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A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
Oppressive, dictatorial control.

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I have used the word fascism as a descriptive adverb recently in my writings, and I don't think it is fair to use it without explaining myself. It is my belief there is a fascist movement in these United of States. I don't believe that the participants would be able to admit that what they advocate is fascism. I do believe that these same participants are using the framework of our constitution and Declaration of Independence to further their fascist views, particularly the use of one of our basic rights: freedom of speech.

There have been willing victims of this rise of fascism.

"Liberals" have been targeted by the proponents of greater, central control in all phases of our life. The word liberal itself is a dirty word, and there has been an orchestrated attack on liberal views in the national media, so that it is harder for liberal views to be heard. Many liberals have changed their tone and message so as to be assimilated and escape further confrontation and attack. These are the willing victims, the ones who by their complicity in compromising their principals, have furthered the fascist state.

The labeling of the national media as "liberal" is a further attempt to censor the views of liberal. The truth is, the media could never be liberal enough for the advocates of fascism, and they will never be silent until every "liberal" voice in the media is silenced.

We took a giant leap forward towards fascism after the trauma of 9/11, when a huge majority of the nation believed the adequate and right response was to attack Afghanistan. Fascism is the use of military force and might "to surpress the opposition through terror...".

Many "liberals" I am sure would disagree with me when I say we did not need to attack Afghanistan to "win" this war on terror. If anything, attacking that backwards country furthered the cause of Al-Queda. Sadly, we Americans have not had the willingness to back-up our war there with adequate reconstruction efforts, again, furthering the cause of our "enemies".

If we truly believed in our form of government, if we truly thought the practice of American democracy to be decent and just, we would have no qualms that in a war of ideology, our's would win. Otherwise, we would simply leave that country alone if they were'nt willing to accept our way of thinking. Yet, it seems the amount of military might we are willing to throw at a country is proportional to the doubts hidden behind that might. We really don't believe we can win over the Arabs with ideology, with the "goodness" of our beliefs. Not that we have tried that hard, either.

How would one respond to a 9/11 without the use of violence to supress the opposition? Thoughtfully. Very thoughtfully. There would need to be much open discussion and soul searching. Our immediate, again, "fascist" response to 9/11 was to quell open discussion and soul searching, to label it un-patriotic.

"Fascism" is born of the [hidden] belief in helplessness. "Fascism" is a child of violent trauma. Germany became a fascist nation after the violence and trauma of their defeat and humiliation after World War 1, and the Great Depression. There were elements of fascism in all of the Free World before World War 2, including in America. Germany represented the extreme of those views. Institutional racism, an element of fascism, was apparent in the U.S. before WW2. We looked the other way before we joined that war, when reports of the concentration camps were leaking to the general public.

It is my belief that fascism is born of the need to control, of fanaticism. Its bottom emotion is unrecognized fear.
Its tone is schizophrenic. It is unrecognizing of the most important of its true feelings and motives. Its practice is exclusionary and divisive. In the coming months, fascism will become more apparent. If the Patriot Act 2 is passed, we will have become more fascist than democratic.

It is my belief that religious doctrine, as practiced by the Conservative Right in this country, is the philosophical background to this rise of fascism, much as Nietzsche's Superman was to the Germans before WW2. It is the exclusionary tone and rhetoric of the religious right that is the philosophical formula for fascism.

There will be in the coming years more and more "fascist" candidates for office, who attempt to disguise their exclusionary beliefs behind the label of sound economic policy. We must fight these candidates, parish by parish, county by county, state by state.