Conclusions
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===" When we destroy international Fascism we must at the same
time destroy national Fascism, we must replace the reactionary forces
at home with truly democratic forces which will represent all of us."
--George Seldes
--Facts and Fascism, 1943
We suffer in the U.S. from an unfortunate reluctance to recognize and
name the resurgence of fascist ideology around the world. In part this
is because we are not taught in our schools what fascism was or is. We
hold ourselves up as a model of democracy while half the eligible citizens
rarely feel motivated to vote, and we are bombarded with advertising
that tells us that freedom is the ability to purchase four different
varieties of Coca-Cola at 7-11.
Some have argued that the main potential threat of fascism comes from
a bipartisan government increasingly willing to employ repressive and
authoritarian solutions to societal problems during a time of economic
decline. Political analyst William Pfaff is one of the few mainstream
analysts who warns that an unconscious strain of American fascism is
influencing national affairs. Writing in the Chicago Tribune with
a Paris dateline of March, 1987, Pfaff concluded that the actions of
the Reagan Administration during the Iran-Contra scandal revealed "a
pattern of conduct and a state of mind among important people in this
administration which must be described as an American style of fascism.
I would prefer to avoid that term, but it is the only one in the modern
political vocabulary that adequately describes" the situation.
Given the upsurge of nationalism, jingoistic patriotism, militarism,
scapegoating, and race-baiting practiced by both the Reagan and Bush
Administrations, a discussion of the proto-fascist elements in U.S. domestic
and foreign policy is not unwarranted. At the same time, it is hyperbole
to describe the current political climate in the U.S. as fascist. Yet
it clearly is an error to assume that anyone who opposes repressive aspects
of U.S. policy is an anti-fascist, or upholds democratic principles.
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