FASH izm, is a form of government which centers all power in a single party headed by an absolute dictater. Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, was the first Fascist dictator. He named the party after the fasces, a symbol of authority in ancient Rome.
The fasces stood for the official's power to punish or put to death, and for unity. The symbol consisted of a bundle of birch or elm rods bound together by a red strap. The blade of an ax projected from the bundle. Today fasces apear on the back of some USA Dimes.
Germany had a fascist government under Adolf Hittler. Under fascism, the government rigidly controls the religious, political, social and economic life of the country. Private ownership is permitted, but both labor and management lose their freedom.
The police state is used to crush opposition or dissent. Secret police spy on the whole population, and remarks against the leaders leads to swift and severe punishment. Opposition parties are dissolved. Educational, athletic, and recreational organizations are usually brought under the control of the fascist authority.
Extreme Nationalism. Fascism is highly nationalistic. It tries to identify its principales with the country, so that disagreement will look like treason. Some other country, or some other group within the country, is usually picked out to serve as "the enemy" and made to appear as the cause of all evils or misfortunes. Sometimes it combines racial and religious bigotry.
To work well, fascism needs the sincere consent of a large part of the population. To maintain this consent, the fascist must cut off the people from any information which might cause them to doubt the complete truth of fascist principals. Newspapers, radio, television, and other means of communication must be censored so the public will get only those facts the leaders want known. Freedom of speech and assembly must be suppressed.
They subjected the working classes to a rigorous discipline.
They began to limit profit, impose capital leves, and regulate business in great detail.
Fascism maintains among the people a permanently war like frame of mind. Every citizen feels that he is mobilized against enemies of the leaders within, and against possible foreign foes. A leader usually comes to power during a period of economic crisis or depression. Near-Fascist claim to be a democracy, but with fascist traits, including the police state, militarism, and Extreme Nationalism.
[The World Book Encyclopedia]
Jul 17, 2009
2 comments:
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Opus #6 said...
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Thank you for the follow. I am now following your lovely blog. And thanks for the blog roll. Very kind.
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August 30, 2009 at 9:11 PM
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Opus #6 said...
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You are very kind to comment on my site. I see your new followers. They are indeed my best friends. It is wonderful when we can help each other discover golden little corners of the internet. You are right to stay true to yourself. I am sorry you lost readers. I lost many as well. Lovely ladies who chatted with me about pregnancy, breastfeeding and babies. My blog was a mommy blog for 2 years. Never very big. Now I am 95% politics. I feel we are in a national emergency, and it is necessary to do this at this time. My readership has grown with the wonderful conservative group. If you find the time to write more, others will see it and more will come your way who AGREE with your point of view. Not that we all have to agree on everything, but it is nice to know that we are not all alone out here feeling this way. Thanks again and hang in there.
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September 2, 2009 at 2:34 AM
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It serves always to distract the public councils and feeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves with in their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all departments in one and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.
If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed."
…George Washington’s Farewell Address…
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