Illusions or delusions

Being delusional is a psychotic state of being, where the individual cannot distinguish between reality and his/her personal fantasies, while holding on to illusions usually indicates one’s willingness to be deceived. Living in the U.S., it is often hard to understand whether we are dealing with mass illusions or delusions.

We live in a country that claims the moral high ground and insists that we live in the greatest of democracies. We learn this in school, we read it in our textbooks, newspapers, we hear this on TV. And so, we begin to believe it. But, in order to continue to accept the notion that we live in a free, democratic society, we must turn a blind eye to what is occurring around us and suspend any semblance of critical thinking. All the signs are there if we really want to see them. The U.S.A. is a fascist state.

Mike Pirsch, in his article, America Is a Fascist State Because It Is Racist, quotes John Hall, former member of congress from upstate New York, “I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is fascism . . . Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”

So, what do we live with today? The Supreme Court acknowledges the personhood of corporations, giving them the rights of citizens without the responsibilities or liabilities of individuals. Corporations can now donate as much of their money as they see fit for either party or candidate, destroying the myth of a two-party system. It is so prevalent that the media, instead of highlighting what candidates stand for, reports how much money each candidate has been able to raise. As Pirsch states, “Thus corporations control the entire political apparatus from choosing who can and cannot run for president to selecting the House and Senate leaders and committee chairs.”

One might point out, if we the people do not like what is going on in our government, we can vote new people into office. That’s true but we need to include in our view that anyone running for office is sponsored by the corporate elite, relies on the large contributions made by these people, and are themselves usually millionaires. So, what are our options? Certainly, they do not include change through the electoral system.

What else points to U.S. fascism? Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party candidate for President in 1948, wrote in a 1944 article for the N.Y. Times called, Dangers of American Fascism, “A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence toward his ends. The supreme god of a fascist to which his ends are directed may be money or power, may be a military clique or an economic group, or may be a culture, religion, or a political party . . . But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power . . . They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjugation.”

We have evolved to a state of fascism. The system of checks and balances, which were put there to protect the people so that any one part of government cannot abuse it’s powers, has been shredded, as we have experienced by decades of legislative, judicial and executive decisions that have empowered the elite at the expense of working people. Racism is not only alive and well but is being encouraged by laws and actions by those in positions of authority. The press has been completely compromised by the elite’s ownership of most major media outlets. Whistle-blowers who bring to the attention of the public crimes committed by our government are now subject to criminal charges and imprisonment; reporters who write about these crimes are becoming more and more vulnerable to similar charges being leveled against them; those who actually have committed crimes are free to continue committing those crimes in our name.

I would like everyone to think about this one important question: Is this democracy?

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.