The United States, like many other countries, has a large number of call-in radio talk stations that virtually blanket the nation.  For those not interested in sports, music, or drivel they are about the only option available, unless you don’t mind driving in silence.  The problem with this third option, of course, a problem that becomes manifest with even a brief acquaintance with their contents, is that the hosts of these programs nearly always range from rightist to crypto-fascist.  To contend that this situation is appalling is an understatement of the first magnitude.  Nearly all of these propagandists don’t even make a pretense of objectivity, and their gaggle of heal-licking sychophants applaud in unison like so many puppets.  The entire predicament is not appreciably different from that faced by the German population in the 1930’s when they were obliged to hear Goebbels or nothing of substance.  To turn on an American call-in radio in the expectation of hearing politico/economic programs of enlightenment and a reasonable degree of balance, even within a wholly bourgeois context, is not appreciably far from pursuing the fountain of youth.  Programs that are tolerable are definitely few and far between.  Some of the programs are local and confined to a relatively narrow area.  Others are regional covering wide metropolitan areas often encompassing hundreds of thousands and several states.  Nearly all are infested with reactionaries and fascist wanna-bes.  The largest shows are national in scope and among the most repulsive of all.  The most prominent example of the latter is a program hosted by Rush Limbaugh, a crypto-fascist if there ever was one with a persistent audience in excess of 20 million on 625 radio stations.  He spews out his daily poison and noxious fumes with all the aplomb of Hitler excoriating on the Jews, liberalism being his prime target.  Another national advocate of crypto-fascism is G. Gordon Liddy, an ex-FBI agent who was one of those who broke into the Democratic Party’s Watergate National HQ in 1972 under President Nixon’s aegis and served time as a result.  Pat Buchanan, who periodically runs for president, had a national program of this nature until recently while Savage, Hannity, and O'Reilly still do.  Anyone who doubts the fascist credentials of these proponents of prevarication need only study the philosophy of the Phalangists in Spain, the Social-Movement in Italy (the current Mussolinites), or the NPD in Germany and see if they can detect any decernible differences.

                           Several additional points are worthy of note with respect to these propagandists.
        First, all are financed by people who prefer to remain anonymous and hide under innocuous labels.  Limbaugh is on what is called the EIB Network which is bankrolled by those who, for obvious reasons, evade the limelight.  The Krupps and Thyssens did the same.  The EIB could easily stand for Every Imperialist Buzzard.
       Second, I can’t help but note the apparent willingness of American liberals in general and members of the Democrat Party in particular to allow this situation to continue unhindered and not resort to major measures to see it nullified.  Do they seriously think they can win elections or influence the American people when they are slammed, attacked, and denigrated day after day.  When a national talk show host vilifies your philosophy without opposition or correction for approximately 4 hours on a daily basis, what do you expect the American people to conclude.  Attacks unanswered are judged by millions to be attacks that are unanswerable.  If you don’t reply, they assume that’s because you can’t.  The liberals and democrats are so naive that they don’t even have enough sense to finance a national talk-show host with counterbalancing views.  Even though they have the money, they fail to act, relying instead on other mediums and support.  The demands they make on the broadcasters of the nation for counterbalancing views are obviously anemic and wholly inadequate.  One would think that rectifying this situation through legislation or contrary voices would be a high priority rather than a secondary consideration.
         Any critical, objective observer of the political scene in the United States knows that the Nation is awash in fascists, reactionaries, and ultra-rightists.  Their support is both broad and strong and the primary factor preventing their total assumption of power is a relatively affluent economy.  But recent events in Austria, France, Germany, and Sweden demonstrate quite clearly that the fascist menace, which is always lurking just beneath the surface in capitalist nations, rears its ominous head most readily when the economic conditions deteriorate.
         The liberal bourgeoisie does not seem to realize that although it helped defeat the fascists physically in WWII, it certainly has not defeated them ideologically.  Fascist thought is alive and well and bourgeois liberalism clearly does not see it as the serious threat it is.  Of course, many people of a liberal proclivity thought the same in the 1930’s as well and paid a price for wearing blinders.