Nazi

Wikipedia lists these attributes for Nazism:

• nationalism,
  
• racism,
  
• totalitarism,
  
• homophobia,
  
• anti-Semitism, and
  
• anti-communism

The only thing the current administration isn't is anti-Semitical (we love the Israelis, to the detriment, I think, of the entire Middle East and beyond).

George Bush is not a Nazi. But our government certainly shares similar attributes. I will take each point one-by-one.

Nationalism

After 9/11, the overabundance of American flags on cars was ridiculous. I saw many cars and trucks, not with stickers of American flags, but with actual flags. One guy had a full-size Betsy Ross fastened to his pickup truck. That was outrageous.

Now, I was as heart-broken, shocked, scared, and stunned that America had been struck by terrorist as anyone else. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. The horror hasn't left me. The memory of the planes striking the Twin Towers, the fires, and the collapse of the buildings are etched forever behind my eyeballs. I have never been more afraid, on a national scale, than I had been then. I thought the world might be coming to an end.

However, I didn't put a freakin' flag on my car. I didn't wave Old Glory like I was better than anybody else. National pride is one thing. Back then, I was proud to be an American. Now, I am ashamed. I hope, soon, that my feelings will change.

After WWI, the Germans felt deeply ashamed of their plight. WWI caused WWII. The Germans were wracked with debt, inflation, poor self-image, and generally crappy living conditions. They were in the midst of a global Depression when Hitler arose as a national figure. He had charm. He had charisma. One might say that the typical German would like to share a brew with him. He was not looked upon as evil. Even after the atrocities started happening, Germans defended him.

Now, what this American administration has done is nothing close to the Holocaust. But it's pretty bad, not befitting a civlized society. Beatings, torture, detentions without due process. Secret spy planes taking "enemy combatants" to foreign lands and then beating them to death is not something I am proud of.

But we had to do something. What we should have done is kill bin Laden when we could have. And that's not Bill Clinton's fault. It's George Bush's fault, without a doubt. We didn't invade Afghanistan until 2 months after 9/11. Talk about giving the guy a lead! He left Afghanistan and surely fled to another "-stan."

So, we invaded Iraq. That's were the terrorists were (or were to be?), after all. You know, Sadaam Hussein loved the terrorists. I'm sure he was so in love with them that he had them all shot. Because terrorists don't operate well within a totalitarian regime. The dictator usually suffers some sort of delusion and is certainly paranoid that he's going to get blown up by somebody because he's just such a big dick.

Racism

Of course, President Bush is not a racist either. As Bill Maher puts it, Bush doesn't hate people. He just doesn't know they exist. Rather, it's a class thing with Bush and his cronies. There's the lower class, middle class, upper class, and uber class. (See the German reference? Witty, huh?) Bush belongs to the uber class. The uber class, otherwise known as the ownership society, is the only thing that matters. Witness Katrina, the assault on Social Security, the Medicare legislation, etc.

Of course, it only seems as though brown people make up the lower class. They're the ones you see on the news. But it's not true. There are more poor white folks than black, mainly as a function of there are more white people around than black.

So, much of our "racism" is really mischaracterized: It's really "classism."

But the recent electoral diversion called "immigration" has really stirred America's melting pot. A skeptic might call the debate a racist debate. It's a matter of "what's mine is mine." Most Americans are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Only the Native American Indians can truly be called "native." Anybody who wants to keep immigrants out ought to look at their lineage.

I'm all for legal immigration. But ask yourself this: If you were being paid $1 a day and could get $40 a day by crossing an invisible border, which could help you feed your family, would you do it? I'd say you're a deadbeat if you didn't say "Yes!"

It's still all about class, though. It's the case of the "haves" versus the "have nots."

Totalitarianism

If we aren't approaching totalitarianism, I don't know where we're going. From wikipedia:

Totalitarianism is a term...to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior...Common to all definitions is the attempt to mobilize entire populations in support of the state and a political or religious ideology, and the intolerance of activities which are not directed towards the goals of the state, such as involvement with labour unions, non-sanctioned churches or opposition political parties. Totalitarian regimes maintain themselves in political power by means of single-party state, secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cult, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics (political purges and persecution of specific groups of people).

This description seems to fit the current state of the union to a tee. Warrantless wiretapping, poring over phone and Internet records without any court orders, Faith-based initiatives, anti-Islam, Swift Boating, secret CIA prisons, FOX News, censored and filtered sound bites and audience participation at Bush rallies: All symptoms of the totalitarian disease.

Homophobia

The Defense of Marriage Act pretty much sums this one up. And the fact that gays cannot openly serve in the military. How many openly homosexual people are employed in Bush's cabinet? Now that the Mark Foley scandal has broken, it seems that there might be a lot of Republicans in the closet, but nobody's sayin'.

Anti-Communism

One of the main reasons 9/11 happened was because the Bush Administration took its eye off the ball (the ball being legitimate, plausible threats) and watched out for the Commies. Secretery of State Rice was selected for Bush's cabinet primarily becuase she's an expert on the Soviet Union (which, NEWSFLASH, fell during Bush I's reign. I guess the boy wasn't payin' attention). Rumsfeld had his first stint when the Soviets were a real threat. I guess he thought they were playing possum.

Anyhow, these guys were preoccupied with the Cold War. They didn't pay any attention to al Qaeda. They're nothing but anti-Communist.

Summary

It appears that the United States shares many of the attributes of Nazism. We've come a long way. Only it's the wrong way.