Corporatism by another name

Yes, it's time to revisit the other "F" word, the one that early on makes eyes roll and later on makes heads roll. Say the OTHER "F" word, and some people smirk and surf on, but see this one out. (Sorry to flit tree to tree here, some days sitting on the right elbow of God, other days sitting on squat. Bear with me. Thanks.)

I've mentioned Benito Mussolini once before in this blog [where is that darned post?]. Well, by coincidence, Douglas, a member of my local ideas salon on a quest to give us a wake up call, asked us to ponder this Mussolini quotation on the "F" word again... and the "F" word is?

Fascism, yes fascism, an imperial rape, where everybody gets fucked by the guys in charge, by the "suits" and their back pocket protectors.

You might be happy to learn that the salon had concluded that fascism was not "in" the U.S. yet, though most were concerned that it was getting closer. But then today, Douglas reminded us of Benito's declaration that, "Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merge of state and corporate power," and asked us to ponder a LOT of questions [only slightly revised here]:

"If Nazis or other fascists took over North America, what would we all do? What would we all do if they implemented Mussolini's definition of fascism?

"And what would we do if they then instituted laws allowing them to put a significant portion - say, one-third - of all Jewish males between the ages of 18 and 35 into concentration camps?

"What if this occupied country called itself a democracy, where millions understood elections to be shams, with citizens allowed to choose between different wings of the same 'corporatist party,' [what Mussolini - or Bush? - might call the New Patriots Party].

"What if anti-government activity was opposed by storm troopers and secret police? Would you fight back? If there already existed a resistance movement, would you join it?

"Substitute the word 'African-American' for 'Jewish' and ask yourself the same questions. [Dawning on you? Our prison population, largest incarceration of any developed country...]

"Now, would you resist if the fascists irradiated the countryside, contaminated food supplies, created biohazards, and made rivers unfit for swimming - so filthy that you wouldn't even DREAM of drinking from them anymore? [The more bottled water you buy, the more dependent you are - the resources, from hamburgers to health care, are theirs to protect or pillage....]

"If fascists systematically deforested the continent, would you join an underground army of resistance, head to the forest, and from there to the boardrooms and the halls of the Reichstag?

"Okay, okay, okay okay. So maybe your sense of kin and your sense of skin doesn't extend to the natural world. Maybe you don't yet love the land where you live enough that you'll fight for it.

"But what if the fascists ('the corporatists') toxify not only the landscape, but the bodies of those you love? What if their actions, for profit and power, put dioxin and dozens of other carcinogens and toxins into the flesh of your lover, your children, mother, brother, sister, father... Would you fight back?

"What if the corporate fascists toxify your body? Would you work for this regime? Would you invest your labor, your life or your liberty to uphold it? What about your money? Your allegiance? Would you teach others its virtues? Would you wear its logos and insignia? Or would you fight back?

"If you won't fight back when they toxify your own body, toxify your mind with propaganda and make you dependent on their exorbitantly expensive safety net, their righteous salvation, their homeland insecurity and their planetary policing, then when, precisely, will you fight back?"



Now Douglas is a patriot, prescient and proud. I can feel his endearing passion in this, his courageous and inspired call to action, if not arms - a call we should at least hear, if not heed and enjoin, since it does seem "Corporatism" has not only come a calling - but indeed taken command.