christibe,
My problem with calling America "fascist" is that all elements commonly mentioned as "fascist" are in fact continuations of American trends that existed long before "fascism" ever did. The US has its own unique dark side that is not like German or Italian "fascism" except superficially but evil in it's own form.
Quote:
|
Given this, and the definition of fascism being authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the state
|
The US does not, I think, do this. "The state" is explicitly attacked even by "the state" itself, in the media. The worship of "the state" as the highest ideal never really permeated American consciousness; we have a basic (though not very strong) dislike of government. When have you heard a politician even talk about "the state"--the greatest authoritarians attack the state and highlight their outsider cowboy image. We talk about a country, a people, an amorphous blob. The American ideal is the independent, the cowboy, the individual, and even the greatest haters of freedom use the talk of these ideals to encourage their authoritarian agenda. Witness GWB. This has, of course, been going on since this country was founded with words of freedom by a bunch of slave-owners.
As has authoritarianism. As I have pointed out before on this forum, in virtually every war in our nation's history the state took away rights. So it's hardly fair to call it "fascist" when it happens then if you didn't consider it fascist then. It's an American trend going back all the way to Alien and Sedition. Was John Adams a fascist? Such attribution makes the term meaningless.
So no, the US isn't fascist, and never will be fascist. The US is in some ways worse than fascist, because no truly fascist state has survived longer than 2 decades. The US, on the other hand, has been committing evils on the world for centuries.