The Fascist New Administration

"All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state." Benito Mussolini

I have a sickening feeling that I'm going to be using the F-word a lot more often in the upcoming four years. There are already strong indications of which direction Obama would like to go.

First he selects Rahm Emanuel, author of The Plan: Big Ideas for America, as his Chief of Staff. A few quotes from that book will tell you all you need to know about Mr. Emanuel:

Universal Citizen Service

If you forget everything else you read in these pages, please remember this: The Plan starts with you. If your leaders aren't challenging you to do your part, they aren't doing theirs. We need a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us by establishing, for the first time, an ethic of universal citizen service.

and

All Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 should be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic civil defense training and community service. This is not a draft, nor is it military. Young people will be trained not as soldiers, but simply as citizens who understand their responsibilities in the event of a natural disaster, an epidemic or a terrorist attack. Universal citizen service will bring Americans of every background together to make America safer and more united in common purpose. [emphasis added]

[excerpts from pages 61-62.]

Lofty balderdash from a book no one has read up til now?

Consider the similarity to this:

"The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all." Point 10 of the the 25 Point National Socialist Program [Hat Tip to Ed Cline at Rule of Reason]

No relevance to what the actual Obama administration may do? The day after Emanuel's selection this appeared on Obama's Change.gov website:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps.

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start. [emphasis added]

The temptation to say "I told you so" is irresistible. But let's pass over that quickly. We've more important things to review. Such as the fact that programs like this were everywhere in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and Fascist Italy in the 1920s.

Attentive readers will have observed that the Change.gov website content doesn't exactly match the quote. That's because, after a day of having it reported by dozens of blogs, the content was changed. "Required" has been replaced by "setting a goal."

Sorry, that won't do. Set aside that the change was made only after the blog roar rose to the level that even the major press might not be able to ignore the issue. No, there's something more fundamental to notice. Even voluntary programs of that nature sponsored by the national government are still Fascistic in character. There were dozens of "voluntary" programs in Italy and Germany in the two decades prior to WWII. When you are strong-armed into joining one by social pressure that begins in the government, the word "voluntary" takes on a new meaning.

And, why does Obama, who openly states that "we have only one President at a time" and "I'm not President, yet" have a .gov domain name in the first place? That is supposed to be reserved for official government sites. This blending of the private and government is exactly what characterizes a Fascist state.

Top it off with the fact that those "voluntary" programs for students now offer an added bribe: a $4,000 tuition credit for college students. Ignore that this sort of thing is exactly what softens up the young to accept government control of their lives. Consider instead where that $4,000 is going to come from: those who are not attending college, but are working for a living. More Federal welfare, this time tied to signing up to be one of the Obama Jugen.



Update 11/12/2008:
Exaggeration? Listen to this, in the words of Emanuel himself.

One more step down the road...