Authoritarian government that is in control of such things as the media as well as trying to control many other aspects of what is not already theirs. That is fascism. It may sound familiar because that’s what the United States government is looking like already.
“Fascism is purely authoritarian in nature” and “the leader of a fascist state will be an all-powerful dictator as being all-knowing and at near demigod status” (Fascism). I wouldn’t go far as to saying ‘demigod,’ but perhaps the ‘leader’ will think that they are.
There are more than enough signs that point to a fascist government, but this paper will only discuss 5 of those. Starting with the first: “Fraudulent Elections – sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham,” (Britt). You may not agree with that in our United States, ‘free America,’ but that is a sign of fascism. A candidate for President needs 270 electoral votes to win the house. However, how many votes from the people, the popular votes, do they need to win? “The candidate who gets the most votes nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. But the winner of the popular vote may end up losing the election” (Electoral). Clearly, the electoral college is the only thing that matters, in the end anyways, when it comes down to who becomes president.
The second sign is an obvious one: “Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives” (Britt). The media is a huge contributor for putting thoughts into our heads, so when the government gets control over it, they can warp the thoughts of many individuals and bring forth a distaste in the government.
The third sign is when it targets certain individuals. Look at Hitler for a prime example. He mainly targets the Jewish people, anyone who did not follow his views, and sent them to, essentially, be killed. All because of their religious faith, their looks, and above all else, because they did believe in him.
Fourth sign is: “Religions and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion,” even when it has nothing to do with the government’s policies or actions (Britt). What ever happened to the separation of the church and the government?
President Trump recently has been reported to sign a religious order that “would have provided sweeping legal protections for people to claim religious exemptions, provisions that civil liberties groups claimed would allow for discrimination against LGBT Americans” (Landers E., Diamond J.). This would obviously be combining the two, religions and government, together, as it should not be.
The last sign is fear. Installing fear into the people of this country or any country is wrong. But why do they do it? Because it “…is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses” (Britt). When you install fear into people, you have more control over them because they would listen to you rather than just playing into it. People want to feel safe, so they look to the higher up to make sure that they are. Which plays into being in control of them.
There are many signs that point to fascism into today’s government and some are becoming truer than ever. It starts with a leader or a President with a mindset that will hurt this nation, or any country for that matter, just because he believes it is the right thing to do. Fascism does exist today and it will continue to exist if these are the types of leaders that are getting elected.
References
Britt, D. (n.d.). Fourteen Defning Characteristics of Fascism. Retrieved May 13, 2017, from http://rense.com/general37/char.htm
Electoral Vote vs Popular Vote. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2017, from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Electoral_Vote_vs_Popular_Vote
Landers, E., & Diamond, J. (2017, May 03). Trump expected to sign religious liberty executive order. Retrieved May 13, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/politics/trump-pence-religious-liberty-executive-order/index.html
What is Fascism? Definition & Facts about Fascism. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2017, from http://totallyhistory.com/fascism/
