Has America's Republic Faded Away?

 

As most everyone knows, much of our freedoms are actively under attack these days, especially our freedom of speech and expression. Ironically, most of those doing the attacking are individuals and groups who publicly claim to be "protecting" those very same freedoms. (it reminds me of when the police haul you in for "protective custody" when typically they are the ones you need protection from!).

 Nevertheless, apparently the freedom of speech or expression these groups and individuals are actually interested in is protecting theirs while the rest of us face censorship, which include gag warnings  for violating their "community standards" (which means they can say or imply what they want, but you can't even post the truth), suspension, being blocked, or wind up on some "government list".  

It's almost "as if" speaking out or having a different opinion is now somehow "un-American". It kind of reminds me of the McCarty Era when everyone was afraid of being accused of being a "Red" (that is, a communist). Thousands of lives, mostly innocent, were ruined by the atmosphere created by that U.S. Senator from Wisconsin who, albeit misguidedly, thought he was doing America a great service.  

Many will tell you that today's censorship is coming from the Left this time, which is true, at least to a point. Most of the groups and individuals (particularly those on college campuses) tend to lean not just Left, but Far Left, the money behind them and organization it takes doesn't come from Left wing organizations.

Instead, much of the money, especially the big money, comes from shell corporations created under such civic sounding euphemisms as "Society for Intellectual Enlightenment, the "so and so" foundation, and so on.  These philanthropic organizations are often fronts for very powerful Wall Street corporations and extremely rich individuals and families.

Ironically, this is the opposite of what most of us would expect. After all, the majority of these people are highly conservative and corporations only active out of self interest. So what gives? Well, America is no longer a Republic. It's a neo-fascist corporatocracy, not to mention a surveillance state.  Being fascist is typically thought of as being Far Right Wing, which to an extent it is.

However, fascism, especially the American version, isn't what we'd expect it to be. Fascism, historically speaking, involved close cooperation between the state and Big Business with the state often serving as the "senior partner". In fact, the so called "founder" of modern fascism, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini once said the fascism should more properly be called "Corporatism", which reflects its true character.

As a quick aside, claims of "socialism" or "Communism", which you often see online promoting some group or cause, are false. First off, fascism is different from most ideologies in that it borrows from both sides of the political spectrum, depending on the history and traditions of a given country (it should be noted that a theocracy, while a rule under some form of religion such as in medieval Europe or modern Iran, are considered fascist as well).

That's why the fascism of Italy differed from that of Germany, which differed from that of Spain or Argentina, Hungary or Romania. Typically fascists will adopt or kept some aspect of the Left in order to keep the people pacified. The more content the people are (at least in the beginning), the easier it is to consolidate control.

Secondly, under Communism, there is no independent ownership of private property. The government owns literally everything. That includes your home, the bank or grocery store down the corner. There would be no Wall Street. The company you work for would be owned by the state and you would be assigned where to work by the state.  

Under "socialism", the masses own and control everything. It would be a nation of worker owned  businesses, worker based committees, co-ops, credit unions, etc.  I'm sure you get the picture. As an aside, it bears mentioning that there has never been an actual "socialist" nation despite several countries calling themselves "socialist". It's like North Korea  or East Germany calling themselves a "democratic republic" or China proclaiming that it's a "People's Republic. The only things Communism has in common with fascism are that both are totalitarian forms of government and neither are big on freedom.

Modern fascism differs in that Big Business is the senior partner. It greatly influences legislation through aggressive lobbying, underwriting political campaigns and funding "leadership PACS" (which some consider to be a form of indirect bribery), run their own independent campaigns in the form of mailings and media spots through benign sounding non-profit shell political action committees (PACs). They often work to help head off or defeat any challengers. In exchange, all the politician has to do is play along, which can be extremely profitable privately.

Big Business, through its PACs and lobbyists, work to dilute or kill  any pending bills which could affect their ability to operate without government interference (at least of consequence) or impacts their bottom line (you didn't think those "loopholes" in all those laws were accidental did you?).

In fact, most people don't realize that corporate lobbyists either write or help write legislation and work to get it through the various committees and ultimately passed into law.   In addition, Big Business quietly works to undo previous laws which were aimed at protecting employees, especially those pertaining to organized labor.

Some freedoms will disappear rather quickly under the pretext of "national security" and often with the assurance by the government of being "temporary".  You know, it's funny how  permanent "temporary" can become if the public isn't paying attention.   

So, the next time you hear or read that we're on our way to Communism or socialism, you'll know better and be able to properly respond. Nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that our Republic has all but faded away just as the Rome's Republic did, and like the Roman Republic, the more it faded into memory the more the dictatorship of the Empire took hold. Before long it was all but impossible to restore the Republic. Don't let our Republic become just a memory.

 

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