Paths Towards Fascism

[blackcat]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18570.htm

An hour long talk which I found very interesting. Highly recommended!!

Talk by Naomi Wolf author of "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.

"Americans expect to have freedom around us just as we expect to have air to breathe, so we have only limited understanding of the furnaces of repression that the Founders knew intimately. Few of us spend much time thinking about how "the system" they put in place protects our liberties. We spend even less time, considering how dictators in the past have broken down democracies or quelled pro-democracy uprisings.

It is not just the young who are disconnected from democracy's tasks at just the moment that the nation's freedoms are being dismantled; in my travels across the country, I have heard from citizens of all backgrounds who feel alienated from the Founders' idea that they are the ones who must lead; they are the ones who must decide and confront and draw a line. They are the ones who matter. This book is written for them.

Such citizens need the keys to, the understanding of, the Founders' radical legacy. They need to understand how despots have gone about their work. They need a primer so they and those around them can be well-equipped for the fight that lies ahead.

So they can fight it well.

So that our children may continue to live in freedom.

So that we may all. "

Blog http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/ten-steps-to-close-down-a_b_4 6695.html

Alternative link to talk:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=2 0873

[xmasdale]

Large empires have a tendency to become autocratic. The USA is now a global empire. Is there any reason it should not follow that autocratic route.

In ancient times Rome overthrew its kings, the Tarquins, and set up a republic (doubtless limited democracy by today's standards but nevertheless an improvement on regal autocracy). In time certain rich Roman families became dominant within the republic and when Julius Ceasar in 49BC crossed the Rubicon stream, bringing his army into Rome, a civil war ensued which the defenders of the republic lost.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar.htm

9/11 researcher Michael Ruppert in his book, Crossing the Rubicon, submits that the 9/11 attacks were a similar pivotal event, ending US republican democracy and initiating autocratic empire. Time will tell if he is right.

A country which teaches its children of the dangers of fascism, the stages its rise goes through and the warning signs to look out for, is modern Germany. I should be interested to see if anyone can throw further light on how Germany deals with this problem.