In "Fascism Anyone?,"  Laurence Britt identifies 14 characteristics common to fascist regimes. His comparisons of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet yielded this list of 14 "identifying characteristics of fascism."  Download the informative trifold pamphlet of these 14 points in .pdf format here (right click, save target as)

 Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia.  Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

and let's not forget the failed "Bring 'em on!"

Military Will March Front and Center at Inaugural Festivities

American Nation Brainwashed: I spoke to some 2,000 students during their annual lecture at a Baptist college in Pennsylvania.  After a short prayer service for peace centered on the Beatitudes, I took the stage and got right to the point.  “Now let me get this straight,” I said.  “Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ which means he does not say, ‘Blessed are the warmakers,’ - With that, the place exploded, and 500 students stormed out.  The rest of them then started chanting, “Bush! Bush! Bush!”  Some may remember Duce! Duce! Duce! -ed.

Marketing campaign to portray Fayetteville as America's most patriotic city suggests daily parades, tax breaks for flag-wavers and requiring all restaurants to serve apple pie.

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need."  The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib.  Witnesses claim that the detainees ? some as young as 10 ? are also being subjected to rape and torture

White House Fought New Curbs on Interrogations US 'preparing to detain terror suspects for life without trial'

The Actual FBI Memo (pdf) Referring to the Exec. Order Authorizing Use of Torture

U.S. oks evidence gained through torture.

U.S. cuts World Court's jurisdiction

Congress Moves to Cut Aid to Allies That Support World Criminal Court

The Bush administration has concluded for the first time that some non-Iraqi prisoners captured by American forces in Iraq are not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions

Bush administration pulls out of death penalty treaty that protects Americans abroad, just to execute Mexicans on Texas death row

House bill looks to legalize torture by foreign operatives

If the Senate confirms Alberto Gonzales as attorney general it will confirm that America is a country that supports and engages in torture of prisoners.

Ashcroft refuses to give Congress torture memo

July 1, 2003: U.S. Suspends Military Aid to Nearly 50 Countries: because they have supported the International Criminal Court and failed to exempt Americans from possible prosecution.

Outsourcing Torture: Contractors act as interrogators: Defense Department turned to private sources to question prisoners for intelligence gathering.

US has at least 9000 prisoners in secret detention

al-Qaida Detainees 'Disappeared' : At least 11 al-Qaida suspects have "disappeared" in U.S. custody, and some may have been tortured, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued Monday.

Guantanamo Eyes Possible Execution Chamber

Bush Civil Rights report released: "...the administration has failed to exhibit leadership or define a clear focus, relegating civil rights to a low priority."

Congress Pushes Penalties For Those Who Support The International Criminal Court: "The fact is, most Republicans want to see the International Criminal Court killed and see this as another nail in its coffin," one aide said in an interview last week.

Secrecy shrouds U.S. torture jet: The covert procedure, which must be authorized by a presidential directive, has gained little attention inside the United States.

U.N. Human Rights Experts: 'U.S. Treatment of Detainees Inhuman and Degrading'

Group: US killed detainees: A US human rights group has alleged that at least 37 detainees died of torture in US detention centres at Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

SB 24, Ohio law to muzzle "liberals"

Britain's War On Islam: "We Will Blow Your Son's head Off" they say.  File may take a moment to load.  Flash presentation.

Cheney warns that if Kerry is elected, the USA will suffer a "devastating attack"

A scared populace is a compliant populace Terrorists are likely planning U.S. attacks, a U.S.

Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right

How U.S. Attorney-General, a Christian Evangelist With Anti-Islamic Views On Record, Is Waging War On American Muslims

Dr. James J. Zogby: A co-ordinated and bigoted assault The anti-Arab campaign being waged today in the U.S. is an organised multi-pronged effort targeting a variety of Arab leaders, institutions and Islam.

Congressman: Muslims 'enemy amongst us'

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

If you haven't seen the Oreo flash animation yet, see it here

Bush budget: Military wins: Bush proposed a $2.57 trillion budget for 2006 on Monday that would erase scores of programs, cull savings from Medicaid and other programs.  Its fate will be decided by Congress over coming months.

Current US Military budget 2004

CIA in decline, Pentagon on the rise: The recent revelation that the Department of Defense has been operating its own espionage arm for the last two years confirms Rumsfeld’s success in sidelining the CIA.

Three cable channels now feed news, information and entertainment about the armed services into millions of living rooms 24 hours a day, seven days a week: The Military Channel, the Military History Channel and the Pentagon Channel.

Pentagon to spend 75 billion for three new brigades

Bush’s Domestic Program Hit List

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

The Bush Administration issues medical guidelines that rape victims should just carry the child to term

Bush refuses to sign U.N proposal on women's "sexual" rights

Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 failed to provide any exception if a woman's health is at stake.

Justice Dept. Demands Abortion Records

W. David Hager chairman of the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee does not prescribe contraceptives for single women, does not do abortions, will not prescribe RU-486 and will not insert IUDs.  Hager believes that headaches, PMS and eating disorders can be cured by reading Scripture.

Bush Administration to Extend Health Coverage to Fetuses but Not to Pregnant Women

The State Department has awarded an explicitly anti-feminist U.S. group part of a US$10 million grant to train Iraqi women in political participation and democracy.

GOP candidate approves of the execution of homosexuals

College Republicans Plan 'Straight Pride Week'

Bush calls for constitutional ban on same-sex marriages

According to the Secretary of Education, PBS can air kids shows with evangelicals, but not lesbians

Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Free Press details recent governmental propaganda efforts, from faux-correspondent Jeff Gannon to paid-off pundit Armstrong Williams, and from the demise of FOIA to video news releases passed off as news.

Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.  The GAO said the videos "constitute covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials

WHITE HOUSE TO AGENCIES: IGNORE GAO'S RULING ON 'ILLEGAL' TV NEWS RELEASES

Conservative columnist discloses CIA operative's name, liberal reporters face jail time

Chain of TV and radio station donates $300,000 worth of airtime to GOP candidates for free last-minute political ads

A television pundit gets secret payments to promote a new United States government education policy. Columnists are paid to provide support for a White House marriage stance.  Actresses play news reporters to promote drug laws.  A system of ranking reporters who criticize official policy.  These, and possibly many other public relations stunts, are some examples of publicity contracts paid for by the U.S. government, which has spent more than a quarter billion dollars on public relations in the past four years.

In bed with the republicans and banning antiwar songs: Clear channel

The White House recently called the president of NBC News, to discourage that network from broadcasting interviews with author of book about the Bush family

Anti-Kerry film to air in prime-time Nation's largest TV chain orders all 62 stations to show movie without commercials right before election

War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again

US seizes webservers from independent media sites

Fibbing It Up at Fox

FOX News doctors AP reports to mimic White House terminology

If it's allowed to stand, an FCC ruling will feed media merger mania

Articles published by American outlets suppressed in their own country

Bush's war on information: US editors forbidden to publish certain foreign writers

Reporters in chains: Under Homeland Security orders, journalists from England, Sweden, Holland and other friendly countries are being detained at U.S. airports, strip-searched and deported.

There was a study done a year ago in which one-third of the journalists who responded said they were asked to kill stories that were offensive to the clientele of their corporate bosses.

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses

Bush Aides ADMIT 'stoking fear' for political gain

Bush nominates new commissioner of FDA in attempt to combat "food terrorism"

Wolfowitz sees his placement as head of World Bank as way to fight terrorism

Picking up where Tom Ridge left off, Dept of Homeland Security issues another vague, non-specific warning

"We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," Ridge said last year.  Evidence suggests otherwise

On the heels of the Jeff Gannon story making it to mainstream news: Porter Goss warned Wednesday that the threat of al Qaeda or other terrorist groups attacking the United States was still imminent and likely would be in the form of a car bomb or other low-tech weapon.

Learn to spy on your neighbors: Public offered class on terror spotting: It's going to take more than all the law enforcement officers in the country to keep America safe from terrorist attacks.  We'll need our neighbors, too.

ID checks to toughen for Americans re-entering country : I n three years, U.S. citizens and Canadians will have to show passports or a federally issued ID cards linked to Homeland Security databases to re-enter the country from across the border.

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay says U.S. need not separate church, state

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday that people of faith should not fear being viewed by "educated circles" as "fools for Christ."

Christian Coalition of America founder Reverend Pat Robertson echoed the Bush administration's misleading crisis rhetoric to hype the need for Social Security reform and made rosy predictions about the results that a privatized system would produce.

The exclusive church where Washington's conservative power brokers pray very consciously aims its ministry at the ruling class.

President Bush has succeeded in opening the checkbooks of five federal departments to religious organizations.  Now he's setting his sights on money doled out by the states.

Falwell says evangelical Christians now in control of Republican Party

Arkansas House Rejects Affirming Separation of Church and State

Religious networks broadcasting Bush's White House prayer event

Thou shalt be like Bush: What makes this recently established, right-wing Christian college unique are the increasingly close -  critics say alarmingly close - links it has with the Bush administration and the Republican establishment.

Presidential Prayer Team

US is 'battling Satan' says general

US soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush

Park Service Continues to Push Creationist Theory at Grand Canyon and other nat'l parks

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

White House helps Halliburton send their audit through the wash before presenting it to the UN

The reconstruction of post-war Iraq is in danger of becoming "the biggest corruption scandal in history"

Bankruptcy ''reform" bill written by credit card companies: The bill makes it harder for ordinary people crushed by debt (often medical debt) to start anew.  It leaves intact dodges used by wealthy people, such as asset-hiding trusts, and the corporate ability to use bankruptcy to slash wages, evade pension responsibilities, and stiff creditors.

The Treasury Department provided assurances that the United States would not obstruct two companies' plans to import millions of barrels of oil from Iraq in March 2003 in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to an e-mail from one of the companies.

New EPA mercury rules ignored data from EPA funded Harvard study that would have forced agency to consider more stringent controls

Off the Hook: Deferred Prosecution Agreements On the Rise: Ten major American corporations settled serious criminal charges with deferred prosecution, no prosecution, or de facto no prosecution agreements over the last two years

Bush Economic Forum on U.S. Legal System Is a Rehash of Lies and Distortions: Nonpartisan, Independent Data Show That Businesses File Four Times as Many Lawsuits as Consumers, There Is No “Tort Tax” and Lawsuit Filings Are Down

Halliburton, Bechtel, and the Carlyle group: Why were lied into war

Bush's talent for cronyism: foxes guarding the henhouse

Bush Administration Exempts Oil Industry From Clean Water Act

Controversial drilling method may be protected: Energy bill compromise would exempt 'hydraulic fracturing'

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

Basics on New Financial Reporting Rules for Unions Proposed by the Department of Labor

Organized labor locks horns with White House

President Bush Attacks Organized Labor Bush attacked organized labor Saturday, issuing orders effectively reducing how much money unions can spend for political activities and opening up government contracts to non-union bidding.

March 2001: President Bush signed his name to four executive orders on organized labor last month, including one that cuts the money unions will have for political campaign spending.

Congress and the Department of Labor are trying to change the rules on overtime pay, eliminating the 40 hour work week, taking eligibility for overtime pay away from millions of workers, and replacing time and a half pay with comp days.

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia.  It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested.  Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Scientists feel stifled by Bush administration: The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting.

A group of more than 60 top U.S. scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates and several science advisers to past Republican presidents, on Wednesday accused the Bush administration of manipulating and censoring science for political purposes

Right-wing pundits are starting to sound like Maoists when describing universities and schools

Republican legislators beginning the purging of the liberals in Academia

Bush's new economic plan cuts funding for arts, education

NEA vows to undo President Bush's education programs

Artists from all over the world are being refused entry to the US on security grounds.

In a highly unusual use of the USA Patriot Act, which its creators say was designed to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, The New York Times reports that three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury June 15

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws.  The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism.  There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations

Report: Thousands wrongly convicted each year: Thousands of suspects unable to afford lawyers are wrongly convicted each year because they are pressured to accept guilty pleas or have incompetent attorneys, the American Bar Association says in a report.

The problem with Gonzales is that he has been deeply involved in developing some of the most sweeping claims of near-dictatorial presidential power in our nation's history, allowing him to imprison and even (at least in theory) torture anyone in the world, at any time.

Police officers don't have to give a reason at the time they arrest someone, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a ruling that shields officers from false-arrest lawsuits.

9/11 Intel Bill Expands Powers of Patriot Act and "Politicizes Intelligence"

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.  It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

White House withholds more information than any other in history

Bush Cronyism: Foxes Guarding the henhouse

Iran-Contra Felons Get Good Jobs from Bush

Big Iraq Reconstruction Contracts Went To Big Donors

Bush Wars -- Crooks Get Contracts: The main companies that were awarded billions of dollars worth of contracts in Iraq have paid more than $300 million in fines since 2000, to resolve allegations of fraud, bid rigging, delivery of faulty military equipment, and environmental damage.

Ambassadorship appointments in exchange for donations common practice

Cheney's Daughter Named to Mideast Post

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham.  Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media.  Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Proof of Ohio Election Fraud Exposed: Suddenly, all of the Triad systems used to calculate scan votes in Ohio appear to need a patch.

Ohio's Odd Numbers: Are the stories of vote suppression and rigged machines to be believed?  Here is "non-wacko" evidence that something went seriously awry in the Buckeye State on Election Day 2004

Consultant who destroyed Democratic voter registration forms says his GOP clients are "very proud" of his company's actions

RNC funds voter suppression efforts in at least 5 states

Republican judge upholds RNC efforts to supress Democratic party voters

Bush campaign chairman quits over illegal phone jamming

Scoop: Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud

Because of a Help America Act passed after the 2000 election, by 2006, every state will use e-voting.

Election officials all over the country are erecting illegal barriers to keep young voters from casting ballots.  From New Hampshire to California, officials have designed complex questionnaires that prevent college students from registering, hired high-powered attorneys to keep them off the rolls, shut down polling places on campuses and even threatened to arrest and imprison young voters

This picture  is what stopped the ballot recounts in Florida shortly after it seemed that legitimate President Gore had a lead.  The "citizens" started  what was later called "the preppy riot".  Screaming, yelling, pounding on the walls, these "outraged citizens" intimidated the polling officials to halt the court mandated recount.  A closer look reveals who they really were.  They were bussed and flown in at Republican lawmakers expense. Some even flew in on Tom Delay's private plane.

If Mussolini defines fascism as "the merger of corporate and government power" what does that make the Republican party?