Fascism to come, wearing a libertarian veneer

By: Michael_T_Bucci

I said to my homemaker when she arrived for her weekly visit, "I guess you are aware that Social Security checks might not arrive next week?" No, she didn't know that fact. "Well, you are aware of the Oslo gunman last Friday?" She couldn't place the word "Oslo" so I explained the tragedy in loose detail. No, she wasn't aware of it.

"I don't get involved in politics like you do," she explained. "I get up, work all day and go to bed. Sometimes one of my friends might mention politics." Did one of her friends mention the government might shut down or that 80+ kids were mass murdered? "No, they never said anything to me about it." I explained that although Social Security checks might be delayed, and although the matter was being argued by politicians, the issue was not a political one, or an economic one, but a human one; it is all about this country's values. That indeed real people's lives would be affected including her own job security. I reminded her that most of her clients are the elderly, some even poor and indigent who won't have money to pay rent. Did any of these people mention the problem? She replied in the negative; no one had mentioned it. [This is written July 26, seven days before D(efault)-Day].

Hours later I retrieved an email from a long friend, an executive, highly educated, who leads an upper-middle-class life in the West. She raved about her son who attends a $48K ivy school who just finished traveling throughout Asia during the summer. Her son, still in college, is making $500/week as a summer intern with a cyber start-up firm. The mother's salary is 75 times greater than that of my homemaker but neither person (one a homemaker, the other a music industry executive) is alert to the true and real state of the economy, the condition of the country, or the potential (if not the certain) effects of the austerity program on them, let alone on the nation. Neither seems to care. One speaks about a five-year plan to buy a new car and get a better apartment (she now earns $10/hr., and works thee jobs) and the other about securing a 400k job offer in a city in the east. They are immune, it seems. They are insulated, it seems. So are the folks buying the new $1000+ Apples or looking over BMWs in mid-town; and so might be most Americans who have yet to miss a mortgage payment. It seems.

Being elderly and disabled, I often remark that I don't have too far to fall (just a few inches). My homemaker, being very industrious and self-reliant, will survive austerity better than most. However, my lady friend has miles to fall if she does fall, but has yet to give any thought to it. It just won't happen to her.

People have a reason for withdrawing themselves from an all-too obvious turbulence in this country, and one way is to deny vulnerability; another way is to become authoritarian and let the experts decide for them. "What if the draft was reinstituted?" I asked my homemaker. "You would be drafted into war and might be killed. Would you then read the news and learn the issues?" She replied: "No, I'd just go in if they called me." In many places in America, citizens do not realize they forfeit democracy when they decide to "stand in line, keep their mouths shut, and do what they're told". It is precisely what Government counts on, when it isn't whipping them into a fury to get votes; and it is why the austerity discussions have been kept secret. In the end, the decision will be made for the electorate, not by them.

Many a business owner who built a company will tell you that it was built on the shoulders of the employees; will tell you that his or her advancement rested on the advancement of those underneath. When a manager promotes an underling, he/she promotes him/herself. The corollary is also true. When those below are pushed downward, you are pushed down with them. When a society stops promoting excellence and progress, or decency in business and providing fair wages, which is the case in America, it stops growing and begins shrinking. When the poor are made to be poorer, the middle class sinks, eventually leaving only two classes, the poor and the rich. The rich prevail in the short term, but destroy themselves in the long term. The big fish, having eaten all the little fish, has no fish left to eat, and dies.

The greatest lies and swindles are being enacted by Washington today in a bipartisan manner onto an entire population that knows very little from their media, but who will bear very much for a very long time to come.

The extreme fringe of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, has hijacked more than the Republican Party, the Democrats and the President. It has hijacked the nation. If their agenda is one most Americans endorse, so be it. If not, people must demand representation during these critical times. As it stands, the Cantor forces are holding the same gun against the American people (who are not responsible for this crisis) that Hank Paulson held against Congress in securing TARP. The "deadline" frenzy and political charades produce deceptions, confusion, delays and disarray enough to push through legislation in the last minutes that ultimately is unfriendly to all Americans, particularly to the lower middle-class, elderly, disabled and poor. It is a Karl Rove "surge" tactic that worked for the Iraq War, Patriot Act, Homeland Security, TARP... and it is being used now by the President and Congress.

The Republican insistence that the elderly and poor are to be blamed for massive welfare infusions into the financial sectors and for the cost of wars spanning ten years is believable only to a portion of the population that has received massive dosages of propaganda by Mr. Murdoch's FOX and the Tea Party. The wealthy needs its mechanism for exacerbating then turning mass rage away from them onto their neighbors or onto other countries (an old and classic formula). President Obama's fictional postures of protecting and defending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as some entitlements, have clearly been shown to be flagrant lies. He has, in fact, moved farther to the Right than the Republicans themselves offering more concessions, cuts and regressive taxation than they had asked for. This speciousness is consistent with his entire performance in the White House.

Like in America, the Right is rising in Europe to provide cover for financial parasites feeding on the public trough. When the public host is consumed, the wealthy (like the big fish) can only turn on its own. Yet, Western economies still are called "free markets" by many, but in a twist on the New Hampshire state slogan, it is "I live free, you die!" The Religious Right sits besides them helping to cowl the faithful into submission. Forthcoming will be emphatic calls for "a Christian nation". The Cross will be hoisted alongside the Flag. To them I say: Your God is a false one. No God wishes pain or punishment on anyone. Only you wish it!

The master plan at work is showing itself and speeding to its intended destination: the control of Government itself by the financial barons, the private sector, by dictates from the so-called "free markets" and by the military. All this might become a reality in America well before the 2012 elections, and few will feel capable of changing it. Next summer, my homemaker might need a fourth job in order to eat, my lady friend might be richer and more oblivious, several riots might need to be suppressed by the Government (or by Tea Party Patriots and Militia), the second or third stage of our IMF-style austerity program will be implemented followed with more "pain and punishment" demanded and inflicted by "the markets", Michelle Bachmann (taking a rest from campaigning) will read more of Mises on the beach, and Mises will get to see (from his heaven) whether what he propagated produced true liberty, or produced shear tyranny.

It will be a financial-military fascism that will come; one wearing a libertarian veneer.

By Michael T Bucci

Michael T Bucci is a retired public relations executive from New Jersey presently residing in New England. His essays have appeared at The Market Oracle. He is the author of nine books on practical spirituality including White Book: Cerithous.

© 2011 Copyright Michael T Bucci - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

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