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7-13-13 USA TODAY, DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?

July 13, 2013

FASCISM IN ACTION

A DOCUMENTED STUDY AND ANALYSIS
OF FASCISM IN EUROPE

PREPARED AT THE INSTANCE AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

REPRESENTATIVE WRIGHT PATMAN OF TEXAS

BY

LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE

OF THE

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

ERNEST S. GRIFFITH

published in 1947

FOREWARD

by Representative Wright Patman, of Texas

The world today is faced with a dangerous manifestation of recent history known as fascism. Opinions vary as to whether this movement is economic, social, political, or philosophical, but there is marked agreement as to its objective characteristics. Briefly, fascism means the seizure and control of the economic, social, political, and cultural life of the state by a small group. Free speech, free press, free worship, and public meetings are ruthlessly suppressed. Blind obedience to the "leader" is demanded of the people and the slightest wavering means death or imprisonment to any person. Restrictive policies may be carried on against his entire family. A fascist regime is necessarily militaristic and nationalistic.

It is not my purpose to attempt a technical definition of fascism, which is given in the preface, but rather to point to some of the tendencies prevalent in society today which might lead to a resurgence of this hated movement.

To most Americans the threat of fascism vanished with the defeat of Germany and Japan in the greatest war that history has known. There is, however, a real question as to whether we defeated the evil itself in destroying its two principal exponents. Public opinion appears in general to hold that fascism is a wholly European, or at least a wholly foreign movement. Yet there are many strong symptoms of fascism in our own democratic society. True, this movement in the United States masquerades under other names than the discredited one of fascism, but whatever it may be called, it's peculiar characteristics are alarmingly evident.

If we are to combat successfully such an insidious movement, many Americans must understand clearly what fascism is and what it means to the individual to live in a fascist state. At my request, the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress has prepared a study of Fascism in Action as an aid to the American citizen in protecting himself and his children against this most dangerous movement of modern times.

A careful reading of this study will show what fascism in actual operation means in direct personal terms. Every person must think and act at the command of a higher authority. Every school, church, home, and business is carefully controlled by the dominant party. The concentration camp or death await the citizen who offers opposition to the regime.

To many, fascism, particularly as it operated in Germany, seemed a model of order and efficiency. It had apparently solved many of the most crucial problems of modern times. Fascist countries radically reduced or abolished unemployment, seemingly eliminated many social differences, and contrived many new devices which assisted or amused their people. But the cost to the individual was heavy. The price was abolition of representative government, of individual liberty, of the rights of free speech, free assembly, free religion, a free press, and the principle of equality before the law.

Fascist Germany and Japan used the boasted efficiency of fascism to build mighty war machines to crush the "inefficient" democracies, but an important fact had been left out of their leaders' calculations. Democracy and efficiency, even military efficiency, are not incompatible, and the democracies decisively defeated the fascist powers and coincidentally answered one of the principal arguments in defense of fascism.

I believe we are forced to admit that fascism is today an ever-present danger to our democracy. We must consider not only how to recognize its manifestations but also what we can do to combat it. Many means can be used but no one method seems to be the real solution. Some of the most effective are described briefly below.

Perhaps the best means of fighting fascism is to recognize it, no matter under what title it masquerades. Not all hate organizations are necessarily fascist, but they have certain definite trends towards such a policy. If members of groups of this type can be made to realize the dangers inherent in such beliefs, a long step toward overcoming fascism will have been taken. ---

One of the most powerful means of preventing the establishment of a fascist government in a democratic country is to make certain that the existing government operates honestly and efficiently No really strong democracy has fallen before fascism. Democracy is not to be had for the wishing, and the best efforts of every American citizen should be devoted to its perpetuation and successful operation. Democracy and efficiency are compatible, but insinuations that we must choose between democratic participation in government and efficient government often emanate from fascist sources.

---------------------

PREFACE

This study of Fascism in Action was undertaken at the request of Representative Wright Patman, of Texas, who also indicated that its scope and method were to conform in general to the earlier study, Communism in Action --- prepared at the instance of Representative Everett Dirksen, of Illinois.

This study is appropriate because of the many similarities between fascism and communism, some of which Representative Fred E. Busbey, of Illinois has recently listed as follows:

1. The wiping out of all independent trade-Unionism with the result that those trade-unions which are permitted, exist only under the tolerance of the totalitarian state, to serve as its servile adjuncts.

2. The elimination of political parties except the ruling Nazi, Fascist, or Communist Party.

3. The subordination of all economic and social life to the strict control of the ruling, single-party bureaucracy.

4. The suppression of individual initiative, and the liquidation of the system of free enterprise, and a tendency toward government control of supercartels.

5. The abolition of the right to freedom of speech, assembly, and religious worship.

6. The reduction of wages and, in the case of communism, living standards.

7. The use of slave labor on a vast scale and the establishment of concentration camps.

8. The abolition of the right to trial by jury, habeas corpus, the right to independent defense counsel, and the innocence of the defendant until proven guilty.

9. The glorification of a single Leader, Fuehrer, or Duce, who is all-powerful and subject neither to criticism nor removal through the ballot.

10. The utilization of a special form of social demagogy - for example, incitement of race against race and class against class - the elimination of all opposition, and the concentration of power into the hands of the ruling dictatorship.

11. The subordination of all economic and social life and the everyday needs of the population to the requirements of an expanding military machine seeking world conquest.

12. The establishment of a system of nation-wide espionage to which the entire population is subject.

13. The severance of social, cultural, and economic contact between the people of the totalitarian state and those of other countries, through a rigorous press and radio censorship, travel restrictions, etc.

14. The open disregard for the rights of other nations and the sanctity of treaties.

15. The maintenance and encouragement of fifth columns abroad.

16. The reduction of parliamentary bodies to a rubber-stamp status automatically approving all decisions of the one-party dictatorship and the omnipotent Leader.

--------------------------

COMMENTS:

Am I the only one who sees far too many similarities between the path we are currently on and the one which is referenced above?

Note the highlighted words.

They are highlighted because you can read about them almost any day in our newspapers and magazines, or watch them on your television sets, or websites, as exponents of these patently neo-fascist policies can be heard to shout out as they stand in front of numerous flags and tell you how they are "christians" or "jews" (or "scientists" i.e. technocrats, by which they mean atheists pretending to be unbiased persons, above it all).

Whatever it is which they truly are, NEO-FASCIST cannot help to come to my mind, especially after reading the prescient warnings from the year 1947, two years after the end of WWII.

Wake up, already !!

And prepare yourselves for more to come.

This probably will not be a pretty sight to behold.

Just go ask Bradley Manning, or Edward Snowden, or the persons being held indefinitely, without legal rights, at Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib, and Bagram Air Base, or those persons whom our great Leader determines should be assassinated without right to due process, or right to counsel and trial by jury.

This is a most definite and very ominous pattern.

These sound far more like the acts of enemies of our Constitution  (which they have sworn to uphold, as the "law of the land"), than they do pro-Americans, like Representative Wright Patman.

Oh, and don't forget the supercartels = banksters = too big to fail? or too big to survive without massive government assistance, which you and I are paying for with our very life blood, no less.

I sure do wish you all would come out of your stupor before the final pieces of the "hangman's gallows" have been fully put in place, as is happening while we watch.

I especially like the language about a national surveillance system ("nation-wide espionage to which the entire population is subject"),
in light of the recent NSA/Yahoo/Microsoft/Google/Facebook/PRISM revelations.

Are there "snakes in the grass"?

Just how much evidence do you need, anyway?

This seems a pretty compelling case to me.

And I say that as one who has defended numerous criminal cases during nearly twenty-three years of trial practice.

Meaning, thereby, that I do know, all too well, whereof I am speaking, having long been in the practice of determining whether or not a constitutional issue will stand up to legal and factual scrutiny in a court of law.


w/ love to all


vw

6:44 a.m.
7-13-13
Saturday
Ventura, California, USA


p.s.  here is a link to Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Fascism+in+Action+Patman+Griffith


 

7-8-13 NEW SONG POSTED

July 8, 2013

This song,
070813a,
was written
at 3:30 this morning.

It is in a choral hymn style.

Was supposed to start in key of G major,
but I started in G minor,
instead,
and then drifted into G major,
and then went through
a number of related keys.

The style is reminiscent of
first year harmony class.

This is on purpose.

It is a sort of revisit
to what one is supposed to be learning.

Does anyone out there remember
Bach Reimenschneider?

It is a book of choral pieces
which were arranged by J.S. Bach,
for pedago...


Continue reading...
 

7-6-13 NEW SONG POSTED

July 6, 2013
I am, once again,
unable to sleep,
so I got up at 2 a.m.
and wrote this song
titled 070613a,
in the key of A minor.

It has been several weeks
since I have composed.

It feels good to write.

We shall hope for the best.

As I already told,
I am on the road in a few hours.

So, I do not expect
to be writing anything more
until I return on Monday night.

Until then,

may God be with you.

w/love

vw

3:02 a.m.
Saturday
7-6-13
Ventura, California, USA 

Continue reading...
 

7-5-13 (2nd post) SOME EXPLANATORY NOTES

July 6, 2013
It is 10:48 p.m.

I just got back to the computer.

As I was thinking about
the last post
I realized that it seemed
rather incomplete.

Almost like hearing
only one side of
a telephone conversation.

Because I have a number
of persons who have acted as
"sounding boards"
over the years,
I am used to having them
already know all of the details
about which I am writing,
as we work out finer levels of detail.

I would like,
first of all,
to tell the purpose
of some of these writings.

I have been writing
abou...

Continue reading...
 

7-5-13 ARE MOST OF OUR POLITICIANS PSYCHOPATHS ??

July 5, 2013

I just finished reading
the new book,

Almost a Psychopath

by Ronald Schoutgen, MD
of Harvard Medical School,
and James Silver,
criminal prosecutor
and criminal defense attorney.

The subtitle on the cover
of the book reads:

Do I (or Someone I Know)
have a Problem with Manipulation
and Lack of Empathy?


So much of this book
cannot help but
continuously remind me
of the various persons
who one sees
day in and day out
in the mass media,
including the politicians
and their hacks, 
sycophant...


Continue reading...
 

7-4-13 SO, WHAT IS "MOMMYISM", ANYWAY?

July 4, 2013
It is 4:40 a.m.

I cannot sleep, once again,
so that I have gotten up
to write a few words on
what I have come to term as
"Mommyism".

One of the best examples
I have ever seen
of such a thing 
took place
on one of the first cruises
I ever went on.

I believe it was the very first one.

It was from Los Angeles,
to Ensenada, Mexico,
and back in five days,
with a stopover at Catalina Island,
and a quick swing through
the Channel Islands
off the coast
here where I live.

We got off at Ensenada,
and there it ...

Continue reading...
 

7-3-13 (2nd post) ADDENDUM

July 3, 2013

I tried to add
the following
as a p.s.
to the immediately prior post.

It is a pair of links
to Frederic Bastiat's
Petition from Candlemakers.

This is a very pithy satire
which demonstrates,
in a rather unique manner,
the shallowness,
insincerity,
and downright disingenuousness
of all of those do-gooders
who pretend to be
out to help you and me,
but somehow ALWAYS
only end up able to
help out themselves,
typically with you and me
paying the very extravegant bill.

I read this essay at about
16 or ...

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7-3-13 BRIEF UPDATE

July 3, 2013

I thought I should briefly touch base.

All is well here
(except for my broken neck; 
the cervical vertebrae
have been moving
all over the place
for past two weeks
= very uncomfortable,
but I am hoping that
they are realigning themselves properly,
following a whole series
of hits to my head,
each of which managed
to cause further compression injuries
= OUCH !!).

I have had no "inspiration"
to write music
since the untimely
and tragic
death
of my very good friend,
in spirt,
Michael Hastings.

One co...

Continue reading...
 

6-30-13 SUMMATION OF EVIDENCE

June 30, 2013

FIRST QUESTION:

Can someone take over a modern automobile
without the owner or driver knowing it,
and then remotely control
door locks,
brakes,
and accelerator?

ANSWER: Yes they can

------------------------

Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security

Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile - 2010

http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-oakland2010.pdf

 

-------------------------

Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security

Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Autom...


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6-26-13 ON THE RULE OF LAW

June 26, 2013
"Looking back at antiquity,
the Dark Ages,
the Feudal Era,
or even observing modern times
one shudders not at what people did unlawfully
but rather at what crimes were committed
in the name of the law"
Dagobert D. Runes

quoted in frontispiece of
Treasury of the Rule of Law
Edited by Richard W. Nice



It is 5:20 a.m.

The Sun is coming up
and the birds are all happily chirping
outside my window
as I write this.

I attended an all-day seminar
in Santa Barbara,
yesterday,
titled
"Understanding Energy and Fatigue...

Continue reading...
 

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Vincente E. Woodward
vw@vincenteewoodward.com

Webmaster: Sarah Woodwad