1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Since ‘communist’ seems to be the prime Republican bugaboo these days, we should also talk about the other, more relevant, apparatus of government control…fascism. This word is thrown around a lot. But it actually applies to what we’re seeing America moving towards under the Trump administration. What are the societal conditions necessary for fascism to take hold? A disaffected population. A society who feels they have lost power. That feels they have been displaced either religiously, economically, culturally, or politically. This is a group that is willing to follow a leader who promises to return them to a mythical past…to make the country great again. But this leader has to give them someone to hate. Who that is doesn’t really matter. The ‘other’ simply has to be blamed for all the troubles the leader’s supporters were suffering. Fascism is what we were fighting in WWII. And the Army explained to troops what this ideology looks like. Fascism, the pamphlet Army Talks explained, “is government by the few and for the few. The objective is seizure and control of the economic, political, social, and cultural life of the state.” “The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.” “The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said. Fascists “make their own rules and change them when they choose…. They maintain themselves in power by use of force combined with propaganda based on primitive ideas of ‘blood’ and ‘race,’ by skillful manipulation of fear and hate, and by false promise of security. The propaganda glorifies war and insists it is smart and ‘realistic’ to be pitiless and violent.” If any of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Not included in the Army’s definition was how Fascism subordinates business activity to the needs of the government. In exchange for supporting them, government officials award massive government contracts and subsidies to favored businesses. And protect them from regulation. Trump established a new “Economic Defense Unit” (EDU) at the Pentagon. This new agency is charged with investing public money in defense industries. War and aggression, real or imagined, has always been a money-maker for profiteers. The Pentagon is recruiting Wall Street investment bankers to spend up to $200B in government investment over the next three years. Recruiters told prospective employees that would give them “access to fund-raising channels that include royal families and foreign sovereign contacts” in case they ever wanted to raise money for their own investment firms. Our government under Trump has taken ownership shares of private companies it considers important to national security. Like Intel. Like U.S. Steel. The NYT reported the administration has already committed more than $10B in taxpayer funds to favored businesses. And the lack of transparency in this interference in the private sector raises all kinds of concerns about favoritism, corruption, and market distortion. Just this week Trump approved a 30-year deal to provide Saudi Arabia with a civilian nuclear program. The deal gives US companies a monopoly on developing a nuclear infrastructure, but doesn’t include monitoring and inspections by the IAEA to make sure nuclear fuel isn’t enriched for a nuclear weapon. Nuclear capability is being sold to the highest bidder. How is this ever going to turn out well? Remember all this actual current reality the next time someone tries to scare you with COMMUNIST.