AMERICAN FASCISTS - a book review

Chris Hedges has written a book that is most upsetting.

He has done what most of us progressives have failed to do: go see the rightwing leaders and talk to their people, some of whom left working for them. And listen to them.

The book, AMERICAN FASCISTS, published by Free Press, 2006, has as its premise that many in the rightwing of the Christian Church are being groomed to be the political and spiritual (and maybe military?) shock troops to overthrow America and turn it into a theocracy which has its highest loyalty to its leader, a loyalty that supersedes any concern for the humanity of those listed by the leader as enemies of the state, you know, like homosexuals, liberals, secular humanists, supporters of the United Nations, Jews, Muslims, ACLU supporters, anyone who disagrees with the leaders, and just about anyone who does not believe in Jesus the way they do.

The kind of sociopath mindset he describes and documents is very real. He has provided a red alert about a movement that can destroy America. His description of their projecting on all their “enemy” groups just what they plan to do clearly shows just how dysfunctional the people the left calls “wing nuts” really are.

You have to read his book. I look forward to his doing research on the movement among women which demonizes men and American institutions.

Just how potent is the “American Fascist” movement he documents?

We may have to find out the hard way when, as Hedges observes, the country is beset by a major calamity that shows just how inadequate our support systems for the large number of poor really are.

I see a couple things that work against such a takeover being successful.

Since the heart of the potential problem is one leader rising to the top, I am not sure any one man has enough loyalty to him. I see the religious right has divided loyalties and those individuals who lead their respective groups will not give up their dreams of power to others. It would probably require assassinations to lead to one person holding power. I’m not sure any but very small minority could stomach that.

Even in the religious right, there are many different interpretations of things like the Rapture and the “Tribulation” which would leave many not comfortable with whomever tries to become the one true prophet. Dissent would be rife in the ranks over such differences of interpretation.
And finally, I think there are too many people who will balk at any attempt by the religious right to take over politically. When I was a poll worker in the 2006 Congressional elections, it was old home week among the voters. They knew each other. They didn’t even come close to looking at each other as voting one way or another. Only one young woman tried to “politic” using two small lapel pins. No one else did anything even close to that! Everyone else was so glad to see each other.

Hedges would challenge me by saying that in Germany while the Nazis were taking over, they established a kind of cultural religion that seemed to satisfy the religious moderates like the Methodists. This religious veneer was used very successfully to override the real religious differences among the Germans who went to church, no matter what denomination. Only a handful of conservative Lutherans and professors like Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonheoffer stood up to the Nazis. Way too many Christians did not.

By the way, there are many others who are writing articles and books that are saying things similar to what this Pulitzer Prize-winning writer is saying.

It takes someone crazy to think they can take over the U. S. But some of them are out there. And we have to be sure they do not end up setting the American agenda.