Yes, Indefinite detention without trial is an important point.
Cutting the courts out of the loop when it comes to surveillance of U.S. citizens is another. And this is an issue that has many Republicans up in arms.
Using ultra patriotism and appeals to emotion ever more frequently when speaking to your citizens also makes me nervous. On of the hallmarks of fascism is a movement away from rationalism and a respect for human rights and towards a worship of the state.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the use, as Orwell foresaw, of a state of perpetual war to justify the "temporary" nullification of various human rights at home and abroad.
From Wikipedia (on fascism):[/DIV]In Italy and Germany a movement came to power that sought to create national unity through the repression of national enemies and the incorporation of all classes and both genders into a permanently mobilized nation.
History teaches us that human beings think differently when at war. The constant low-level panic that settles over a nation in times of crisis makes rational thinking nearly impossible. We look for a "Big Brother" to watch over us, and make sure "the other" is kept in check. We revert, in other words, to our reptile brains, and survival trumps all else.
The key, of course, is that someone operating from their reptile brains is much more easy to psychologically manipulate. I'd like to say more but this post is too long already. If you'd like to learn more about the new science of marketing to the reptile (it's essentially a form of mind control, as the whole point is to speak directly to the subconscious) check out this info on Clotaire Rapaille. He is the master of this process. I consider him to be an evil man, and I don't use the term lightly, but his techniques are used throughout the business world. The Republicans also make use of his tech quite effectively...[/DIV][A href="vny!://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=R._Clotaire_Rapaille"]vny!://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=R._Clotaire_Rapaille[/A][/DIV][A href="vny!://www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com/"]vny!://www.archetypediscoveriesworldwide.com/[/A]
One note; no, America is not Nazi Germany. That isn't the point. The point is to identify current trends and attempt to predict where we're heading, and in my opinion it's not a stretch to assert that this country is moving quickly in the direction of a fascist state. Stating that America is not Germany and Bush isn't Hitler (a point several of my conserevative friends have made), while true, is a red herring IMO.
The fact that Iraq is not Vietnam should not prevent us from looking for similarities between the two conflicts and attempting to learn from history. The same holds true in the current debate.
