British Dictionary definitions for fascism

fascism

/ˈfæʃɪzəm/

 

noun (sometimes capital)

1. any ideology or movement inspired by Italian Fascism, such as German National Socialism; any right-wing nationalist ideology or movement with an authoritarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism
2. any ideology, movement, programme, tendency, etc, that may be characterized as right-wing, chauvinist, authoritarian, etc
3. prejudice in relation to the subject specified: body fascism

When I wrote this post back in 2012, just before the 2012 election, I was doing everything in my power to get the word out that we couldn’t elect Mitt Romney because he was backed by American Fascists. A whole bunch of people either blew me off or unfriended me as a paranoid Liberal hippie with no proof.

I haven’t stopped writing, and I haven’t changed my opinions, but at least now I know I’m not the only one who’s seeing these things.

Taking Cassandra as a job description has its disadvantages, especially when people prefer to live in ignorance, or choose not to pay attention because they don’t do politics. I get that. I really do.

Except for one thing.

I wouldn’t be here now if my ancestors hadn’t chosen to flee oppressive religious persecution at the turn of the last century. My great grandparents were not born in the US. They were lucky. They all arrived at a time when massive migration of refugees meant cheap labor. They all came through Ellis Island, settled in and around Brooklyn, and eventually added my grandparents to their families.

Americans couldn’t see the conditions that sent the Jews to the US from Germany, Poland, Russia and England. They had to take it on faith that conditions were terrible. Immigrants from Europe felt they had to find a better life in America. They couldn’t say “Look at the TV. Look at the Internet. My life is at risk if I stay here where I am.”

That, right there, is the single most horrendous thing about today’s rhetoric coming from Trump, Rubio, Carson and the rest of the GOP.

You just have to tune in to the news, if you can find it, and see for yourself how bad things truly are where today’s immigrants live. But people will believe what they’re told. They don’t want to admit for even a second that things are as bad now as they were back then. Worse, even, because we could do something about it if we weren’t so busy supporting the American Military Industrial Complex and believing everything our corporate masters tell us to believe.

I say to you now: If you turn away Syrians, Central and South Americans, Somalis, or anyone else who flees a country out of fear of death, you are NO BETTER than the Germans were who actively supported the Nazis in World War II.

You don’t live in a bubble. You are not an island. You live on a planet where you can fly halfway around the world inside of 24 hours. And it’s the only planet you can reach in your lifetime. These aren’t people who live elsewhere. They occupy the same planet you do.

Perhaps it’s time for us to Occupy Earth. To live the values Jesus attempted to teach his followers instead of pretending only his resurrection matters.

Every religion boils down to one overriding law: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Terrorists (regardless of religious background) do not live by this rule. Not Islamist Daesh, not the KKK, and certainly not today’s neofascist members of ALEC.

You can call yourself Christian if you want, or any other religion you choose, but until you actually live by the Law, you are a liar. Stop calling on Jesus if you can’t find it in your heart to welcome in refugees, regardless of their origin.

Stop calling them migrants. They are people just like you. Look at the reason they are leaving their homes. Empathize with them.

Practice what you preach, or be prepared to deal with World War III, the Second Civil War, because that’s what’s coming. I don’t know that we’ll survive this time.

Salon.com: “Fascism is rising in America”: The Koch brothers and democracy’s dispiriting demise

Stonekettle Station: The Price of Civilization

Huffington Post Blog: ‘American Fascism’: Accurate or Misleading?

Huffington Post Blog: Time to Stop the GOP Fearmongering

The Guardian: Syrian refugees in America: separating fact from fiction in the debate 

[ETA]: Because this subject keeps coming up and I want access to the proof, at least until Net Neutrality disappears and these sites go with it: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reason_Foundation