Mr. Lamalfa is a rich rice farmer, who as a state legislator mostly lined his pockets with self interest dollars, and passed absolutely no meaningful legislation whatsoever.
The editorial criticized Lamalfa's support for the recently failed farm bill in the House, but lauded some amendments he supported that put some fairness in part of the law's intricacies.
And meanwhile, the farm bill failed.
It failed because the wing-nut majority Republicans insisted on draconian cuts to the Food Stamp Program, adding an amendment that required work to get food stamps, with absolutely no provision to establish jobs' incentives for business that would create the work.
In short, require work but have no work. In short, starve the poor.
No mention in this about children. Oh I forgot, we have to repeal child labor law.
This is fascism!
The right wing in this country long ago went over the line into simple political and economic fascism.
And the Congress of the United States reflects this. The brown shirt, black booted fascism of Italy and Germany is winning in spite of the millions who gave their lives from 1930 to 1945 to stop it.
The Republican Party is trending fascist. Its Party Platform is dominated by Christian Conservatives, who seek a state that is dominated by totalitarian yes fascist, orthodoxy.
Now you have to know what fascism is to make these judgements. It is not simple. But in political science there are fascist criteria that can be applied to measure political activity as fascist. The United States today has several political movements in it, all right wing, who have long ago crossed the political science criteria of fascism. Fascism is not that subtle anyway, but for it to grow, especially since the tragedy of WW II, it has to be subtle and hidden at first. So, there are covers, like Tea Party, that connote democracy, but definitely are not. In short, fascism works hard to fool lovers of democracy, to lure them into giving up that democracy.
The Republican Party is quite simply fascist. Its Party Platform is dominated by plutocracy, large corporate interests who see democracy as a nuisance to cruel and monopolistic predatory business practices that already pushed the nation into a recession/depression in 2007. There is a concerted and well organized effort to subvert democratic institutions at every level.
I recently wrote a piece "We All Are In This Together", urging bipartisanship.
It appears this is impossible. The House of Representatives cannot even come together for a bipartisan farm bill for Pete's sake! The Speaker is helpless to forge any coalitions at all.
You cannot compromise with fascism. You just can't. It's anti-democratic push allows no compromise.
My article was met with derision by the right wing, who dominate politics in my home town.
Fascists do not like compromise, especially with social democrats (liberals). They must attack with a vengeance.
And fascism is insidious. Many Tea Party Patriots, people who would never dream of helping fascism, believe they are aiding the cause of democracy, when in fact they are lackeys for the right wing fascist industrialists; the Koch brothers for example.
I still urge those few moderate Republicans and especially Independents to look more closely at the den of racist, jingoistic, nativistic fascists who now dominate the GOP. It is time to stop this cancerous growth!
In 1932 the social democrats and other democracy loving members of the Reichstag believed Hitler, who was elected Chancellor with the promise to work together with liberals and moderates. They were all fooled, as Hitler, with assistance from industrialists (sound familiar) moved quickly toward dictatorship. And democracy died. And then millions died.
Right now, in this country, the same political sickness exists. Plutocrats like the Koch Brothers, and others who can now keep their political donations secret thanks to the Supreme Court, are working diligently to destroy democracy. They are working overtime to destroy any social programs, like the Affordable Care Act, and now even Food Stamps, so that more suffering and hate can be created.
Fascism feeds on economic misery. It feeds on failures in the democratic process. Republican fascists are working hard to insure that democracy does not work. They have subverted the political process to such an extent that Congress' favorability numbers are at an all-time low. This is being done on purpose, to erode the public's confidence in democratic decision making. You watch, if they succeed, the next step is "leadership" that suspends democracy because of a created "crisis" and a strongman leader will emerge.
And his name certainly is not Obama. The President embodies everything the fascists hate: a person who has succeeded in spite of racism, who is a Constitutional scholar, and who embodies democracy.
In 1933, before WW II, many Americans urged President Roosevelt to suspend the Constitution, to take more bold action to stop the Depression. He refused, thank God he refused. Congress continued in session, even during the low points of WW II, the President had to work for all the legislation that was passed, and had to cooperate with the other side.
Democracy endured because the conditions of democracy: voting, free speech, a lively political debate, compromise, and justice (except for African Americans and people of color) continued.
It is interesting that Hitler constantly commented on the plight of the African Americans in the U.S.; he knew that it was a product of the same fascist hate he was using against the Jews at the time. But in the United States, democracy survived in spite of the racism. And in the thirty years after WWII, the institutionalized racism in the United States ended because of the leadership of the Democratic Party. It is no accident that the southern fascist racists found the Republican Party to join. These same racists are feeding the fascist tendencies of the Republican Party today.
Fascist Republicans, southern racists, Christian fanatics, are working overtime to destroy these foundations of democracy.
Food stamps must be cut, the Affordable Care Act must be subverted, every tenant of government is suspect and is ridiculed, scorned and attacked. Big government is not the target, all DEMOCRATIC government is the target.
It is all aimed at the ultimate goal of a government take-over by the right, and a dictatorship headed up by a conservative who is Christian, warlike, and brutal. And they will find that person!
If you are still reading this, since fascist is a knee-jerk reaction word (it should be), this is not a rant, this is a earnest warning.
Our democracy is at stake. Every time you tune in to the right wing nuts, you soak up more poison that will bring our freedom down.
What did we fight World War Two for????????
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