Tea Party Tied to Rise of Fascism in America

The Confederate Nazi Flag

It has taken me some time to put all the pieces together.  But I've finally come to understand the government shutdown, the right's vitriolic hatred of President Barack Obama, the NRA's stockpiling of weapons, voter suppression in minority communities and a host of other things that I previously viewed as anomalies.

We are witnessing the rise of fascism in America.  As a historian I know for a fact that history does repeat itself.  The reason is quite simple.  Under stress, human behavior invariably reverts to the lowest common denominator, which is fear.  Or as Aldoux Huxley once said:

"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." 

But what is fascism?  According to the Oxford Dictionary: "(It) tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach."   The two most famous fascists in history were Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany.  

The Tea Party's ultra-nationalism and xenophobia  are reflected in the movement's distaste for immigration reform. As early as September 2012, Lawrence Sellin, a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel warned that civil conflict could erupt if Obama - a man Col. Sellin called a "criminal" -was victorious in November. Rifle sales shot up. He wrote:

"America is on the verge of fragmentation and civil conflict because its citizens have lost control of their government and lost faith in its political institutions."

President Barack Obama is in their crosshairs, for being an educated, politically savvy black man, who showed himself capable of outwitting conservatives and convincing a majority of Americans to elect him president, not once but twice. The Tea Party's willingness to shut down the United States government, even if it leaves the Republican Party in tatters, and push the country to the brink of default shows a disdain for democratic governance.  They twist remarks made by Thomas Jefferson about "elective despotism" to justify their anti-democracy stance.  Tea Party websites even sell hoodies with the message "An elective despotism was not the government we fought."   It is therefore not surprising that Tea Party  members appear to  hanker for the nation's economic collapse, in hopes of triggering  the same mass fear response among Americans as occurred in Germany after World War I.   

So you think it couldn't happen here.  Well think again.  The disappearance of journalistic standards in the face of market pressures, has meant that even the news programs that pride themselves in objectivity feel compelled to mold their message to the audience.  Since Tea Party fascism has taken hold in the South and among rural communities in other parts of the country, debates and issues are normalized in such a way as to treat both sides of an argument as being equally reasonable, worthwhile, and reflective of our nation's democratic values.  

Militarism is also integral to the fascist mindset.  Several years ago, National Public Radio broadcast a story entitled:  "NRA Looks To Build On Tea Party Movement." It laid out a slew of connecting links between the two groups.   As for the NRA itself, an article by Mark Ames in Truthout entitled: From "Operation Wetback" to Newtown: Tracing the Hick Fascism of the NRA points out: 

". . . it’s also no longer possible for me to ignore the National Rifle Association, and its hick fascism politics that’ve been poisoning our culture ever since the NRA’s infamous "coup" in 1977, when the NRA was taken over by far-right fanatics led by a convicted murderer and onetime US Border Guards chief named Harlon Carter — whose previous claim to fame was when he led a massive crackdown on Mexican immigrant laborers called "Operation Wetback." That’s not a typo by the way."

As a Texas resident, I was dismayed to learn recently that the president of the Greater Fort Bend County Tea Party had formerly served as the director of propaganda for the American Fascist Party (AFP). James Ives, who has hosted political debates and statewide rallies was until recently the AFP's fourth in command.   On one message board, Ives declared:

"Gentlemen, first let me say that I am proud to be a member, no, VERY proud to be a member of the American Fascist Party. In the growth of this group over a short time, there can truly be said to be signs of light in the tunnel of recent national history." 

For those who consider it preposterous to believe that a genuine fascist movement could arise in America, history records a similar incredulity among educated Germans on the eve of the Nazi Party's rise to power.

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