Sunday, February 19th, 2023
Author: Spencer Beswick
Source: truthout
Publication Date: February 17, 2023
Link: Defending Democracy Through Elections Won’t Be Enough to Stop Fascism
Stephan:
As I read the academic literature, the general media, and watch news channels like BBC, CNN, and MSNBC, and propaganda operations like Fox, what increasingly stands out for me from all these sources is that about a third of the White population in America, particularly the male portion, live in a world of grievance, racism, fear of women, and greed. Incels, can’t find a woman willing to have sex with them and are filled with grievances about that, yet never question themselves. Rural Whites are angry and have grievances because they think they are being replaced, and not getting enough attention and help from the government in spite of the fact that under current law, USDA’s total outlays for farms and ranches for 2023 are estimated at $209.3 billion. Outlays for mandatory programs are $169.4 billion, 80.9 percent of total outlays. Southern Whites filled with resentment have reached a level of racism not seen in a 100 years, and yet continue to elect the incompetents that are destroying the economies of Southern states, that make them so unhappy.
What I also see is that the christofascists, and the oligarchs who fund them understand all this, and are using it to turn America into a fascist anocracy. My takeaway from all this is that the only way out of this is to change our culture so that its first priority is to foster wellbeing for all. Can we do that, will we do that? I don’t know.
Credit: Seth Herald / AFP / Getty
Two years after the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, the threat of fascism has only grown. In just the last month, a neo-Nazi couple was arrested for planning to “completely destroy” Baltimore, a majority-Black city, by attacking its power grid; and in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has launched an offensive against public education, particularly Black studies — in an effort described by historian Barbara Ransby as “textbook proto-fascism.”
Across the political spectrum, people sense that the social order is crumbling. Young people feel little hope for a future shaped by climate catastrophe, growing inequality and political violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the atomization of society and driven people to search for community, oftentimes online. An increasing number of young people, particularly disaffected […]
