The failure of the liberal class to halt the corporate assault on working people has spawned an ascendant Christian fascism that is poised to seize power and radically reshape America.
Well, no. Write to me. Come to Kansas and meet people and learn something about this country. This is finger pointing, and hyperbolic. Most people in the plains sates and in rural communities live in what Edward Hall calls "high context" cultures, valuing relationships, hard work, nature and spirituality. Many rural folk are aware of the dangerous the uniparty and fascism and are nobody's fool. The rhetoric of "exclusion, cruelty and intolerance" is from the powerful who manipulate the press and politicians and a small number of emotionally vulnerable people. It is NOT AT ALL how most red state Christians Americans think or feel. It is time for solidarity, Chris, not hysterical demonizations of whole groups Americans. I'm unsubscribing.
Don’t go. Your comment makes me think of the article in yesterday’s Times about two families who each moved across states to be among others like them. It happens online as well. Only by learning to live together can we avoid the fate Hedges describes here. It makes no difference if you agree with him, or with me. Only that we don’t stop trying.
There is no dialog here. This is the third time I have extended this kind effort into a void without a reply from Chris or any impact on Chris's favored biases. This includes a scary misunderstanding of ecology (I am an ecologist) and how regenerative agriculture and AMP grazing are essential tools of climate restoration. I have never voted Republican and I was a "left intellectual" until the left became right. I will continue to be involved in communities that reflect diversity of thought and opinion. Chris is not open minded enough for me to pay him money anymore on Substack. Chris may "travel" but he has not spent extended time in red county and state rural worlds or he simply would not write like this because he is not mean. Instead, he wont visit or read anything that might threaten his (condescending holier than thou) vegan orthodoxy or his distain for red rural American. This tendency to make sweeping characterizations of groups of Americans as "fascist Christians" is repugnant and dangerous. On a side note, Veganism harms ecosystems and is ecologically misguided because monoculture soy ruins ecosystems AMP grazing can restore. Healthy grassland MUST have ruminants and dung beetles or they die out.
Most of Donald Trump’s electoral support is among red state residents. You may be a former leftist with progressive views, but the leadership of your state is not interested in making healthcare available to all, or paying workers enough to lay roots.
As long as privilege is preordained as the lot of property owners, division, as in very few winners and many losers will characterize the red and blue and purple states. This is a national profile, and it sounds like perhaps you take umbrage at the word “Christian.”
Language, as Caitlin has frequently shown, is the biggest target and tool of propagandists. Americans are linguistic amateurs, and the ones with law degrees are versed in using language to win arguments, which gets the public no closer to the truth.
So, you are an ecologist (are you aware that many Nazi's had "ecological" outlooks?) Why then the narrow focus on alternative agriculture? Why the fact free ideological claim that the "left became right"? Why no mention or criticisms of the laws, policies, and culture of your "red state" neighbors? I am an "east coast elite", but I've lived in the southwest and Pacific northwest rural areas Hedges correctly describes as christian fascist.
To call the observation “the left became right” fact free is like if someone says: “Good morning!” on a sunny 8:00 a.m. and you say: Prove it!
There’s no definition of liberalism which truly applies to the Democratic Party, and few ideologies of the former Republican Party to which they do not adhere.
I think what’s missing in your distinction between liberalism and the two parties is the recognition that liberalism brought them both to their present self-righteous iterations. Fascism is the inevitable consequence of corporate capitalism.
Elizabeth - it doesn’t take “most” of the people in Rural America to end up with facism. It only takes a small, loud minority. Do you think all of Germany was eager for a holocaust and they all hated Jews? While you live your values based life in Kansas, are you interacting with ‘quiver-full’ families? Before jumping to the conclusion that Chris’ broad brush is painting you and your friends, I’d encourage you to read Chris’ book on Christian Fascism.
Elizabeth, You are wrong. What you are doing now and we all in this group do is DIALOG. Sorry that you don't understand the dire situation we are in America and that you are not willing to listen to the opinions of others. In my opinion your are the only close minded here.
She has no idea of history, no understanding of dialectics or how things change and of course is clueless about capitalism and imperialism. Unfortunately I think she is ultimately a conspiracy theorist- a Christian.
Hedges is not saying that Christians are fascists, but that some fascists exploit familiar Christian language and doctrine to gain support for their fascist agendas. What he only hints at is that today it is not just Christian language but the language of justice (on the Left) , just as it has long been the language of patriotism and of rural values on the Right.
What is your understanding of the term “Christian Fascist”? I repeat (see my previous comment); I believe you are misunderstanding what Chris attempting to express. He is not saying that all Christian’s are “fascists”. He is a Presbyterian (Christian) minister after all!! What do you think he is accusing you of. Did he explicitly say “red rural america??
I misunderstood. Whom you pay money to is not my business. What I meant was don’t leave the discussion. You see, the dialogue exists, only the people involved are always changing. And I welcome informed opinions about veganism. It’s an important topic and so prone to abuse, not to mention self righteousness. I say this as an omnivore who has lived with a vegan for half my life.
There is no dialogue on the internet period. It is monologue with postings so to expect people to sit and write for hours unfortunately is not post-Guttenberg.
Christianity, as all religions and appeals to supernaturalism are fascist.
Why?
They are rigid hierarchical structures with mythological content.
They are irrational and if taken seriously, look at Israel, lead to tragedy, atrocity and ultimately human death.
One might say that tragic hierarchy of the supernatural kind is of course xenophobic, exclusive, misogynist, irrational, faith based with a hatred for evidence and yearns for strong men to solve their weak problems.
Hedges is speaking of the failure of liberalism as it applies to the failure of capitalism.
Liberalism and its embrace of corporate capitalism in the examples that Hedges gives is not only legitimate it is essential to understand the current state of affairs.
And capitalism itself has become a religion.
Madison Avenue, the market, the matchstick men and the elmer Gantry's all love capitalism.
So, I think you missed the point of the article.
that might be why there is no 'dialogue' as you say.
Read about the Weimar Moment and look at demented Biden and the ginned up reactionary white settler Christians and tell me that everything is just fine.
In what way did this essay focus on people who live in Kansas? In no way did it do so. Chris has traveled all over the country meeting people. At whom did he point a finger, besides at the liberal class which betrayed its function? In what way did he single out plains states or rural communities? It is not hyperbolic to draw attention to the myriad of scholars of the post-World War I period who see, and clearly set out, the chilling comparisons of Weimar to the present-day US. This is especially true of Chomsky, who predicted the rise of someone exactly like Donald Trump long before he rode down the escalator. You read this, and reacted to it, as if it was a personal attack on you. Methinks thou dost protest too much.
It did not. However, I live in Kansas and I again invite Chris to visit. Why? Because Kansas is one of the many red state Trump voting locales demonized in media as harboring these terrifying Trump supporting “Christian fascists”. I work mostly in rural America and I have had deep conversations with hundreds of people in places like Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Michigan and rural New England who voted for Trump. Zero of them are stupid or mean or “Christian fascists”. I invite Chris to dialogue and to consider that his perceptions may be fueled more by an algorithm and false flag feds in costumes than the real people of this good nation who badly need solidarity if we are survive actual threat of fascism. We are threatened by powerful corporate criminal cartels and their army of well-educated propogandists operating their purchased “news” outlets and their clever AI driven disinformation machines. We are not threatened by largely powerless red state Trump voting American citizens.
THANK YOU. As a leftist in a 70% red county in Georgia, THANK YOU. I'm also withdrawing my subscription to Chris.
This column, it would be hilarious if it wasn't so nauseating. Chris would have me stay at home instead of organizing with my neighbors. I'm an atheist but can clearly see that the majority of my Christian neighbors are just people struggling to make a living.
Really and truly this column is a revocation of most of Chris' earlier writings. He must've been given the plata or plomo option. Just like Cornel West before his Dore appearance.
It is odd what you wrote about Hedges here. One of the key things he pushes for is a 're-connection or re-engagement' of people and communities. To 're-build the bonds of a society, where people has a support system, and can mobilize to change the system. The only way out of the current malaise is to re-enfranchise people. I'm not interested in defending Hedges here, but I'm pointing out that what you took to be an affront on this article on Christian Fascism taking root, which is admittedly hard to take if you see it being directed at you or your neighbours, is at least a symptom of the problems (one of many) in American today.
Give examples and evidence for your claims please?
If you do not see clero-fascism as the biggest threat internally to America it is because you have no historical understanding of settler colonialism or what your country is.
Democrats are leading the charge to censor all dissent. Hence why this author's entire show history on RT was deleted from YouTube. Right now Palestinians are mass murdered and not one voice of support is permitted. MSNBC took 3 Arabic journalists off the air.
Democrats lead the charge to aid literal Nazis in Ukraine, and it's destroying Ukraine.
Democrats effectively punish labor and greedily take the money of business while pretending they care about labor and abhor money in politics. Republicans couldn't quash the railroad workers and have the country sit by, FINE WITH THAT. Democrats excused the behavior of their elected representatives and wouldn't permit a single voice to delve deeper. Just a slight peel of the veneer and DEMOCRATS are clearly the side that crushes labor time after time and gets away with it. Republicans crush labor but everybody knows that. Democrats crush labor and Democrats say it was just Joe Manchin's fault.
And the worst, one of the most successful campaigns to divide the people and continue Democrats' fascist rule is identity politics. It ain't about celebrating minorities. It's about lifting up minorities with words and continuing to screw us all out of a chance to make a living.
I'm so sick of Democrats' pedantic, entirely misplaced self-confidence like you've displayed here. Telling me I have no understanding of settler colonialism while your Democrats are SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S GENOCIDE, just makes your argument such nonsense.
The corruption and hatred advanced by the Republican Party, it’s racist overtones, these are a threat. Your defense of your neighbors’ role in empowering these tendencies makes no sense to me.
Evidently a majority of the good people of whom you speak choose not to do anything about the tiny minority in their midst. Perhaps this well known missive by Pastor Martin Niemoller bears remembering and considering anew:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
I'm afraid this is precisely what's going on in all 50 states.
I grew up on South Eastern Wisconsin. I grew up around a lot of people who were stupid and mean and pretty much fascists. I watched as union men let their unions be destroyed because they didn’t really want to have solidarity with black men. Wisconsin, at that time, was a solidly left good-government state with excellent schools. It only took a couple of decades of de-industrialization and private equity kicking people off their land to turn Wisconsin into a hard right wing ‘guns and God’ sh*t hole.
Yep. It comes down to class. Can't people see that the history of the world is the history of class struggle? Can't they see that if the human being has no work, no hope, no ability to pay bills or live a decent life he or she will resort to violence and hate?
Organized religion and CLAIMS of religiosity, not true Christianity or Judaism or Islam, are at the heart of all EVIL and are used to promote and justify everything wrong with our world.
Sure Elizabeth you describe the "Volk" Chris is talking about. The amazing thing or proof of the fascism sweeping America is how many likes you have. Red state Christian's are howling racists and pretty well all of them were bastions of the KKK. Double think confusion from Anti Semites who support Israel and hate Palestinian's and Muslims in general would be laughable if not so serious. I guess the dream of the Rapture for all red state Christians await and Armageddon by Trump was divine after all!
Many "Red State Christians" (and some blue staters, too) are aligned with the Trump ideal because we are supposed to be robots to a God who controls everything. That is not how we were founded, because they came here to escape what Britain and other nations were like, being ruled by religion and money; they came here to "form a more perfect union", where the voice of the people was supposed to dictate what our government does for us and for the world, not a bunch of fascist oligarchs dictating what we are supposed to think and do, which is what the right wing Republican oligarchy is doing now.
Why do you think this is an attack on Kansas? Or the totality of Christianity? Or, the rural population? I see none of that in this essay. Are you erecting a straw man?
Wars always bring authoritarian crackdowns and fascist regimes need enemies. Who got us into the war in Ukraine? Not the rural red christians. The woke liberals!
Just sent in this letter-to-the editor of the Seattle Times about the Ukraine War.
RE: Column by Andreas Kluth “Ukraine-aid bashers like Elon Musk need a history lesson” (10-8-2023)
It is columnist Andreas Kluth who needs the bigger history lesson than opiniated “shoot-from-the-lip” characters like Elon Musk. Remember when we learned the lesson of WW I and made Germany and Japan our strongest allies after WW II? How did this happen? Generosity, not punishment. So what happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
Many of us thought that the Cold War was over, but it never ended in Europe and in DC. Instead of understanding the deep-seated Russian fear of hostile forces on its borders (millions of lives lost from Napolean through Hitler), the victorious Cold Warriors moved quickly to punish Russia both economically and militarily, the latter by a gradual expansion NATO forces through Eastern Europe to the Russian border.
Putin’s invasion was a direct response by a reinvigorated Russia to the US insistence on NATO expansion into Ukraine, which ended negotiations in December, 2021. The solution is simple: drop a hostile, nuclear-armed NATO expansion and negotiate. Make peace, not war. In addition, this would cut global inflation and might even get Biden re-elected.
No sorry, it was the MIC - they need an endless war to satisfy their share holders and CEOs (this proxy war was planned for a loooong time ...) and never forget Mr McCain's words: Russia the GasStation ... (grab and run!)
I am sorry that you see it as you wrote ... Mr Hedges sees a much bigger picture and for that he is absolutely right (only in my opinion of course). I am European and mainly see the decades long problematic or criminal policies of this megalomaniac country. I know and see that the single person lives in their own bubbles and many try to do good things (like you), but without MAJOR CHANGES we will have a MONSTROUS DISASTER coming (whatever gets us first: nukes, climate, civil war, economic breakdown ... so many problems and no solutions, because we are distracted and obviously cannot STAND UP TOGETHER for a better and just future ... I lost all hope, but as stated many times: I am old and had a pretty good life, but what will happen to all the fine creatures on this planet we will take with us??)
Read Karl Marx and learn how capitalism works. You have no idea of how the economic system works, how it is structured, why it works as it does. As a striking UAW worker they can tell you more about capitalism than any pundit can.
Elizabeth H. Don’t quit Chris is a good guy trying to do the right thing. Yes he’s a big city bigot against religion but that’s a comparatively small failing. Really it’s fashionable and he has standing in the dissident community he dare not express sympathy.
These posts reveal with clarity what Hedges was talking about.
the politicians want people to lose faith in all insttitituions and themselves and look for pie in the sky when they die. Marx was right: religion is the opium of the people but there is no hate like Christian love.
That is a bald faced lie Diamond boy. The bigots are Christians that bey hate against secularists, which Chris is not. Little feudalistic state bigots from the Jim Crow south are the ignorant Volk Trump is lying too. Trump is worse than Elmer Gantry and more like Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd. He cynically speaks the truth not knowing it was on a live mic and calls his cult followers idiots. Ironically they abandoned him, while Trump supporters would love him all the more! If Trump is elected a "Night of the Long Knives" for his Brown Shirt supporters is not out of the question. Many went to the firing squad making a Nazi Salute praising their executioner Hitler!
That’s a truism. My wish is for a Day of reckoning.. I understand the dangers associated with that, but the sooner the better.! I think it’s only getting worse. We need a valve to release the pressure and Trump is the perfect such valve. The shit Libs have destroyed America. The half of America that is vilified is a better addressed now than later.
Neo Liberal and Neo Cons share the blame equally. Both are vilified by each other though, the question is why? Its nothing but theater while 21st century Robber Barons write legislation, cut taxes and fund Tea Party useful idiots to do their dirty work. The founder and John Bircher Koch "Dr. Frankenstein" helped give life to his monster Donald J Trump and MAGA. More are waiting in the wings.
I don’t think there is anything wrong about “sounding the alarm”. We need to be vigilant and not apathetic.
This is not “an argument”. No one posture is “right” or “wrong” or definitive. No one person is the owner of “the Truth”! What we need is DIALOGUE. Let’s listen to each other. We r not obligated “to agree” with anyone.
When thinking about Chris Hedges, you have to accept the hyperbolic as payment for his insights. I never "feel good" (or rarely) after reading an essay by Chris. But many times I do see insight. I lived in Germany for a short time as a student; that left me with the thought that fascism could arise in the US. The Germans were human but in spite of strong academic and cultural traditions, they slipped into madness.
Mark Twain stated that history does not repeat but, it does rhyme. We are prone to the same weaknesses. When authoritarianism takes root people behave in a variety of ways that help to solidify the authoritarianism. A German interviewed during the BBC series "The World and War" commented that many people saw the nonsense that Hitler was spewing; however, everyone loves their own life.
If as you say most rural people are not "fools" then why do many vote for Trump? Simply dissatisfaction with the Uniparty seems a very Faustian choice. One cannot ignore the data. Trump's poking the collective eye of the Uniparty feels very good; however, that is rhetoric. It is not actions. Trump actions include: 1) making fun of a reporter with a physical disability; 2) telling the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to "stand down and stand by"; 3) being in possession of classified documents and refusing to turn them over after his Presidency was ended; 4) filing numerous suits over the 2020 election and having them thrown out on legal grounds in many cases by the judges that he appointed; 5) his only legislative accomplishment was right up the Uniparty alley - large tax cuts for the already very wealthy; 6) his financial malfeasance is well documented and soon to be further solidified; 7) Actively pressuring the Attorney General of Georgia to assist in overturning the results in the state; and 8) the list goes on and on.
I don't think Chris is judging all Christians. One cannot deny now the extremism that is growing in this country.
The above noted, I've been continuously evaluating whether I would continue supporting both Chris and Matt Taibi. Both have done some very good journalism and both seem to be settling into a monotonuous story line on Substack.
Rather than leave, stay and share your thoughts on why you think Chris is wrong. From where I am Chris is right on track with where the u.s. is going or has already arrived. Bernie was the last hope for change from the extreme economic divide. My escape plan is a small place in Argentina.
Hello fellow Kansan. I am of two minds on this. I would say that MOST Kansans know that there is something deeply dysfunctional in America BUT different people will locate the causes and solutions in differing areas. I expect Kansas to overwhelming vote for Donald Trump in 2024, at least at the same levels they did last time. They like the cruelty he espouses. But truly I would not mind doing an email correspondence with you. I do believe I can find "common cause" with people who know our country is deeply screwed up. But for people who think Donald Trump is the answer to that dysfunction--that's just sad. He's a charlatan. I live in North Central KS.
He is talking about the "Radical" Christian "Right". I have family in the Oklahoma and Texas and they are a mixed lot. Progressive, compassionate, intelligent, loving people. The very embodiment of southern hospitality and culture. But some of them are radical, hateful and racist And without a doubt want this country to be run on radical right nationalistic christian principals. How do I know? They have told me so. His critique stands in my book.
I believe we have been and already are fascists. The corporate coup d'etat has been complete for decades. Authoritarianism is rearing its head and the leaders of it are the liberals - they embrace and demand censorship, surveillance and the continuing denigration of civil rights and civil liberties. Trump is a symptom. The problem is both parties being beholden and ruled by the corporate elites.
Lord knows that I detest Trump, but it isn't Trump that is for censorship and "formal re-education" of political opponents. It wasn't Trump that instigated the persecution of Julian Assange.
I mean, other than it was the Trump administration that instigated the persecution of Julian Assange. I mean, maybe it wasn’t Trump personally (maybe?), but it was his administration and he did nothing to stop it.
Perhaps I'm missing the nuance in your words then. I don't know, it comes across as splitting hairs to me, but I could be misreading it. I just don't understand the value in arguing that Trump is not responsible for instigating the persecution of Assange, when his administration absolutely is. As in, the administration that he picked. Trump appointed Mike Pompeo.
And Trump is the only president in recent memory who actually used the bully pulpit to whip his party into shape. The Democrats don't use it because they're disingenuous and need to be able to point the finger at Republicans for their failures. But Trump could have used it to gin up support for Julian Assange if he wanted to. But of course he didn't, because his administration was calling for the persecution and extradition of Assange.
He didn't inherit it though, it started under his administration. The Obama administration considered it and then chose to not to pursue prosecution. The Trump administration came into office and almost immediately called for said prosecution.
It started under the Trump administration. Ergo, his administration instigated it.
Your argument maybe works for Biden, but at this point the Antony Blinken lead State Department is just as to blame as the Pompeo lead one.
EDIT: After looking at the dates, perhaps "immediately" is not the correct term as it happened at the beginning of 2018, a little more than a year after Trump took office.
IIRC, the Obama administration was seeking detention of Assange, unless you think that the UK government cared so deeply about Swedish bail conditions.
There are many academics who define the tendencies and characteristics - visit the website and podcast of the group Refuse Fascism for some excellent academics and a reading list.
There a huge scholarly body of literature, history, sociology, psychology, and literature the describes the fascist in cultural and political-economic terms, too long to discuss here.
So that’s a long way of saying that you don’t have your own definition of fascism? To me - if the government allies itself with massive, influential corporations to exert control - that’s fascism. So Biden is a fascist.
Listen pussycat, Trump’s atrociousness is an appropriate, equal and opposite reaction to their mendacious meritocracy lie and if you adopt this frame of reference you will, like me, relish the show. Trump is a high colonic for the shit Libs.
Trump is a condiment and should be seen as such. He has thrown them off kilter. Their derangement is delicious, and more enjoyable with a little hot sauce a’la Trump
Politician? Politician in America? They are owned. Of course he’s not a politician, our politics is fully bought and paid for, regulatory capture runs Washington. He is attacking politicians, republicans particularly
Diamond Boy, now I understand why you said that you are praying that he wins. So it is only for entertainment. Yes, I agree, then, because there is nothing funnier than seeing his recent mug shot, but I prefer that will not win and we will be free from that vermin forever.
Fear mongering about a Trump-inspired Christian fascist takeover really distracts from the current fascist movement under Democratic Party control. It is the Democrats that vote for endless war, demand censorship, promoted the four-year mass brainwashing of the Russia-gate hoax, bailed out the Wall Street banksters while crushing the middle class though millions of fraudulent foreclosures, prosecuted whistleblowers via the Espionage Act, excused the criminal mass government surveillance exposed by Snowden then made it legal, crushed the recent railroad workers strike, provides endless aid and comfort to the racist apartheid state of Israel, and finally it is Hillary Clinton calling for the mass formal “deprogramming” of the Democrats’ political enemies. It doesn’t get more fascist than that.
You are describing corporate neoliberal finance capitalism (and imperial ambition), not fascism.
And you are using that as an excuse to ignore the real fascist threat from white Christian nationalists and their various fellow travelers and militia's.
Chris, this really is a both sides issue. It takes Democrats to make good on Republican policies. If you really believe that Republicans don’t like war just as much as Democrats, or that they aren’t an equal party to policies of mass surveillance, or are always equally as keen to serve their corporate donors - well, golly. We have pretty much a uniparty system.
I agree with you. I just get very tired of having all the blame placed on Republicans, who usually make it pretty clear where they stand, instead of calling out the Democrats who are practiced at virtue signaling to the Left but always line up with the interests of the oligarchs and the Deep State. Yes, it is a duopoly, a Potemkin democracy. I just wish Chris Hedges would acknowledge it instead of blaming Christian “fascists” when they truly have very little if any influence on the big issues.
Yeah - I get it. It's why I loathe my 'own' party far more than I despise Republicans.
However, Chris has good cause to blame the Christian Fascist movement - and those people have WAY more influence that you think. The Federalist society is their instrument; they are the reason Mike Pence was VP, and the last to SCJs were their pick.
The men and women and children who flood the mega-churches are relatively meaningless, however they can (and do) frequently vote as a block, and they vote the way they are told to. The 'Quiverfull' side of the movement (think the Duggers) are 'raising an army for God' - and their homeschooled kids are groomed for political office. Don't underestimate the power of this group... they are crazy, and they are ubiquitous.
The "Christian fascists" you so fear are overwhelmingly NSA and CIA employees in costumes. It is time for you to give this up, Chris. They want an excuse to remove rights because "Christian fascists" are marching and tried to assassinate the governor of Michigan. Please stop playing their game. You need to be wiser than this.
As a government official, I once testified before a legislative Committee chaired by someone with your views of government ("NSA and CIA employees in costumes"). He openly called me a jack booted thug who wanted to raid his garage and seize paints and other household chemicals. And that was 30 years ago. You are a delusional ideologue.
No, the legislation I was supporting merely sought to require that corporate manufacturers reduce the toxic chemicals in their products and take legal and aianciual responsibility for the management and disposal of those toxic chemicals. And to create programs to assure the proper disposal of these chemicals.
Then fact that you assume such absurd motivations exposes your twisted worldview.
Unfortunately Elizabeth you have lost credibility.
Since you believe in conspiracy theories, here is one for you: You are in truth a Christian Fascist masquerading as a concerned and genuine Christian. Just another in a long line of psyops operatives.
Agree with elizabeth. Gimme a break! Who is censoring academics who question covid lockdowns, vaccinating pregnant women, etc? Who closed schools for a year? The woke liberals are the authoritarians. Soros funded, Omidyar funded. We are supposed to be scared of rural christians?
Good points about demagogues. I will say, however, that the current political climate reveals the Democrats to be more fascistic than the Republicans or Trump supporters. I know there are nuances within the Republican party. My job was threatened with termination due to the merger of state and corporate pharmaceutical power. Vaccine mandates, censorship and the Ukraine war push are children of the Dems. The idea and logical fallacy that one is a 'Putin Puppet' and traitor if one is against this Ukraine/Russia corporate war underscores the adoption by the Dems of right wing McCarthyism. The Dems/neocons use the term 'unpatriotic' to label those who don't fall in line, similar to the neocons during the Iraq war, and similar to Germans who failed to support 'Fatherland Germany.' Ironically the actual Nazis in the Ukrainian military, who wear various SS and other Nazi patches/ insignia on their uniforms, are ardently supported by the Dems.
I don't believe I am because the discussion is about fascism. Hedges largely(like Cornel West) labels the 'right' as fascist.
When it comes to lockdowns/ job terminations/ censorship, etc., fascism/totalitarianism has had a dramatic real effect on people's lives. The right wing(term
Is vague) Christians spew rhetoric - but don't have much of an effect in comparison. No doubt the media/ oligarchs want the us vs them narrative to divide people, and to distract people from the totalitarian moves they have shoved down peoples' throats. It's important to pinpoint who exactly is fascist.
If the Rs take over the wars will continue unabated. Their "opposition" is opportunistic and performative. The Rs will never inhibit the growth of the military.
"The parting gift, I expect, of the bankrupt liberalism of the Democratic Party will be a Christianized fascist state. The liberal class, a creature of corporate power, captive to the war industry and the security state, unable or unwilling to ameliorate the prolonged economic insecurity and misery of the working class, blinded by a self-righteous woke ideology that reeks of hypocrisy and disingenuousness and bereft of any political vision, is the bedrock on which the Christian fascists, who have coalesced in cult-like mobs around Donald Trump, have built their terrifying movement."
I am not a licensed therapist but I can see clearly the problem Chris is having and I could absolutely help him if we would spend some face time together.
Chris is frustrated with his realization that his old political tribal identity has been hijacked, monetized and corrupted beyond recognition.... that left, liberal and progressive are all now political labels representing things he absolutely opposes. But he is stuck in the matrix here... still unwilling to accept that the primary opposition to the modern mutated form of left, liberal and progressive is comprised of anything but sinister devils bent on subjugating people into forced Christianity worship at the end of a whip.
Chris needs to move on. He is correct that his old party and related ideology has been hijacked. His is outside their castle and moat and rightfully sniping to take out a few from their towers. However, he is also catapulting boulders at the advancing army that supports his interest to defeat the enemy and open up the castle for the people.
The reason for this is that Chris is clutching history. He is unwilling to let go of the political "family" he once belonged to but that rejected him... and unwilling to embrace the new political family that would embrace him.
Chris needs to read Hiadt's "The Righteous Mind" to understand where he is mistaken about conservatives and where liberals have a fundamental shortfall of moral interests that can cause them to be inauthentic and dangerous in their mass drift. Chris does not really need to buy in to all conservative principles to see that they must be returned to some level of political power if only to help steer the left, liberals and progressives back to a rational and beneficial trend line.
I have a lot of experience working with left and right leaning government, politicians and activists and my conclusion is that we absolutely require a system where conservatives dominate but liberal-progressives are always nipping at their heels demanding they don't allow unchecked greed to pollute the system and humanity. When liberals accumulate too much power there is nobody to stop the greed from polluting the system and humanity.
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
I don’t agree that Chris is pitting the the Right vs. Left, Liberals vs. Conservatives, (or whatever). It’s binary (is that the word?) Personally I used to identify myself as a Dem.; something I no longer do. I don’t identify as anything; I don’t see the need to. I believe that the US is in state of great deterioration. I am deeply saddened by it. I think the great Empire is going the way of all previous ones. It is corrupt. It isn’t sustainable.
Sorry, but I do not see Chris identifying with or promoting one “faction” versus another. (Am I missing something?) I think all America’s going down the tube in lockstep! Argue away!
Please inventory all the things that indicate that America is going down the tube and then assign the political side that is currently supporting and the side and is currently opposing. Claiming both sides are equally terrible is the primary reason why America is going down the tubes... because we are fighting a losing ideological war instead of electing leaders that offer solutions to repair and improve. Nobody is perfect, but some are better than others.
Candidates that offer solutions to repair and improve are systematically excluded from nominations of the major parties. "Third" parties are essentially forbidden. The whole thrust is to elect someone who will protect and nurture corruption. Maybe one side will do this less than the other, but either way the public loses.
I went to high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in the second half of the 1980s. Our nascent fascism was hard at work then, the previous decade's foundational work of establishing "think tanks" and other propaganda machinery culminating with Ronald Reagan. When Pat Roberts got a quarter of the 1988 Republican primary vote, even a dumb teen like me could figure out what was happening.
The megachurches were well on their way in the 1980s, too. The decade's televangelist clown shows fizzled in the 90s and have been more careful since, but their schizophrenic ideology--steeped in barely hidden racism and overwhelming fear of sexuality or anything different from a suburban white two-car ideal--infected millions. Clinton just allowed the infection to spread, as those same millions saw their material support evaporate, replaced with nothing.
History loves irony. That Trump, incompetent child that he is, will likely be President again is even more absurd than Hilter's rise. Nobody in society's upper echelons saw Hitler as a threat or even legitimate, even making fun of his hick accent. Americans, and the Germans almost a century ago, have been so impoverished, sickened and killed by their overlords that they're grasping for any savior. It doesn't matter that Trump is a crook and a fraud: he's been chosen. The fascist machinery had digested his first term, come out in the black, and made adjustments to put him back in.
Agreed. I lived in the metroplex (Grand Prairie) during the late 80's and, once, I was filling my car in the gas station when a young man in his twenties approached me and said "I have the prove that Jesus is God" I stop immediately since this is something I've been trying to figure it out all my life, I don't even know who or what is God. And then this young prophet mentioned some passage from the New Testament. Well, that was the reality not only in Texas but the whole nation, the evangelists had grabbed the power starting with Reagan.
No contradictions here. Mr. Hedges has written consistently about the dangers of the Christian right for decades including his book "American Fascists, the Christian Right and the war on America" published 2001 that he mentions in this report. You can also get his lectures in Alternativeradio.org including the one on " Trump and the Cristian Right". Unfortunately many people did not get those warnings and now we have abortion banned, important books censored etc. You might enlighten yourself reading his books.
He doesn't speak of the other side as fascists in his books. Quite the contrary, he empathizes with the white working class.
Your snide comment also sucks, in a really Democrat-soundy way. Wanna divide the left even more? Great! You got it!
And if you want leftists to represent division and snide pretentiousness, than I'm out. I'm on the side of the oppressed. If you want the left to be about high-mindedness and who read what, then you can take the left and disintegrate with its ashes. You'll never win this country back from the oppressors with that attitude. And anyone who agrees with you can also take their snobby, divisive talk and fade away.
Sorry, I too empathizes with the working class, white and not. I appreciated your comment, too, and did not mean to offend you but since you claim to have read Mr. Hedges books, (no snide here) please read again his "Death of the Liberal Class" and you will understand what this is all about.
I don't see what makes the Trump "fascists" any more lethal or anti-democratic or certainly war mongering than those who now run the Democratic Party, as well as a great many politicians in that party. The Democrats have been far more Russophobic than the Republicans. I say this as one who has been a Democrat all my political life (I am now 79). What has most frequently angered and alienated me in the Democratic Party has been their war mongering. This goes all the way back to Vietnam, which the Democrats kept escalating until Nixon became president and, in the face of a great and growing antiwar movement, began to withdraw troops and move towards ending American involvement in that unspeakable carnage. Now it is the Democrats (mainly right wing neocon Democrats) who have picked a fight with Russia, a Great Power with nuclear weapons and a very efficient military. And what is this war about? The US, in response to the breakdown of the Soviet Union in the nineties, began expanding NATO, the anti-Russian alliance, to the Russian border. That is what brought Russia into Ukraine. The CIA had done a coup there in 2014 which took out a Russia-friendly government, replacing it with one that is a puppet of US neocons. And now, these lunatics have finally provoked the war between Russia and the US that more rational governments in the US had scrupulously avoided since the end of WW2. If the world is going to survive, the neocon Democrats must be voted out in favor of a peacemaker. RFK, Jr. is running for president on a peace platform. He sought to run as a Democrat, his family's party. But the Democrat War Party will have nothing to do with him. Hence he, like Cornel West, will be running as third party candidates. This may put the Republicans in the presidency. But the Democrat War Party deserves it. The world may not survive their continuation in power. Biden and Blinken, Nuland and Sullivan and all the rest of the warmongers must go.
Which country sent little Green Men into Eastern Ukraine? Russia.
Which country invaded the Ukraine? Russia.
Russian imperialism moved into Central and Eastern Europe at the end of WW2. When given the chance after the dissolution of the Soviet Union those countries had no interest in Russian suzerainty and aligned with the West. They have no interest in a change to their status quo.
Given that nuclear weapons secure Russia's border there was no justification for invasion and the killing of so many Ukrainians.
The Biden administration will have to immediately replace idiot, Antony Blinken, with Ex-CIA, realist 'democratic socialist', William Burns, as an Anti-Empire (and Anti-War) sane Diplomat --- rather than either the Trump megalomaniac, or 'empty-suit’ Byeden --- to avoid Global Empire WW3
Regarding the resent situation of squeezing people into the death chambers of destitution and death, I wrote this advice to "The Quiet American" duopoly Empire of our people as a UBI, Wealth Reform, or Revolution to 'small ds' (Democratic Socialism) before we're all dead:
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISM
LOVE FOR
PEOPLE
vs
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
BTW, 'Negative Externality Cost' LOOTING is the death engine of all societies, ---- while
'Positive Externality Profits' for the PEOPLE, are the LOVE Train to EQUALITY AND PEACE
Chris, I too would fear and loathe a Conservative Christian theocracy in America. But right now it seems to me the danger is at least as great that fascism is coming hard and fast from the insane radical Left... We need to reject and resist extremism from all sides. (Don't we?)
Excuse me, I am on the radical left, and I can tell you plainly that we have 0 representation in the congress or the senate or the statehouses. You see, the radical left would never allow censorship, nor believe that Russia casued the worst candidate in history to lose to a ham sandwich. The radical left doesn’t back wars or military invasions. The radical left doesn’t applaud forced vaccinations, government survellience, razor wire and guns on our borders or children in cages. Please stop conflating the insipid so-called liberal bourgeois leadership of the Democratic Party with the left. They are no such thing.
"The billionaires and corporations, whose sole obsession is the greater accumulation of wealth and power, will accommodate themselves to the Christian fascists, as the German industrialists did to the Nazi Party." -- Chris, what evidence do you or any of us have for this? It would seem none at all. The billionaire class has clearly coalesced around the Obama coalition & is working with tech & the DOJ to imprison many of the Jan 6 people on questionable grounds. Wondering also as to the "Christian" part. Could you elaborate a bit more? I really value your insights & positions, but I don't follow you here, as this view seems to give too much power to people who don't actually hold institutional power, people with whom the corporations, NGOs, billionaires will never align. The threat seems to come precisely from the pro-war, greed consumed & lie consumed main stream.
The way I see is that the German industrialists accommodated an profited from the Nazis when they used their Jewish subjects as slave labor for their industries and these are proven facts that need no more evidence. Here in our America, I believe the Christian right have more power than what you are thinking. The judiciary has been filled with their members and abortion has been banned and soon our other civil liberties will be curtailed "Halleluiah". They are so powerful that even reputed crooks like Donald Duck and most of the politicians have to kiss their behinds to be elected.
Well, Chris, I suspect that the real problem is that the structure of our governance is such that it's all too easy to take away people's choices. When we first started getting broadcast media back in the beginning of the 20th century, the government promulgated rules limiting the number of radio and TV stations you could own to try to ensure diversity in what you could listen to. We changed the rules and now broadcast media is owned by only a tiny handful of corporations. The same thing is true of the political system. All too often we have no choice when we vote. The classic was the 2016 presidential race. I had no intention of voting for either of those two idiots. So I voted 3rd party. Why don't more people do that? The system is rigged in favor of the two wings of the uniparty and until we break that we will not improve.
I have been castigated by elite Dems for suggesting voting for a 3rd party.
Despite all the horrors which have been laid at my feet I would still vote for a 3rd party.
I am told that if we don't vote Dem then Trump will get in which I understand but how long does anyone have to wait before the US has different party's?
The problem is simple. The people who want to tell you not to vote 3rd party essentially are suggesting that you should do the same thing over and over again in the futile hope of getting a different result. The very definition of insanity.
Chris has a report up from early Sept with Theresa Amato who was Ralph Nader's campaign manager where she explains how the two wings of the corporate party keep their death grip on power. It's enlightening. When people complain about my voting 3rd party, my usual response is to tell them to come up with better candidates.
Well, no. Write to me. Come to Kansas and meet people and learn something about this country. This is finger pointing, and hyperbolic. Most people in the plains sates and in rural communities live in what Edward Hall calls "high context" cultures, valuing relationships, hard work, nature and spirituality. Many rural folk are aware of the dangerous the uniparty and fascism and are nobody's fool. The rhetoric of "exclusion, cruelty and intolerance" is from the powerful who manipulate the press and politicians and a small number of emotionally vulnerable people. It is NOT AT ALL how most red state Christians Americans think or feel. It is time for solidarity, Chris, not hysterical demonizations of whole groups Americans. I'm unsubscribing.
Don’t go. Your comment makes me think of the article in yesterday’s Times about two families who each moved across states to be among others like them. It happens online as well. Only by learning to live together can we avoid the fate Hedges describes here. It makes no difference if you agree with him, or with me. Only that we don’t stop trying.
There is no dialog here. This is the third time I have extended this kind effort into a void without a reply from Chris or any impact on Chris's favored biases. This includes a scary misunderstanding of ecology (I am an ecologist) and how regenerative agriculture and AMP grazing are essential tools of climate restoration. I have never voted Republican and I was a "left intellectual" until the left became right. I will continue to be involved in communities that reflect diversity of thought and opinion. Chris is not open minded enough for me to pay him money anymore on Substack. Chris may "travel" but he has not spent extended time in red county and state rural worlds or he simply would not write like this because he is not mean. Instead, he wont visit or read anything that might threaten his (condescending holier than thou) vegan orthodoxy or his distain for red rural American. This tendency to make sweeping characterizations of groups of Americans as "fascist Christians" is repugnant and dangerous. On a side note, Veganism harms ecosystems and is ecologically misguided because monoculture soy ruins ecosystems AMP grazing can restore. Healthy grassland MUST have ruminants and dung beetles or they die out.
Most of Donald Trump’s electoral support is among red state residents. You may be a former leftist with progressive views, but the leadership of your state is not interested in making healthcare available to all, or paying workers enough to lay roots.
As long as privilege is preordained as the lot of property owners, division, as in very few winners and many losers will characterize the red and blue and purple states. This is a national profile, and it sounds like perhaps you take umbrage at the word “Christian.”
the problem is 'leftist' means nothing., It is as bland and lacking of meaning as a glass of water. former leftist is worse.
Incredible how the language we create as humans is conveying the idocy in our heads.
Language, as Caitlin has frequently shown, is the biggest target and tool of propagandists. Americans are linguistic amateurs, and the ones with law degrees are versed in using language to win arguments, which gets the public no closer to the truth.
So, you are an ecologist (are you aware that many Nazi's had "ecological" outlooks?) Why then the narrow focus on alternative agriculture? Why the fact free ideological claim that the "left became right"? Why no mention or criticisms of the laws, policies, and culture of your "red state" neighbors? I am an "east coast elite", but I've lived in the southwest and Pacific northwest rural areas Hedges correctly describes as christian fascist.
To call the observation “the left became right” fact free is like if someone says: “Good morning!” on a sunny 8:00 a.m. and you say: Prove it!
There’s no definition of liberalism which truly applies to the Democratic Party, and few ideologies of the former Republican Party to which they do not adhere.
I think what’s missing in your distinction between liberalism and the two parties is the recognition that liberalism brought them both to their present self-righteous iterations. Fascism is the inevitable consequence of corporate capitalism.
Elizabeth - it doesn’t take “most” of the people in Rural America to end up with facism. It only takes a small, loud minority. Do you think all of Germany was eager for a holocaust and they all hated Jews? While you live your values based life in Kansas, are you interacting with ‘quiver-full’ families? Before jumping to the conclusion that Chris’ broad brush is painting you and your friends, I’d encourage you to read Chris’ book on Christian Fascism.
Elizabeth, You are wrong. What you are doing now and we all in this group do is DIALOG. Sorry that you don't understand the dire situation we are in America and that you are not willing to listen to the opinions of others. In my opinion your are the only close minded here.
She has no idea of history, no understanding of dialectics or how things change and of course is clueless about capitalism and imperialism. Unfortunately I think she is ultimately a conspiracy theorist- a Christian.
Hedges is not saying that Christians are fascists, but that some fascists exploit familiar Christian language and doctrine to gain support for their fascist agendas. What he only hints at is that today it is not just Christian language but the language of justice (on the Left) , just as it has long been the language of patriotism and of rural values on the Right.
What is your understanding of the term “Christian Fascist”? I repeat (see my previous comment); I believe you are misunderstanding what Chris attempting to express. He is not saying that all Christian’s are “fascists”. He is a Presbyterian (Christian) minister after all!! What do you think he is accusing you of. Did he explicitly say “red rural america??
I misunderstood. Whom you pay money to is not my business. What I meant was don’t leave the discussion. You see, the dialogue exists, only the people involved are always changing. And I welcome informed opinions about veganism. It’s an important topic and so prone to abuse, not to mention self righteousness. I say this as an omnivore who has lived with a vegan for half my life.
There is no dialogue on the internet period. It is monologue with postings so to expect people to sit and write for hours unfortunately is not post-Guttenberg.
Christianity, as all religions and appeals to supernaturalism are fascist.
Why?
They are rigid hierarchical structures with mythological content.
They are irrational and if taken seriously, look at Israel, lead to tragedy, atrocity and ultimately human death.
One might say that tragic hierarchy of the supernatural kind is of course xenophobic, exclusive, misogynist, irrational, faith based with a hatred for evidence and yearns for strong men to solve their weak problems.
Hedges is speaking of the failure of liberalism as it applies to the failure of capitalism.
Liberalism and its embrace of corporate capitalism in the examples that Hedges gives is not only legitimate it is essential to understand the current state of affairs.
And capitalism itself has become a religion.
Madison Avenue, the market, the matchstick men and the elmer Gantry's all love capitalism.
So, I think you missed the point of the article.
that might be why there is no 'dialogue' as you say.
Read about the Weimar Moment and look at demented Biden and the ginned up reactionary white settler Christians and tell me that everything is just fine.
In what way did this essay focus on people who live in Kansas? In no way did it do so. Chris has traveled all over the country meeting people. At whom did he point a finger, besides at the liberal class which betrayed its function? In what way did he single out plains states or rural communities? It is not hyperbolic to draw attention to the myriad of scholars of the post-World War I period who see, and clearly set out, the chilling comparisons of Weimar to the present-day US. This is especially true of Chomsky, who predicted the rise of someone exactly like Donald Trump long before he rode down the escalator. You read this, and reacted to it, as if it was a personal attack on you. Methinks thou dost protest too much.
It did not. However, I live in Kansas and I again invite Chris to visit. Why? Because Kansas is one of the many red state Trump voting locales demonized in media as harboring these terrifying Trump supporting “Christian fascists”. I work mostly in rural America and I have had deep conversations with hundreds of people in places like Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Michigan and rural New England who voted for Trump. Zero of them are stupid or mean or “Christian fascists”. I invite Chris to dialogue and to consider that his perceptions may be fueled more by an algorithm and false flag feds in costumes than the real people of this good nation who badly need solidarity if we are survive actual threat of fascism. We are threatened by powerful corporate criminal cartels and their army of well-educated propogandists operating their purchased “news” outlets and their clever AI driven disinformation machines. We are not threatened by largely powerless red state Trump voting American citizens.
THANK YOU. As a leftist in a 70% red county in Georgia, THANK YOU. I'm also withdrawing my subscription to Chris.
This column, it would be hilarious if it wasn't so nauseating. Chris would have me stay at home instead of organizing with my neighbors. I'm an atheist but can clearly see that the majority of my Christian neighbors are just people struggling to make a living.
Really and truly this column is a revocation of most of Chris' earlier writings. He must've been given the plata or plomo option. Just like Cornel West before his Dore appearance.
It is odd what you wrote about Hedges here. One of the key things he pushes for is a 're-connection or re-engagement' of people and communities. To 're-build the bonds of a society, where people has a support system, and can mobilize to change the system. The only way out of the current malaise is to re-enfranchise people. I'm not interested in defending Hedges here, but I'm pointing out that what you took to be an affront on this article on Christian Fascism taking root, which is admittedly hard to take if you see it being directed at you or your neighbours, is at least a symptom of the problems (one of many) in American today.
Give examples and evidence for your claims please?
If you do not see clero-fascism as the biggest threat internally to America it is because you have no historical understanding of settler colonialism or what your country is.
Typically American. All Roads lead to Rome.
Democrats are leading the charge to censor all dissent. Hence why this author's entire show history on RT was deleted from YouTube. Right now Palestinians are mass murdered and not one voice of support is permitted. MSNBC took 3 Arabic journalists off the air.
Democrats lead the charge to aid literal Nazis in Ukraine, and it's destroying Ukraine.
Democrats effectively punish labor and greedily take the money of business while pretending they care about labor and abhor money in politics. Republicans couldn't quash the railroad workers and have the country sit by, FINE WITH THAT. Democrats excused the behavior of their elected representatives and wouldn't permit a single voice to delve deeper. Just a slight peel of the veneer and DEMOCRATS are clearly the side that crushes labor time after time and gets away with it. Republicans crush labor but everybody knows that. Democrats crush labor and Democrats say it was just Joe Manchin's fault.
And the worst, one of the most successful campaigns to divide the people and continue Democrats' fascist rule is identity politics. It ain't about celebrating minorities. It's about lifting up minorities with words and continuing to screw us all out of a chance to make a living.
I'm so sick of Democrats' pedantic, entirely misplaced self-confidence like you've displayed here. Telling me I have no understanding of settler colonialism while your Democrats are SUPPORTING ISRAEL'S GENOCIDE, just makes your argument such nonsense.
your own words just exposed you, my friend:
"false flag feds in costumes"
The corruption and hatred advanced by the Republican Party, it’s racist overtones, these are a threat. Your defense of your neighbors’ role in empowering these tendencies makes no sense to me.
Evidently a majority of the good people of whom you speak choose not to do anything about the tiny minority in their midst. Perhaps this well known missive by Pastor Martin Niemoller bears remembering and considering anew:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
I'm afraid this is precisely what's going on in all 50 states.
I grew up on South Eastern Wisconsin. I grew up around a lot of people who were stupid and mean and pretty much fascists. I watched as union men let their unions be destroyed because they didn’t really want to have solidarity with black men. Wisconsin, at that time, was a solidly left good-government state with excellent schools. It only took a couple of decades of de-industrialization and private equity kicking people off their land to turn Wisconsin into a hard right wing ‘guns and God’ sh*t hole.
Yep. It comes down to class. Can't people see that the history of the world is the history of class struggle? Can't they see that if the human being has no work, no hope, no ability to pay bills or live a decent life he or she will resort to violence and hate?
We met the enemy and it is us.
Nailed it!
Organized religion and CLAIMS of religiosity, not true Christianity or Judaism or Islam, are at the heart of all EVIL and are used to promote and justify everything wrong with our world.
Define fascism. As voltaire noted some 4 hundred years ago:
“If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.”
— Voltaire
Can't use concepts you do not define.
Dorothy: "We are not in Kansas anymore."
Sure Elizabeth you describe the "Volk" Chris is talking about. The amazing thing or proof of the fascism sweeping America is how many likes you have. Red state Christian's are howling racists and pretty well all of them were bastions of the KKK. Double think confusion from Anti Semites who support Israel and hate Palestinian's and Muslims in general would be laughable if not so serious. I guess the dream of the Rapture for all red state Christians await and Armageddon by Trump was divine after all!
Many "Red State Christians" (and some blue staters, too) are aligned with the Trump ideal because we are supposed to be robots to a God who controls everything. That is not how we were founded, because they came here to escape what Britain and other nations were like, being ruled by religion and money; they came here to "form a more perfect union", where the voice of the people was supposed to dictate what our government does for us and for the world, not a bunch of fascist oligarchs dictating what we are supposed to think and do, which is what the right wing Republican oligarchy is doing now.
Why do you think this is an attack on Kansas? Or the totality of Christianity? Or, the rural population? I see none of that in this essay. Are you erecting a straw man?
Wars always bring authoritarian crackdowns and fascist regimes need enemies. Who got us into the war in Ukraine? Not the rural red christians. The woke liberals!
Just sent in this letter-to-the editor of the Seattle Times about the Ukraine War.
RE: Column by Andreas Kluth “Ukraine-aid bashers like Elon Musk need a history lesson” (10-8-2023)
It is columnist Andreas Kluth who needs the bigger history lesson than opiniated “shoot-from-the-lip” characters like Elon Musk. Remember when we learned the lesson of WW I and made Germany and Japan our strongest allies after WW II? How did this happen? Generosity, not punishment. So what happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
Many of us thought that the Cold War was over, but it never ended in Europe and in DC. Instead of understanding the deep-seated Russian fear of hostile forces on its borders (millions of lives lost from Napolean through Hitler), the victorious Cold Warriors moved quickly to punish Russia both economically and militarily, the latter by a gradual expansion NATO forces through Eastern Europe to the Russian border.
Putin’s invasion was a direct response by a reinvigorated Russia to the US insistence on NATO expansion into Ukraine, which ended negotiations in December, 2021. The solution is simple: drop a hostile, nuclear-armed NATO expansion and negotiate. Make peace, not war. In addition, this would cut global inflation and might even get Biden re-elected.
No sorry, it was the MIC - they need an endless war to satisfy their share holders and CEOs (this proxy war was planned for a loooong time ...) and never forget Mr McCain's words: Russia the GasStation ... (grab and run!)
I am sorry that you see it as you wrote ... Mr Hedges sees a much bigger picture and for that he is absolutely right (only in my opinion of course). I am European and mainly see the decades long problematic or criminal policies of this megalomaniac country. I know and see that the single person lives in their own bubbles and many try to do good things (like you), but without MAJOR CHANGES we will have a MONSTROUS DISASTER coming (whatever gets us first: nukes, climate, civil war, economic breakdown ... so many problems and no solutions, because we are distracted and obviously cannot STAND UP TOGETHER for a better and just future ... I lost all hope, but as stated many times: I am old and had a pretty good life, but what will happen to all the fine creatures on this planet we will take with us??)
Read Karl Marx and learn how capitalism works. You have no idea of how the economic system works, how it is structured, why it works as it does. As a striking UAW worker they can tell you more about capitalism than any pundit can.
Elizabeth H. Don’t quit Chris is a good guy trying to do the right thing. Yes he’s a big city bigot against religion but that’s a comparatively small failing. Really it’s fashionable and he has standing in the dissident community he dare not express sympathy.
"Bigot against religion"? That is a Lie"
Hedges is an ordained a minister within the Presbyterian Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges#:~:text=an%20American%20Prison.-,Ordination%20and%20ministerial%20installation,Elizabeth%20in%20Elizabeth%2C%20New%20Jersey.
These posts reveal with clarity what Hedges was talking about.
the politicians want people to lose faith in all insttitituions and themselves and look for pie in the sky when they die. Marx was right: religion is the opium of the people but there is no hate like Christian love.
That is a bald faced lie Diamond boy. The bigots are Christians that bey hate against secularists, which Chris is not. Little feudalistic state bigots from the Jim Crow south are the ignorant Volk Trump is lying too. Trump is worse than Elmer Gantry and more like Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd. He cynically speaks the truth not knowing it was on a live mic and calls his cult followers idiots. Ironically they abandoned him, while Trump supporters would love him all the more! If Trump is elected a "Night of the Long Knives" for his Brown Shirt supporters is not out of the question. Many went to the firing squad making a Nazi Salute praising their executioner Hitler!
I dig the passion. I hope Trump wins. I pray Trump wins.
Be careful what you wish for!
That’s a truism. My wish is for a Day of reckoning.. I understand the dangers associated with that, but the sooner the better.! I think it’s only getting worse. We need a valve to release the pressure and Trump is the perfect such valve. The shit Libs have destroyed America. The half of America that is vilified is a better addressed now than later.
Neo Liberal and Neo Cons share the blame equally. Both are vilified by each other though, the question is why? Its nothing but theater while 21st century Robber Barons write legislation, cut taxes and fund Tea Party useful idiots to do their dirty work. The founder and John Bircher Koch "Dr. Frankenstein" helped give life to his monster Donald J Trump and MAGA. More are waiting in the wings.
No surprise there!
What does it mean when a person shoots himself in the foot, howls in pain, then reloads and shoots his other foot?
Diamond Boy, pray to Trump he is god.
Thar is sacrilege?
Not for Donald Duck followers
I don’t think there is anything wrong about “sounding the alarm”. We need to be vigilant and not apathetic.
This is not “an argument”. No one posture is “right” or “wrong” or definitive. No one person is the owner of “the Truth”! What we need is DIALOGUE. Let’s listen to each other. We r not obligated “to agree” with anyone.
When thinking about Chris Hedges, you have to accept the hyperbolic as payment for his insights. I never "feel good" (or rarely) after reading an essay by Chris. But many times I do see insight. I lived in Germany for a short time as a student; that left me with the thought that fascism could arise in the US. The Germans were human but in spite of strong academic and cultural traditions, they slipped into madness.
Mark Twain stated that history does not repeat but, it does rhyme. We are prone to the same weaknesses. When authoritarianism takes root people behave in a variety of ways that help to solidify the authoritarianism. A German interviewed during the BBC series "The World and War" commented that many people saw the nonsense that Hitler was spewing; however, everyone loves their own life.
If as you say most rural people are not "fools" then why do many vote for Trump? Simply dissatisfaction with the Uniparty seems a very Faustian choice. One cannot ignore the data. Trump's poking the collective eye of the Uniparty feels very good; however, that is rhetoric. It is not actions. Trump actions include: 1) making fun of a reporter with a physical disability; 2) telling the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to "stand down and stand by"; 3) being in possession of classified documents and refusing to turn them over after his Presidency was ended; 4) filing numerous suits over the 2020 election and having them thrown out on legal grounds in many cases by the judges that he appointed; 5) his only legislative accomplishment was right up the Uniparty alley - large tax cuts for the already very wealthy; 6) his financial malfeasance is well documented and soon to be further solidified; 7) Actively pressuring the Attorney General of Georgia to assist in overturning the results in the state; and 8) the list goes on and on.
I don't think Chris is judging all Christians. One cannot deny now the extremism that is growing in this country.
The above noted, I've been continuously evaluating whether I would continue supporting both Chris and Matt Taibi. Both have done some very good journalism and both seem to be settling into a monotonuous story line on Substack.
They voted for Trump for there is no class consciousness in most of America.
that is true no matter religion, race or creed.
Americans are not the brightest bulb in the drawer.
And the world is beginning to understand that.
Rather than leave, stay and share your thoughts on why you think Chris is wrong. From where I am Chris is right on track with where the u.s. is going or has already arrived. Bernie was the last hope for change from the extreme economic divide. My escape plan is a small place in Argentina.
BYE Bye, BYE Byden, the Empire's got you now
BYE Bye, BYE Byden, you're a real cow-word now
Sung to the tune of the old show tune "Bye Bye Birdie" --- sung by Ann Margaret
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Bye+Bye+Birdie&atb=v187-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1t3cBTb3xPc
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/us/politics/politics-states-moving.html
Bye bye
Hello fellow Kansan. I am of two minds on this. I would say that MOST Kansans know that there is something deeply dysfunctional in America BUT different people will locate the causes and solutions in differing areas. I expect Kansas to overwhelming vote for Donald Trump in 2024, at least at the same levels they did last time. They like the cruelty he espouses. But truly I would not mind doing an email correspondence with you. I do believe I can find "common cause" with people who know our country is deeply screwed up. But for people who think Donald Trump is the answer to that dysfunction--that's just sad. He's a charlatan. I live in North Central KS.
He is talking about the "Radical" Christian "Right". I have family in the Oklahoma and Texas and they are a mixed lot. Progressive, compassionate, intelligent, loving people. The very embodiment of southern hospitality and culture. But some of them are radical, hateful and racist And without a doubt want this country to be run on radical right nationalistic christian principals. How do I know? They have told me so. His critique stands in my book.
Irrationality is the problem. It prevents dialogue and listening. Religion is irrationality.
So what do you expect?
I believe we have been and already are fascists. The corporate coup d'etat has been complete for decades. Authoritarianism is rearing its head and the leaders of it are the liberals - they embrace and demand censorship, surveillance and the continuing denigration of civil rights and civil liberties. Trump is a symptom. The problem is both parties being beholden and ruled by the corporate elites.
Lord knows that I detest Trump, but it isn't Trump that is for censorship and "formal re-education" of political opponents. It wasn't Trump that instigated the persecution of Julian Assange.
The list goes on.
I mean, other than it was the Trump administration that instigated the persecution of Julian Assange. I mean, maybe it wasn’t Trump personally (maybe?), but it was his administration and he did nothing to stop it.
Absolutely. Trump could have ended the persecution with a stroke of a pen and he did not do so.
I chose my words carefully.
Perhaps I'm missing the nuance in your words then. I don't know, it comes across as splitting hairs to me, but I could be misreading it. I just don't understand the value in arguing that Trump is not responsible for instigating the persecution of Assange, when his administration absolutely is. As in, the administration that he picked. Trump appointed Mike Pompeo.
And Trump is the only president in recent memory who actually used the bully pulpit to whip his party into shape. The Democrats don't use it because they're disingenuous and need to be able to point the finger at Republicans for their failures. But Trump could have used it to gin up support for Julian Assange if he wanted to. But of course he didn't, because his administration was calling for the persecution and extradition of Assange.
Instigating means "starting".
Trump inherited the persecution of Assange, so to speak, but he did not start it. He did continue it and is to blame for that.
This is not an excuse, but had Trump pardoned Assange, the howls of "Putin puppet " from Team D and its surrogates would have been something else.
He didn't inherit it though, it started under his administration. The Obama administration considered it and then chose to not to pursue prosecution. The Trump administration came into office and almost immediately called for said prosecution.
It started under the Trump administration. Ergo, his administration instigated it.
Your argument maybe works for Biden, but at this point the Antony Blinken lead State Department is just as to blame as the Pompeo lead one.
EDIT: After looking at the dates, perhaps "immediately" is not the correct term as it happened at the beginning of 2018, a little more than a year after Trump took office.
IIRC, the Obama administration was seeking detention of Assange, unless you think that the UK government cared so deeply about Swedish bail conditions.
And yes, Blinken also is to blame.
very disappointing to see you weigh in with this perspective. Very disappointing my friend.
Biden is a warmongering corporate neoliberal, but he's no fascist.
So Biden didn't, for example, push for more internet censorship or try to appoint a "disinformation czar"?
Yes he did. But that does not make him a fascist. And both acts have been wildly distorted by the "alternate" reality people.
So what is your definition of "fascism"?
Hedges writes a lot about the cultural and religious dimensions of fascism, as well as the economic betrayals and the resentment they generate.
Paul Street writes a lot of books about fascism and has a column at Counterpunch, here's a recent example:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/07/28/the-center-cannot-hold/
There are many academics who define the tendencies and characteristics - visit the website and podcast of the group Refuse Fascism for some excellent academics and a reading list.
There a huge scholarly body of literature, history, sociology, psychology, and literature the describes the fascist in cultural and political-economic terms, too long to discuss here.
That is so vague as to be unfalsifiable.
So that’s a long way of saying that you don’t have your own definition of fascism? To me - if the government allies itself with massive, influential corporations to exert control - that’s fascism. So Biden is a fascist.
Keep digging bill. 😁Warmongering corporate neoliberal😁 but not, not, not a fascist😁.
According to the father of facism himself, Facism is the merger of corporations with the state. In what way is Biden not a facist?
Merger of corporations and the state is one feature of fascism. But it is not dispositive. There are other prerequisites. Do some reading on fascism.
Listen pussycat, Trump’s atrociousness is an appropriate, equal and opposite reaction to their mendacious meritocracy lie and if you adopt this frame of reference you will, like me, relish the show. Trump is a high colonic for the shit Libs.
Trump is so impotent, he could not get a Team R Congress to repeal Obamacare.
Trump is a condiment and should be seen as such. He has thrown them off kilter. Their derangement is delicious, and more enjoyable with a little hot sauce a’la Trump
Taking that unfalsifiable statement at face value, it sounds like you are saying that Trump is not to be taken seriously as a politician.
Politician? Politician in America? They are owned. Of course he’s not a politician, our politics is fully bought and paid for, regulatory capture runs Washington. He is attacking politicians, republicans particularly
Of course, Trump is a politician. He's just not good at it.
As can be seen by the fact that his opponents get what they want while some settle for cheap entertainment.
Diamond Boy, now I understand why you said that you are praying that he wins. So it is only for entertainment. Yes, I agree, then, because there is nothing funnier than seeing his recent mug shot, but I prefer that will not win and we will be free from that vermin forever.
It’s not only entertainment, but entertainment is a big part of it, especially watching their derangement
The worst of my angels agrees with you. However, real people will pay the price, both left and right.
& your point is?
Fear mongering about a Trump-inspired Christian fascist takeover really distracts from the current fascist movement under Democratic Party control. It is the Democrats that vote for endless war, demand censorship, promoted the four-year mass brainwashing of the Russia-gate hoax, bailed out the Wall Street banksters while crushing the middle class though millions of fraudulent foreclosures, prosecuted whistleblowers via the Espionage Act, excused the criminal mass government surveillance exposed by Snowden then made it legal, crushed the recent railroad workers strike, provides endless aid and comfort to the racist apartheid state of Israel, and finally it is Hillary Clinton calling for the mass formal “deprogramming” of the Democrats’ political enemies. It doesn’t get more fascist than that.
You are describing corporate neoliberal finance capitalism (and imperial ambition), not fascism.
And you are using that as an excuse to ignore the real fascist threat from white Christian nationalists and their various fellow travelers and militia's.
Chris, this really is a both sides issue. It takes Democrats to make good on Republican policies. If you really believe that Republicans don’t like war just as much as Democrats, or that they aren’t an equal party to policies of mass surveillance, or are always equally as keen to serve their corporate donors - well, golly. We have pretty much a uniparty system.
I agree with you. I just get very tired of having all the blame placed on Republicans, who usually make it pretty clear where they stand, instead of calling out the Democrats who are practiced at virtue signaling to the Left but always line up with the interests of the oligarchs and the Deep State. Yes, it is a duopoly, a Potemkin democracy. I just wish Chris Hedges would acknowledge it instead of blaming Christian “fascists” when they truly have very little if any influence on the big issues.
Yeah - I get it. It's why I loathe my 'own' party far more than I despise Republicans.
However, Chris has good cause to blame the Christian Fascist movement - and those people have WAY more influence that you think. The Federalist society is their instrument; they are the reason Mike Pence was VP, and the last to SCJs were their pick.
The men and women and children who flood the mega-churches are relatively meaningless, however they can (and do) frequently vote as a block, and they vote the way they are told to. The 'Quiverfull' side of the movement (think the Duggers) are 'raising an army for God' - and their homeschooled kids are groomed for political office. Don't underestimate the power of this group... they are crazy, and they are ubiquitous.
The "Christian fascists" you so fear are overwhelmingly NSA and CIA employees in costumes. It is time for you to give this up, Chris. They want an excuse to remove rights because "Christian fascists" are marching and tried to assassinate the governor of Michigan. Please stop playing their game. You need to be wiser than this.
As a government official, I once testified before a legislative Committee chaired by someone with your views of government ("NSA and CIA employees in costumes"). He openly called me a jack booted thug who wanted to raid his garage and seize paints and other household chemicals. And that was 30 years ago. You are a delusional ideologue.
You probably had bigger ambitions, like bombing civilians, assassinating citizens, and kidnapping and torturing people.
No, the legislation I was supporting merely sought to require that corporate manufacturers reduce the toxic chemicals in their products and take legal and aianciual responsibility for the management and disposal of those toxic chemicals. And to create programs to assure the proper disposal of these chemicals.
Then fact that you assume such absurd motivations exposes your twisted worldview.
Unfortunately Elizabeth you have lost credibility.
Since you believe in conspiracy theories, here is one for you: You are in truth a Christian Fascist masquerading as a concerned and genuine Christian. Just another in a long line of psyops operatives.
Agree with elizabeth. Gimme a break! Who is censoring academics who question covid lockdowns, vaccinating pregnant women, etc? Who closed schools for a year? The woke liberals are the authoritarians. Soros funded, Omidyar funded. We are supposed to be scared of rural christians?
Who is writing laws that will criminalize women crossing state lines for health care? They are ALL authoritarians.
Good points about demagogues. I will say, however, that the current political climate reveals the Democrats to be more fascistic than the Republicans or Trump supporters. I know there are nuances within the Republican party. My job was threatened with termination due to the merger of state and corporate pharmaceutical power. Vaccine mandates, censorship and the Ukraine war push are children of the Dems. The idea and logical fallacy that one is a 'Putin Puppet' and traitor if one is against this Ukraine/Russia corporate war underscores the adoption by the Dems of right wing McCarthyism. The Dems/neocons use the term 'unpatriotic' to label those who don't fall in line, similar to the neocons during the Iraq war, and similar to Germans who failed to support 'Fatherland Germany.' Ironically the actual Nazis in the Ukrainian military, who wear various SS and other Nazi patches/ insignia on their uniforms, are ardently supported by the Dems.
Why are we making this about Trumpites vs. Dems (or whatever), aka. “Us Vs. Them”. (= “Divide & Conquer”.) I believe u are missing the point.
I don't believe I am because the discussion is about fascism. Hedges largely(like Cornel West) labels the 'right' as fascist.
When it comes to lockdowns/ job terminations/ censorship, etc., fascism/totalitarianism has had a dramatic real effect on people's lives. The right wing(term
Is vague) Christians spew rhetoric - but don't have much of an effect in comparison. No doubt the media/ oligarchs want the us vs them narrative to divide people, and to distract people from the totalitarian moves they have shoved down peoples' throats. It's important to pinpoint who exactly is fascist.
If the Rs take over the wars will continue unabated. Their "opposition" is opportunistic and performative. The Rs will never inhibit the growth of the military.
That's true both parties support the war industry.
Left liberals have destroyed America and now in spades they will pay
We will pay.
you illustrate and validate hedges' point about violent retribution.
That was my intention
"The parting gift, I expect, of the bankrupt liberalism of the Democratic Party will be a Christianized fascist state. The liberal class, a creature of corporate power, captive to the war industry and the security state, unable or unwilling to ameliorate the prolonged economic insecurity and misery of the working class, blinded by a self-righteous woke ideology that reeks of hypocrisy and disingenuousness and bereft of any political vision, is the bedrock on which the Christian fascists, who have coalesced in cult-like mobs around Donald Trump, have built their terrifying movement."
I am not a licensed therapist but I can see clearly the problem Chris is having and I could absolutely help him if we would spend some face time together.
Chris is frustrated with his realization that his old political tribal identity has been hijacked, monetized and corrupted beyond recognition.... that left, liberal and progressive are all now political labels representing things he absolutely opposes. But he is stuck in the matrix here... still unwilling to accept that the primary opposition to the modern mutated form of left, liberal and progressive is comprised of anything but sinister devils bent on subjugating people into forced Christianity worship at the end of a whip.
Chris needs to move on. He is correct that his old party and related ideology has been hijacked. His is outside their castle and moat and rightfully sniping to take out a few from their towers. However, he is also catapulting boulders at the advancing army that supports his interest to defeat the enemy and open up the castle for the people.
The reason for this is that Chris is clutching history. He is unwilling to let go of the political "family" he once belonged to but that rejected him... and unwilling to embrace the new political family that would embrace him.
Chris needs to read Hiadt's "The Righteous Mind" to understand where he is mistaken about conservatives and where liberals have a fundamental shortfall of moral interests that can cause them to be inauthentic and dangerous in their mass drift. Chris does not really need to buy in to all conservative principles to see that they must be returned to some level of political power if only to help steer the left, liberals and progressives back to a rational and beneficial trend line.
I have a lot of experience working with left and right leaning government, politicians and activists and my conclusion is that we absolutely require a system where conservatives dominate but liberal-progressives are always nipping at their heels demanding they don't allow unchecked greed to pollute the system and humanity. When liberals accumulate too much power there is nobody to stop the greed from polluting the system and humanity.
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
(You speak with such “authority”.)
I don’t agree that Chris is pitting the the Right vs. Left, Liberals vs. Conservatives, (or whatever). It’s binary (is that the word?) Personally I used to identify myself as a Dem.; something I no longer do. I don’t identify as anything; I don’t see the need to. I believe that the US is in state of great deterioration. I am deeply saddened by it. I think the great Empire is going the way of all previous ones. It is corrupt. It isn’t sustainable.
Sorry, but I do not see Chris identifying with or promoting one “faction” versus another. (Am I missing something?) I think all America’s going down the tube in lockstep! Argue away!
Please inventory all the things that indicate that America is going down the tube and then assign the political side that is currently supporting and the side and is currently opposing. Claiming both sides are equally terrible is the primary reason why America is going down the tubes... because we are fighting a losing ideological war instead of electing leaders that offer solutions to repair and improve. Nobody is perfect, but some are better than others.
Candidates that offer solutions to repair and improve are systematically excluded from nominations of the major parties. "Third" parties are essentially forbidden. The whole thrust is to elect someone who will protect and nurture corruption. Maybe one side will do this less than the other, but either way the public loses.
I went to high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in the second half of the 1980s. Our nascent fascism was hard at work then, the previous decade's foundational work of establishing "think tanks" and other propaganda machinery culminating with Ronald Reagan. When Pat Roberts got a quarter of the 1988 Republican primary vote, even a dumb teen like me could figure out what was happening.
The megachurches were well on their way in the 1980s, too. The decade's televangelist clown shows fizzled in the 90s and have been more careful since, but their schizophrenic ideology--steeped in barely hidden racism and overwhelming fear of sexuality or anything different from a suburban white two-car ideal--infected millions. Clinton just allowed the infection to spread, as those same millions saw their material support evaporate, replaced with nothing.
History loves irony. That Trump, incompetent child that he is, will likely be President again is even more absurd than Hilter's rise. Nobody in society's upper echelons saw Hitler as a threat or even legitimate, even making fun of his hick accent. Americans, and the Germans almost a century ago, have been so impoverished, sickened and killed by their overlords that they're grasping for any savior. It doesn't matter that Trump is a crook and a fraud: he's been chosen. The fascist machinery had digested his first term, come out in the black, and made adjustments to put him back in.
Hear! Hear! 👏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽🙌🏽
Agreed. I lived in the metroplex (Grand Prairie) during the late 80's and, once, I was filling my car in the gas station when a young man in his twenties approached me and said "I have the prove that Jesus is God" I stop immediately since this is something I've been trying to figure it out all my life, I don't even know who or what is God. And then this young prophet mentioned some passage from the New Testament. Well, that was the reality not only in Texas but the whole nation, the evangelists had grabbed the power starting with Reagan.
Is it just me or does this essay contradict literally everything Chris has written in the past?
No contradictions here. Mr. Hedges has written consistently about the dangers of the Christian right for decades including his book "American Fascists, the Christian Right and the war on America" published 2001 that he mentions in this report. You can also get his lectures in Alternativeradio.org including the one on " Trump and the Cristian Right". Unfortunately many people did not get those warnings and now we have abortion banned, important books censored etc. You might enlighten yourself reading his books.
I have read his books.
He doesn't speak of the other side as fascists in his books. Quite the contrary, he empathizes with the white working class.
Your snide comment also sucks, in a really Democrat-soundy way. Wanna divide the left even more? Great! You got it!
And if you want leftists to represent division and snide pretentiousness, than I'm out. I'm on the side of the oppressed. If you want the left to be about high-mindedness and who read what, then you can take the left and disintegrate with its ashes. You'll never win this country back from the oppressors with that attitude. And anyone who agrees with you can also take their snobby, divisive talk and fade away.
I don't think most Americans understand what the word 'left' means because of propaganda. Socialism is a dirty word in the US.
IF you had a Social liberal party you might have decent education/childcare etc.
Sorry, I too empathizes with the working class, white and not. I appreciated your comment, too, and did not mean to offend you but since you claim to have read Mr. Hedges books, (no snide here) please read again his "Death of the Liberal Class" and you will understand what this is all about.
It may not be just you, but u may just be wrong in your assessment of what Chris wrote!
No, sorry I cannot see that (why do you think so?)
I don't see what makes the Trump "fascists" any more lethal or anti-democratic or certainly war mongering than those who now run the Democratic Party, as well as a great many politicians in that party. The Democrats have been far more Russophobic than the Republicans. I say this as one who has been a Democrat all my political life (I am now 79). What has most frequently angered and alienated me in the Democratic Party has been their war mongering. This goes all the way back to Vietnam, which the Democrats kept escalating until Nixon became president and, in the face of a great and growing antiwar movement, began to withdraw troops and move towards ending American involvement in that unspeakable carnage. Now it is the Democrats (mainly right wing neocon Democrats) who have picked a fight with Russia, a Great Power with nuclear weapons and a very efficient military. And what is this war about? The US, in response to the breakdown of the Soviet Union in the nineties, began expanding NATO, the anti-Russian alliance, to the Russian border. That is what brought Russia into Ukraine. The CIA had done a coup there in 2014 which took out a Russia-friendly government, replacing it with one that is a puppet of US neocons. And now, these lunatics have finally provoked the war between Russia and the US that more rational governments in the US had scrupulously avoided since the end of WW2. If the world is going to survive, the neocon Democrats must be voted out in favor of a peacemaker. RFK, Jr. is running for president on a peace platform. He sought to run as a Democrat, his family's party. But the Democrat War Party will have nothing to do with him. Hence he, like Cornel West, will be running as third party candidates. This may put the Republicans in the presidency. But the Democrat War Party deserves it. The world may not survive their continuation in power. Biden and Blinken, Nuland and Sullivan and all the rest of the warmongers must go.
Which country sent little Green Men into Eastern Ukraine? Russia.
Which country invaded the Ukraine? Russia.
Russian imperialism moved into Central and Eastern Europe at the end of WW2. When given the chance after the dissolution of the Soviet Union those countries had no interest in Russian suzerainty and aligned with the West. They have no interest in a change to their status quo.
Given that nuclear weapons secure Russia's border there was no justification for invasion and the killing of so many Ukrainians.
The Biden administration will have to immediately replace idiot, Antony Blinken, with Ex-CIA, realist 'democratic socialist', William Burns, as an Anti-Empire (and Anti-War) sane Diplomat --- rather than either the Trump megalomaniac, or 'empty-suit’ Byeden --- to avoid Global Empire WW3
Regarding the resent situation of squeezing people into the death chambers of destitution and death, I wrote this advice to "The Quiet American" duopoly Empire of our people as a UBI, Wealth Reform, or Revolution to 'small ds' (Democratic Socialism) before we're all dead:
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISM
LOVE FOR
PEOPLE
vs
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
BTW, 'Negative Externality Cost' LOOTING is the death engine of all societies, ---- while
'Positive Externality Profits' for the PEOPLE, are the LOVE Train to EQUALITY AND PEACE
Yes. Someone please rid the world of Blinken.
Chris, I too would fear and loathe a Conservative Christian theocracy in America. But right now it seems to me the danger is at least as great that fascism is coming hard and fast from the insane radical Left... We need to reject and resist extremism from all sides. (Don't we?)
Excuse me, I am on the radical left, and I can tell you plainly that we have 0 representation in the congress or the senate or the statehouses. You see, the radical left would never allow censorship, nor believe that Russia casued the worst candidate in history to lose to a ham sandwich. The radical left doesn’t back wars or military invasions. The radical left doesn’t applaud forced vaccinations, government survellience, razor wire and guns on our borders or children in cages. Please stop conflating the insipid so-called liberal bourgeois leadership of the Democratic Party with the left. They are no such thing.
"We need to reject and resist extremism from all sides."
Now that is common sense.
"The billionaires and corporations, whose sole obsession is the greater accumulation of wealth and power, will accommodate themselves to the Christian fascists, as the German industrialists did to the Nazi Party." -- Chris, what evidence do you or any of us have for this? It would seem none at all. The billionaire class has clearly coalesced around the Obama coalition & is working with tech & the DOJ to imprison many of the Jan 6 people on questionable grounds. Wondering also as to the "Christian" part. Could you elaborate a bit more? I really value your insights & positions, but I don't follow you here, as this view seems to give too much power to people who don't actually hold institutional power, people with whom the corporations, NGOs, billionaires will never align. The threat seems to come precisely from the pro-war, greed consumed & lie consumed main stream.
The way I see is that the German industrialists accommodated an profited from the Nazis when they used their Jewish subjects as slave labor for their industries and these are proven facts that need no more evidence. Here in our America, I believe the Christian right have more power than what you are thinking. The judiciary has been filled with their members and abortion has been banned and soon our other civil liberties will be curtailed "Halleluiah". They are so powerful that even reputed crooks like Donald Duck and most of the politicians have to kiss their behinds to be elected.
Well, Chris, I suspect that the real problem is that the structure of our governance is such that it's all too easy to take away people's choices. When we first started getting broadcast media back in the beginning of the 20th century, the government promulgated rules limiting the number of radio and TV stations you could own to try to ensure diversity in what you could listen to. We changed the rules and now broadcast media is owned by only a tiny handful of corporations. The same thing is true of the political system. All too often we have no choice when we vote. The classic was the 2016 presidential race. I had no intention of voting for either of those two idiots. So I voted 3rd party. Why don't more people do that? The system is rigged in favor of the two wings of the uniparty and until we break that we will not improve.
I will tell you why.
I have been castigated by elite Dems for suggesting voting for a 3rd party.
Despite all the horrors which have been laid at my feet I would still vote for a 3rd party.
I am told that if we don't vote Dem then Trump will get in which I understand but how long does anyone have to wait before the US has different party's?
The problem is simple. The people who want to tell you not to vote 3rd party essentially are suggesting that you should do the same thing over and over again in the futile hope of getting a different result. The very definition of insanity.
Chris has a report up from early Sept with Theresa Amato who was Ralph Nader's campaign manager where she explains how the two wings of the corporate party keep their death grip on power. It's enlightening. When people complain about my voting 3rd party, my usual response is to tell them to come up with better candidates.
Yes I know this.
I read Chris all the time and sometimes get exasperated.
BUT he is usually correct.
I have tried your response BUT Dems. (don't understand what is the problem with them) they don't seem to understand anything!
I suggested the other day that if all Dems (instead of voting Biden) moved to a 3rd party. Ohhhhhh ahhhhh.
Bernie Sanders was the ONLY person who could have made a difference (this will go down in History).
But Dems. like the Repubs only look cursorily at Politics.
They are sheep waiting for a manager to tell them what to do.
The whole History of the US is 'money oriented!'
IF you had (like France) separation of church and state it would make a HUGE difference.
I will go back to what Chris said at this time.
Thank you for bringing this up.