In a well reasoned article, Salon Magazine addresses the issue
as to whether the GOP party is actually becoming a party of fascists,
and what this means to the future political landscape of America.
Salon sums up the current GOP as follows:
Salon sums up the current GOP as follows:
The GOP tends to preach and practice
intolerance, xenophobia, nationalism and anti-democratic values (i.e.,
voter suppression). In many ways, the GOP is anti-enlightenment, and
embraces passion over reason. The dangerous denial of climate change and
other scientific facts seems to come out of the corrupt alliance of
anti-intellectual traditionalism and corporate influence (i.e., oil and
gas).
Now, the fact of the matter is that
fascism died in the mid-20th century. The GOP are obviously not
fascists, but they share a family resemblance. As stated above, the base
have many similar passions — traditionalism, nationalism, intolerance
towards immigrants or minorities. They react with hostility towards the
social progress of others and largely believe in a ‘survival of the
fittest’ ideology.
Giovanni Gentile, the “philosopher of
fascism” and ghostwriter for Mussolini, said of the definition of
fascism in the Encyclopedia of Italiana: “Fascism should more
appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and
corporate power.” This definition may very well fit the GOP ideology: a
kind of corporate fascism, where large corporations have the ultimate
power; where the politicians spew a hateful, intolerant ideology based
on “traditional” values, on a platform funded by corporate interests,
elected by the people to serve those very corporate interests; and deny
environmental degradation because it would be unprofitable for the
funders to do anything about it, using the anti-intellectual hostility
to convince the people that it is nothing more than a left-wing
conspiracy.
To read the entire Salon article, click Donald Trump is an actual fascist: What his surging popularity says about the GOP base.
Watch our commentary on just how low the GOP has sunk:
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