Fascism (2008)

Merriam-Webster defines fascism as follows: “a political philosophy, movement, or regime . . . that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”

Socialism is defined as: “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

Democracy is defined as: “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.”

Often on “talk shows” and even in the print media, we find citizens on both the right and the left declaring or predicting that this democratic republic is headed for either fascism or socialism. The fifty-six signers of our Declaration of Independence, and the writers of the greatest document about government known to man--the Constitution of the United States--determined that this nation would be, and thank God it still is, a Democratic Republic. But, through the inequities of this country’s greatest shame, slavery, and the repudiation of our way of government by such men as Roger Baldwin, who founded the ACLU in 1917, or even Gus Hall, Chairman of the Communist Party in this country until he died in the year 2000, we have those citizens who, very much like Karl Marx, think that the only value of the people is their value to the state.

At the Kremlin in Moscow, standing in Lenin’s tomb, looking at his long-deceased constantly embalmed body, I could not help but think of his famous line, “A lie told often enough becomes truth.” I have been to Russia several times, and crossed Russia once on the Trans-Siberian railroad. I believe the most shocking experience of Soviet life was the regimentation of the people. When I walked out of the Metropol Hotel, I was greeted by the sight of very old women sweeping the streets. I was told that every life was regimented to a particular job. While there at a May Day celebration, I stood on Red Square with the delegation from Communist Cuba, watching the smiling uniformed citizens with their war-making, agriculture and commercialized equipment move through the square. Only on a holiday could a marriage take place and May Day is the country’s only holiday, so there were many bridal couples in evidence.

The most uncomfortable adaptation as a tourist was the peepholes in every room, regimented meals in the 2,000 seat militaristic-type dining room, and the fact that you felt you were being watched at all times. Even when I spoke at the University of Moscow.   The gauge of wheels on Russian trains are different from those on all other trains so on my train trip from London to Hong Kong the train carriage must be raised at the Russian border, and different wheels put on the train to fit the Russian tracks (all this work is done by women).

In China, (I was one of the first Americans into China after Nixon reopened it and was there twice after that time), like Russia, and the other Communist countries, particularly in the Balkans while they were still under Russian control, the tourists, like the citizens enjoyed no freedom at all of movement, housing, and even your food was carefully regulated as to amount. One distinguished judge from New York City told the guide, “I simply must have more food than this.  Even if it’s nothing more than just bread.” In Russia, if it had not been for black bread and beer, I would have starved to death. On the Trans-Siberian railroad train, every meal was a soup mixture and I noticed that the Russian citizens who were riding on the train were treated more like cattle than human beings.

In Cuba, the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution regulates everything a citizen does. The streets of each city and even rural areas are constantly patrolled and the most minor infraction is reported to the Commissar. Much of the turmoil taking place in the Congo this very day is because Patrice Lumumba invited Raul Castro to assist him in getting the Congo (a country as large as Europe) under control.

Every time I hear a liberal politician, academician, or commentator promote controls and regulation of the hard-earned freedoms which we enjoy in this country, I just want to slap someone. Every time I see a young person, always with a cell phone, wearing the latest trends in clothing, driving expensive cars, with more spending money than the wealthiest citizens in third world countries make, living decadent, uncaring lives I want to hit them over the head with my white cane (I am a 100% disabled, service-connected, totally blind veteran) and remind them of what the Founding Fathers and their own ancestors have left for them to enjoy.

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure. When will our educators, elementary, high school, and college, and the parents of these thankless students remind them that freedom is not free and that there are terrorists and fellow travelers who resent the prosperity and largess of this country and are willing to take it away from us?

Fascism is not just a definition, it can become a reality!

Who's fool are you?

#503


The young William Booth, later General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army would walk around London with a sandwich board over his head. On the front of the board it would read, “I'm a fool for Jesus”. On the back, “Who's fool are you?”

I was a friend of the late Senator Jesse Helms, one of the few Christian statesmen I have known in my life. Talking one time about the cost of war and serving in the military (I'm a totally blind, 100% disabled, medical officer veteran) I said to him, “since war costs so many people so much why not just catapult bundles of money at the enemy?” He said, “no, in America too much money is made from war.” In America, too much money is made from sickness, surgery, orthopedics, pharmaceuticals. In America, too much money is made from gambling, pornography, (money made on pornography exceeds all money made from athletic events and television networks combined) money spent on pet foods, (more money spent on pet foods than money given to all churches) money spent on financial institutions (in the bailout of Goldman Sachs tremendous bonuses paid, even million dollar bonuses to secretaries). In America, too much money spent on alcoholic beverages (Americans spend over 90 billion dollars each year on alcoholic beverages). In America, too much money is spent on politics (Mr. Obama spent 950 million to get elected). In America, too much money is spent on abortion, the killing of the innocent (next year 750 million will be spent by planned parenthood of just your tax dollars). The budget of Planned Parenthood exceeds one billion, most of that spent on abortions. Seeing these figures, are we not happy that the mercies of God extend to us? The longest book in the bible, the psalms, 27 times “the mercies of the lord endure forever”.

Once, in the Kalahari desert in Botswana, with my binoculars (I still had a shadow of vision in one eye at that time) I watched a large herd of wildebeests. To the edge of a clearing, beneath some bushes, I saw a pride of lions. When the wildebeests detected the lions they began to run, leaving behind the smaller animals who could not keep up, the sick animals, the newborn babies who had just been dropped from the mother. This was lunch for the lions. A lion which can fell an elephant considers a defenseless wildebeest as an appetizer. The victims of war, the victims of the military industrial complex of this nation, the victims of the financial wizards of Wall Street are just appetizers for the deceiving, lying, masquerading, hazing, inflicted by federal, state and local government as the citizen runs the gauntlet trying to survive the debauchery and the deceit of our times.

Today's unemployment figures give no one reason for encouragement. Through the political entanglements of NAFTA, CAFTA, and a self inflicted death of industry in America, few jobs will come back. Business will increase in good times and in bad times but never in uncertainty. Most business people, most Americans, are just waiting and watching for the next Satanic development...more public spending...more hiring of federal employees...more giveaway programs in the area of social engineering...putting more people on the welfare list...putting everyone into a Communist system of healthcare. Why should anyone look for a job? In some states, unemployment figures show us that one makes more just drawing a government check.

I sent a black Pentecostal preacher to see a black man, ill for many months. The preacher called me back and told me that he offered to pray for the sick man. The ill man said, “I don't mind you praying but remember I get a check.” In other words, he was more interested in getting his government check each month than he was God's healing provisions for his health. Why should any businessman (private enterprise, small business employment account for 99% of all employment) hire more employees when he does not know how long he himself will be in business and just how quick he will have a “going out of business sale”. There is not one person in the Obama administration who has ever run a business successfully. These clowns know nothing of the taxation involved (unemployment, workman's compensation, permits and license etc). It is the businessman who takes all the risks, who watches the front door to see if anyone comes in, “just looking” anxious to see if anything comes off his shelves. He is the one responsible for the payroll, the utilities, a constant barrage of “do gooder” organizations wanting a “handout”. It is the small businessman who is expected to support his church, civic clubs, the many groups to which his school children belong. With most businessmen, it is a matter of going to work early and staying late, a matter of his wife supplementing the family income. He thinks every day, “why did I try so hard to succeed in school? Why do I take all of these risks, pay all this fire, liability, and other insurance in an uncertain business in uncertain times in an uncertain world? Why should I not just sit at home and watch the idiot box like the 50% of the population who pay no tax? Why do I work every day so I can employ people who are supposed to work for me who, in most cases, if things don't go exactly right or I make one correction, they are out the door ready to spread any type rumor they can concoct, all too ready to go to my competition, friends or family with any fantasy they can conjure.”

The greatest threat of a healthcare practice, after years of preparation, money beyond comprehension, a disgruntled employee or patient making a fantasy accusation of ethical consequences toward you. One of my best friends, a very good doctor, was ruined financially and otherwise because one family in a community, with long trails of gossip, made an erroneous charge about him and, of course, most people want to believe the worst.

In my own experience, in large practice, a young doctor whom I had taken in after his divorce, unable to practice on his own, needing my assistance, later dissatisfied because of a new wife and her wanting him to move to another area and break the professional agreement, went to a cocktail party and told the most outrageous tale anyone could possibly tell on an old, mostly blind practitioner. They told, at that party, that I had been arrested in a hotel, at the state capital, with a prostitute. You should know the feeling when you walk into a public place and everyone starts whispering. The local newspaper editor, got hold of the tale, investigated, with the police, hotel, everyone, and here is the headline of the editorial, “How Do These Vicious Rumors Get Started?”

Most lenders will be lucky to get back 25 cents on each dollar. Wool has been pulled over the eyes of the American people. The Judas goats of the Obama Administration have led the dumb sheep (Americans) into the slaughterhouse of senseless national debt...debt that can never be repaid.

It will not be your children or grandchildren who will repay the debt. Disenchanted and dismantled, we will pay the debt with inflation. Our greatest lenders, China and Japan, are spending the money we have borrowed buying real estate here because they feel there may be some value in real estate since they know there will be no value in the dollars.

The dominos are falling. As you make your exit, “don't slam the door”.