Teabaggers, Trump and the Echoes of Fascism

Published in the Laconia Daily Sun 4-22-2016
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/94074-james-veverka-4-22-675

To the Editor,

Fascism evolves from right wing extremism just as Communism evolves from left wing extremism. The fascism we are most familiar with began with Mussolini in 1919 Italy and spread. These regimes arose in very different times but echoes of fascism can still be heard in right wing rhetoric. Fascism at its core is uber-nationalistic. It expresses and demands patriotism on the scale of religious fanaticism. Fascist propaganda specializes in patriotic mottos, songs, and slogans. Flags, flag symbols and flag clothing are to be ubiquitous. Fascism glorifies the nation and the military. Fascists promote an aggressive foreign policy and tend to disproportionately fund their military when the money could be better spent elsewhere. This nationalist militancy bleeds over into a love of paramilitary organizations and militias.

Hate speech and fear mongering about "others" is a tool that promotes obsession regarding national security and traditional values. Robert Paxton, foremost expert on fascism noted, "The use of ethnic stereotypes and exploitation of fear of foreigners is directly out of a fascist’s recipe book. “Making the country great again” sounds exactly like the fascist movements. Concern about national decline, that was one of the most prominent emotional states evoked in fascist discourse, and Trump is using that full-blast...". Right wingers use ethnic and religious stereotypes to attack Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, etc. Fascism remains feverishly anti-immigrant. "English only" is an American echoe of the Nazi's "German only" agenda.

Fascists have a deep hatred for Marxism, socialism and liberalism.  In his famous 1932 speech, The Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini attacked liberalism and Marx's socialism by name over 40 times. You may have noticed the obsession with "Marxist-socialists" coming from many of the Sun's writers. Fascists will also look the other way regarding police abuses, torture and revoking civil rights if its in the name of patriotism and national security. Or their religion. Fascists are obsessed about protecting their culture and its traditional values. Here is where religion enters the fascist blend. In the Muslim world, authoritarians stress "Muslim values" while here in the USA, our extremists insist on "Judeo-Christian values". The Christian Dominionist movement strives to have all US laws based on the Bible. This is Christo-fascism which has its roots in The Depression. Ted Cruz is a Dominionist.

Like Abrahamic religions, fascism is patriarchal and wants to control women's lives and everyone's sexual conduct, too. In fascist Europe, family planning, contraception, and abortion were suppressed. Masculinity and femininity were narrowly defined. European fascism was heavily intertwined with Christianity in Italy and Spain. Weremacht SS belt buckles said "God With Us". Franco favored conservative Catholicism and reversed the secularization process that had succeeded under the Second Republic. Historian Julian Casanova claimed of Franco's regime, "the symbiosis of religion, fatherland and Caudillo saw the Church assume great political responsibility, a hegemony and monopoly beyond its wildest dreams and play a central role in policing the country's citizens."

The echoes of this remain loud in right wing world. The Nazis created a bureaucracy in 1936 called "The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion". Right wing Christians are doing their best in legislatures around the nation to craft such laws seeking control of women and the marginalization of the LGBT community. Extremist Christian legislators attack women's rights and the LGBT community with bills because they deem themselves the ultimate guardians of the family institution.

Fascism is not a friend of intellectual rigor, cultural diversity, or the arts because these are deemed a threat to traditional religious and/or national values. Fascism tends to promote open hostility toward higher education, and academia. Professors and universities are openly attacked while newspapers, magazines, books, TV, plays and films are monitored for any transgressions against national traditions or Judeo-Christian values.

Fascism protects corporations and seeks to eliminate unions and worker's rights. Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Pinochet all outlawed trade unions. Tens of thousands were murdered in these sweeps against socialism and trade unions. If you can't see echoes of fascism coming from the Tea Party, the Religious Right, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, you need help.

James Veverka