that is supposed to be spent on the providing the people services.
So, there it is. Businesses use their influence to elect officials. They use their money to hire lobbyists who work to sway the opinions of those officials such that they will vote against the wills of their constituents. And when the business needs money because they screwed up getting rich, the elected officials hand it over with great haste.
Consider that when a congressman or Senator has to vote on a controversial issue, usually his constituency is evenly divided on the matter. But when the "bail-out" was brought to the Congress, every poll suggested that the American people did not want this to pass. And a Senator from, let's say, Colorado is supposed to vote the way that most people in Colorado would vote. But for some reason, the legislators betrayed the wishes of almost all of their people. They went against the very voters who will be in charge of re-electing them later.
Or maybe they did it because they know that ****ing voters off is okay because the voters aren't truly the ones who determine elections.
Sounds something like fascism to me... How about you?
you typed so many words that wont be replied to
I replied. xD
Fascism is also authoritarianism though. If I recall the Doctrine of Fascism or whatever specifically lists it as a tenant of Fascism. So no, sounds nothing like it to me.
solrok is being a facist
America isn't fascist, socialist or anything "evil" like that. Honestly, I'm getting the impression Americans don't really pay attention to what they say.
libertarians are so naive. I think it's cute. Them and their Ron Paul ***.
libertarians are basically stupid neocons. i'm serious. instead of "not everyone can have healthcare too much cost blah blah blah" its "healthcare for everyone takes away freedom of choice".
also fei-on, are sewers and roads naturally occurring phenomena?
also hows the meth and the crazy wife?
also whats it like having the emotional and social maturity of a 14 year old?
also how is it less democratic to have a business run by a group of workers who vote on the leaders of the business (communism) then to have a single head who is answerable to no one save himself (capitalism)?
if anything capitalism/ lazy fair is the "evil" economic system. but then again calling any form of economics or government "evil" is so childish and naive that it makes the speaker look like an idiot.
Poco