The Rise Of Fascism In America : By Tristan Aaron Shaw Sinclair Lewis in 1935 said: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” These prophetic words have never been more meaningful. We are now beginning to witness a powerful proto-fascism ascend from the fringes of American society into a recognized political force – one that’s dressed in the flag and clutching the Christian cross. From the Tea Party to militias, from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh, the recipe for fascism is brewing and growing more potent by the day. Perhaps this is not surprising when you consider that for the year 2010, Fox News’ viewership exceeded CNN, HLN, and MSNBC combined. The “news” channel that is caught explicitly lying and fabricating stories on a weekly basis is crushing the other networks. And if that doesn't scare you: the launch of Sarah Palin’s reality show, in November of last year, broke an all-time record as the most watched program in TLC’s history. The economic despair that has swept the country is being hijacked by the very same corporate forces that are responsible for the crisis. Let’s be abundantly clear: the Tea Party movement is not a grassroots movement; rather, it is an astroturf movement manufactured by the multi-billion dollar Koch Industries and propelled by Rupert Murdoch’s deceptive Fox News – the same elites who lobbied for financial deregulation, which led to today’s economic catastrophe. Despair has always been the engine of extremist populism. One thinks of the war in the former Yugoslavia, which was not caused by ancient religious or ethnic rivalry. The conflict was caused, as many great analysts have pointed out, by the economic collapse of the country that resulted in widespread social despair. History has shown, time and time again, that severe hardship opens the door for social change – but when illiteracy and a sold-out press converge with desperation, a situation we now confront, demagogues and charismatic figures inevitably rise from the crowd and promise revenge to the bewildered, scared and angry populous. This is exactly what is beginning to unfold in America today. Half of the adult population cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level. 20 percent read and write below a fifth grade level, meaning they are functionally illiterate. Is it any wonder why Bill O’riely or Rush Limbaugh or the Tea Party are gaining so much momentum? A huge proportion of the unemployed do not understand why they lost their jobs, and they are very angry. In effect, they become receptive to the buffoonish talk shows that repeatedly tell them it’s the immigrant’s fault. It is this simplistic view of reality they seek. (One fifth of the country denies that Obama was born in America.) Yugoslavia’s fate will soon be America’s fate. It seems there is no countervailing force to the right-wing populism. Many have been disillusioned by Obama, and rightly so. Politics, by and large, has become a futile corporate game of political theater, with the bottom 95 percent left spectating. Democracy has been exposed as a sham – on the one side stands a corrupt Democratic Party imprisoned to the corporate elite; on the other side is a lunatic Republican Party whose sole purpose is to make America into a neofeudal country, one in which there is only masters and serfs. A lot of Americans are legitimately angry. They want answers, and the only answers they hear are from radical Christian radio or insane, right wing fanatics. The frightening ideology imparted by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party makes not the slightest sense: they say the answer to our problems is small government yet do not question the massive security apparatus. They espouse austerity measures for reducing the deficit yet military spending is somehow exempt from that equation. It is utterly irrational. But that dos not matter. It appeals to people who have lost faith in reality. It offers an emotional grounding and a vent for anger. It offers inclusion and something to fight for amid decline. It empowers a kind of hope in a future Utopia that promises to return to the “good old America.” It preaches that, in this idealism, all can become wealthy and famous if you just work hard enough and uphold Christian values. But while the movement depends on the dislocation of working-class Americans who are fearful of their future, it is not limited by economic boundaries. Its supporters run across the class spectrum. However, what makes the movement increasingly prominent is the disenfranchised masses whose desperation and rage bolster its political agenda. Robust systems of education would give the dispossessed working- and lower-class citizens an outlet through which to fight back against the corporate state. But we are bereft of such tools. Our mainstream media, universities (which are now unaffordable to the average family), religious and cultural institutions, labor unions, and political parties have been on a precipitous decline for decades – in so far as serving the common good. We stand on the cusp of fascism – an age when corporate oligarchs orchestrate a right-wing populism that will turn our political system into a corporate totalitarianism. Capitalism is dying, and the capitalists know it. As credit, resources and mass produced goods dry up, social control will increasingly resemble Orwell’s 1984. The corporate elites, to maintain their privileges and a social order that perpetuates their kind, will use their organs of mass propaganda to turn the population against themselves. Outbursts of violence are already becoming more frequent, like the shootings in Arizona. If Sarah Palin, or any other politician under the Tea Party banner, runs for president in 2012, brace yourself. Let us hope enough Americans muster the sanity to refuse their election. But if the momentum of the movement grows and they seize control of the country, we will see the current proto-fascism morph into an overt form of fascism. At that moment, we can kiss goodbye to civil liberties. We will enter, like all other collapsing empires of the past, a despotic regime that will thrust a new dark age into the history books. Tristan Aaron Shaw is a 19 year- old student who's deeply distressed about this countries future. He can be reached at tristanshw@gmail.com