Dropped Orcinus another note today on the subject of fascism; he'd added a piece on his site regarding Rush Limbaugh's latest trough of bullshit about how Dick Gephart plans to "use briges and fascist control to ruin our economy."

I'd link to Rush's site where this is posted, except that: A. As it's been a few days, to access it you have to sign up to be a Rush 24/7 member, and B. The mere thought of doing so makes my flesh crawl.

Niewert also speaks of Limbaugh's recent castigation of Tim Robbins, "who thinks he can say any thing at any time . . . I have a question: How is it that Tim Robbins is still walking free? How in the world is this guy still able to go to the National Press Club and say whatever he wants to say?"

How is it that Tim Robbins still walking free.

The insination, of course, being that good, loyal Americans ought to do something about it so that he is not able to walk free.

Make no mistake - this is what the far right wants. Perhaps it has what the far right has always wanted, but the call for it has become far more brazen.

Of course, the far right does not always get what it wants. But it could get an America where Tim Robbins and the like are not permitted to "walk free." In order for that to happen, though, they need a pretext, a rationale which is accepted, passively if need be, by a majority of Americans.

The following post comes from LGF; this, I think, could be the pretext:

(The discussion was about Saudi funding of terrorism):

"To most people, 15 million smackers is a LOT of money, but this token funding pales in comparison to the billions in funding by the Saudis of the cause of Wahhabism in another country. That country would be the United States of America.

Whether or not the street knows it - and they don't - we are now in the early phases of the fight for our existence as a nation, and as the standard-bearers of the idea of democracy.

We have most of the EU and a good portion of NATO aligned against us - the old school appeasers of Europe - and most of the Arabic nations, and third-world oppressor nations as well. They are starting to sense a common ground of opposition to our position, which is one of self-determination of man.

That is very dangerous to all these folks, as they represent the dictator and dictator-enabler; the rapists and the voyeurs who profit from the rapes of mankind.

This war won't be quick, or easy. We will undoubtedly end up being forced to kill off some of our own citizens in order to protect the ideas set down by our framers over 200 hundred years ago.

It's happening now, and suddenly, and we are right in the midst of it. It is going to get bloody and scary and desperate before all is finished and a victor emerges.

I hope and believe that the victor will be the one that represents rightness and honor, because otherwise it means the end of democracy on earth, another untold dozens or hundreds or thousands of years of terror.

IndyMedia is part of the problem. We can't just go up and shoot these people for their hatred and ignorance, just like Israel cannot just wipe out the people in the PA controlled lands. Militant Islam KNOWS these things, and will be using them to coalesce the forces of their believers and sympathizers to undermine the efforts for equality and peace until, and if, they are defeated.

Is everyone ready? The time is here, and now.

Prepare yourselves."

Once you're done digesting this - I recommend a healthy dose of Tums - consider its salient points:

* Everyone is against us.
* They are using our own system against us.
* Thus, there will need to be a purge - "We will undoubtedly end up being forced to kill off some of our own citizens in order to protect the ideas set down by our framers over 200 hundred years ago."
* That purge will be justified.
* Because we represent the forces of "rightness and honor"

Frightened yet?

Students of history will recognize all of this. I don't know whether it's inevitable that something like this might happen in our country, but it could happen, and as such I think the left damned well ought to know that this is what the far right wants - though "transmitters" like Limbaugh may not say so in such crude and direct terms.

Maybe it's my inner pessimist - or, hell, my outer pessimist - but I think this will happen. Not in my lifetime, perhaps; hopefully not in my kid's lifetime.

But what I think is going to happen is that at some point, perhaps spurred by another terrorist attack, perhaps spurred by external events, the Patriot Act will be expanded, or superseded by even tougher legislation. Under the guise of the war on terrorism, we will jettison our traditional reluctance to "shoot these people for their hatred and ignorance." Motivated by fear, we will deem it permissable to eliminate enemies of patriotism, and we will do so, on whatever scale.

And ultimately, this as much as terrorism itself will be a factor in the downfall and destruction of the nation.

Because I think the average American is willing to sell out the nation's philosophical birthright on account of fear. I think the far right is poised to take advantage of that fear; some, maybe all may sincerely believe theirs is the way to make America stronger. Others will be motivated by a sheer lust to "get" their enemies.

If Republicans are capable of selling out September 11, the far right is capable of selling out the Founding Fathers and our collective history. They will use it to justify their actions. Limbaugh, Savage, Ann Coulter and the rest will be the apologists, as they already are.

As it goes on, there will be some questions - but probably not from the traditional, consolidated, looking-to-the-administration-for-regulatory-favors media, which will by that time know - which already knows - on which side the bread is buttered.

But though the right will continue to insist that these measures will strengthen the nation, the reality is that they will weaken it. All the while, the hubris of which Sullivan spoke will be running at a fever pitch. Internationally, we will continue to seek to remake the world; our conviction that this is the "right and honorable" thing to do will continue to alienate much of the rest of the world. Which, at some point, may well unite against us not just philosophically, but economically. Militarily.

And it will play out as so many other fascist regimes have played out.

This is my worst-case scenario, to be sure. My problem is that in some on the right, I sense the same sort of viciousness and vituperouness that drove 19-year-old SS members in Berlin to string up 60-year-old Volkssturm members who refused to take potshots at Soviet tanks with an antique Italian rifle. I sense the same sort of outrage that made it all right to usurp, suspend and destroy individual rights - and individuals - on behalf of the state.

I hear a train around the bend, and though I don't know exactly what it looks like, I have a pretty good idea that it will be big, and I can feel it getting closer.

I just hope we get off the tracks in time.