Slow March Toward Fascism/Theocracy?
Just read a very interesting article by Bill Berkowitz at Working For Change that discusses the parallels between the slow rise of Nazism in Germany in the early 20th century and compares it to the slow rise of Theocracy we're seeing in the United States today.
It's definitely a good read, and will provoke many thoughts about how this current administration is behaving as it puts into place anti-democratic policies such as the PATRIOT Act, the removal of citizen review of environmental issues, and the move toward government endorsement of Christianity as a state religion.
Compare this with the 14 Points of Fascism that I called attention to back in January, and it gets pretty darned scary. When will America wake up and see what's happening?
2 comments:
Nah, not a theocracy. Hardly. With respect, the claim is invariably overblown to the point of near-hysteria, and refuses (deliberately, or through lack of understanding) to recognize that Christianity in America is a damn sight from being a monolith, and is far from agreement on most issues of governance--to take but one example, Catholics tend to be far more skeptical of the free market and more welcoming of government economic initiatives than are Evangelicals. There are similar splits on a range of issues ranging from immigration to environmental protection.
That said, concerns about the Patriot Act are warranted, indeed--it needs to be revised, posthaste. The sweep of the law guarantees abuse, regardless of the good intentions with which the law was enacted. I'm reminded that Martin Luther King's boycotts and marches could have been illegal under RICO, and the man prosecuted. Thank God RICO was enacted in 1970, and not 1960. The PA provisions are far worse.
Moreover, there *are* increasing tendencies toward authoritarianism in this country, but Christianity is not the engine. Frankly, those with a mind to breaking the Republic will be far more effective by using the bread and circuses approach--keep people distracted with consumer goods and an increasingly dumbed-down and vulgar popular culture while they whittle away the freedoms. Distract 'em with bullshit while the destruction is worked under the radar. It worked wonders in Rome.
And never, ever forget the counterweight of serious faith against that of overreaching government. Ultimately, any serious Christian cannot owe her final allegiance to Caesar and his edicts. A properly formed Christian conscience is the friend of ordered liberty, not its foe.
End sermon.
Agreed that we are not a theocracy... yet. That's why I said it's a slow march. I think there's plenty of room for sane-minded people to knock the frightening religious extremists down before they take too much power. But that's only if sane-minded people stop watching their Fear Factor, etc. On that we agree.
Catholicism has a long history of near-socialist advocacy - going back to Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. And the majority of Catholic immigrants to this country were not affluent, to say the least. Hence their skepticism toward the "ownership society," as many of them were trying to escape just such societies in their mother countries.
However, when you have a chief executive who carries out policy stating it as "God's will," it is cause for concern.
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