Socialism or Fascism ?

From my own experience living in Norway I sort of have a view of what Americans mean when they say we are heading towards socialism and we may indeed head that way. I however seeing it as being more aptly described as a fascist state.

In a socialist state government, under the guise of 'the people', owns and controls the essential industries like energy, public transportation and health care. People vote and have a say in how affairs are handled and quite frankly they can be very democratic. The essential difference I found was the degree of interference in the way people lived. They tell you when and what color to paint our house. We were taxed ever year for the possession in the house; our television, our stove, other devices, our pool table and many even smaller ideas.

We Americans had a game of shuffling the 120V power converter before the tax man came since they were illegal. When we arrived and unpacked the Encyclopedia Britannica many articled were taped over or blackened out and in a few cases entire pages removed. Britain is currently suffering through outrageous problems of this nature.

There was much freedom of conscious, a free press and freedom of assembly. There was even a communist newspaper. So socialism is a political party lording not over your beliefs, just over your property.

Fascism has a few different aspects. One is the degree of liberty the people posses. They can vote as long as it is for the state approved candidate often under social peer pressure. Second, is that a dictatorial type leader that the elites of the power structure erects a person as a facade and focus of power and demand allegiance to; essentially an embodiment of a narcissistic state. The power structure is a coalition of like minded individuals in academia, media and unionized industry wanting to retain power by using the means to justify the ends.

The key element of fascism is the control of information. Schools teach only the virtue of the party and state, the press prints only that which is supportive of the state and industry is privately owned but controlled by the government. A quid pro quo arrangement for power sharing But the government is figuratively bought and paid for by these interests with a natural desire to stick together to advance their own interests at the expense of the people. People are just fodder that feeds their system. Mere horses to pull their wagons.

I just think it is more appropriate to describe what is happening as fascism-lite.

Couple of quick 'for instances' we have seen recently.

* You cannot mention God in a public forum ( there can be only one.. the state )
* One cable pundit gets tingling in his leg over his man-love of Obama.
* Another pundit stated Obama is like God. why would we need the old one
* Many noted pundits dream of sex with him. Not all are of the opposite sex.
* Obama snaps his finger and Congress passes through unprecedented spending.
* People adore his image in their homes, their rear-view mirror or call it art.
* The press is trying to rebuild the JFK myth of Camelot; emphasis on myth.
* The government muscling into private enterprise through loans like the Mafia.
* The government wants to pass laws to 'Hush Rush'.
* The schools can teach Islam, Hinduism, Native American spiritualism, Wiica.
* They cannot even mention Christianity in a historical context.
* The courts have assumed the power to legislate by proxy.
* The executive branch buys control of private businesses without any constitutional authority.
* The party apparatchik use intimidation against their opponents.
* The government uses public funds to finance groups to support their agenda by coercion.
* The Justice Dept drops charges against two NBP members clearly using intimidation.
* The press fails to challenge the actions of government.
* The press actively suppresses anything that casts a negative light on their agenda.

These are things you typically do not find in socialism. But that's just my opinion.

I await the 3:00am knock on the door.