President Bush and first lady Laura visit Pittsburgh slum.
Posted on 03/08/2005 6:35:51 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
Sinclair Lewis once wrote, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
Meet Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): the poster-child of the Republican neo-conservative movement, champion of 527 organizations and one of President George W. Bush's most efficient assets in the U.S. Senate. The rising star of that brilliant Class of 1994, Santorum has established himself as a fiery speaker and an honest evangelical. A combatant of gay and reproductive rights, he is also known for blurring the line between the separation of church and state, dangerously using churches - and their tax-exempt status - to fund and work not only his campaigns, but those of presidential candidates Bob Dole and George W. Bush, as well.
Part of the "new guard" geared to extend Karl Rove's neo-conservative agenda into permanency, Santorum has drawn fire for likening homosexuality to incest, bigamy and adultery (which prompted calls for his resignation as chairman of the Republican Senate Caucus, the number three position in GOP leadership), as well as for his proposal of a national propaganda radio network to manage information in a time of war.
Santorum is no mere junior senator, but a possible presidential contender in 2008 and the poster-boy of the neo-conservative agenda - whose future depends on whether or not Santorum can win in 2006. Historically, Senate Republicans fare well in the state, as they have not lost a Senate seat in nearly 13 terms. How ever, Pennsylvania has also been fairly Democratic in the last 10 years; the last Republican presidential candidate to carry the state was George H.W. Bush in 1998, while Congressman Tim Holden (D-Pa.) upset popular fixture George Gekas in 2002 - the same year Democrat Ed Rendell swept into the governor's mansion.
Democrats, for the first time, have a legitimate shot at the Senate in 2006. State Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. is the choice of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other national figures, as well as Rendell, and already polls 5 percent higher than his incumbent opponent. Casey embodies the qualities of the modern Democrat. The son of a popular former governor, Casey spent his time as auditor general of Pennsylvania, fighting corporate fraud and government waste. He is a strong supporter of fiscal responsibility, a strong combatant of child abuse, a strong advocates for affordable health insurance and better working conditions and a worthy supporter of civil rights. What's more, his pro-life stance should sit well with conservatives in the central part of the state.
How will the neo-con strategy work against a pro-life Democrat? The answer is not so certain in a state that cherishes the separation of church and state, strict Constitutionalism and moderate government. Santorum and the neo-cons will pull out all the cards, will reach out to their evangelical base and talk of homosexuality and God, abortion and choice, prayer and separation, patriotism and nationalism, liberal and conservative.
Maybe these were not the issues of 2004, but they will be in 2006. Whether they will resonate with Pennsylvania's moderate electorate is of great interest, for this upcoming Senate race will be the ultimate clash of right versus left, a grass-roots battle between America's moderates and neo-conservatives. It is on this battlefield that neo-conservative ideology will be put to the ultimate test - and that Bush-Rove conservativism, very likely, could meet its demise.
Let the battle begin.
I bet Mr. Lewis could not even define facism...
Washington Times Letters to the Editor June 7, 2000 - Arlington, VA
During the past several months in the American press, the Democrats have frequently denounced the Republicans as Nazis due to their attempts to control runaway federal spending. How very ironic. I remember the Nazis.
Let me share a little about them and recall some of their exploits.
First of all, "Nazi" was gutter slang for the verb "to nationalize". The Bider-Mienhoff gang gave themselves this moniker during their early struggles. The official title of the Nazi Party was "The National Socialist Workers Party of Germany". Hitler and the Brownshirts advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, national resources,manufacturing, distribution and law enforcement.
Hitler came to power by turning the working class, unemployed, and academic elite against the conservative republic. After Der Fuhrer's election ceased being a political conspiracy and was transformed into afashionablesocial phenomenon, party membership was especially popular with educators, bureaucrats, and the press.
Being a Nazi was "politically correct". They called themselves "The Children of the New Age of World Order" and looked down their noses at everyone else. As Hitler acquired more power, he referred to his critics as"The Dark Forces of Anarchy and Hatred". Anyone who questioned Nazi high-handedness in the German press was branded a "Conservative Reactionary". Joseph Goebbels, minister ofcommunications, proclaimed a "New World Order".
The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the Jews, Bohemians and Gypses who were said to be arming themselves to overthrow the "New World Order" and Hitler demanded that all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of "terrorists and madmen". Right-wing fanatics of the "Old Order" who protested firearms registration were arrested by the S.S. and put in jail for "fomenting hatred against the Government of the German people".
Then the Reichstag (government building) was blown up and Hitler ram-rodded an "Emergency Anti-Terrorist Act" through Parliament that gave the Gestapo extraordinary powers. The leader then declared that for the well-being of the German people, all private firearms were to be confiscated by the Gestapo and the Wermotten (federal law enforcement and military). German citizens who refused to surrender their guns when the “jack-boots" (Gestapo) came calling, were murdered in their homes. By the way, the Gestapo were the federal marshals' service of the Third Reich. The S.W.A.T. team was invented and perfected by the Gestapo to break into the homes of the enemies of the German people.
When the Policia Bewakken, or local police, refused to take away guns from townsfolk, they themselves were disarmed and dragged out into the street and shot to death by the S.A. and the S.S. Those were Nazi versions of the B.A.T.F. and the F.B.I. When several local ministers spoke out against these atrocities, they were imprisoned and never seen again.
The Gestapo began to confiscate and seize the homes, businesses, bank accounts, and personal belongings of wealthy conservative citizens who had prospered in the old Republic. Pamphleteers who urged revolt against the Nazis were shot on site by national law enforcement and the military. Gypsies and Jews were detained and sent to labor camps. Mountain roads throughout central Europe were closed to prevent the escape of fugitives into the wilderness, and to prevent the movement and concealment of partisan resistance fighters.
Public schools rewrote history and Hitler youth groups taught the children to report their parents to their teachers for anti-Nazi remarks. Such parents disappeared. Pagan animism became the state religion of the Third Reich and Christians were widely condemned as "right wing fanatics".
Millions of books were burned first and then people. Millions of them burned in huge ovens after they were first gassed to death. Unmarried women were paid large sums of money to have babies out of wedlock and then given medals for it. Evil was declared as being good, and good was condemned as being evil. World Order was coming and the German people were going to be the "peacekeepers".
Yes, indeed, I remember the Nazis and they weren't Republicans, or "right wing", or "patriots" or "militias". They were Socialist monsters.
-- Thomas Colton Ruthford
What/where is this from? West VA U? Columnist for what?
You have it right, it is from the West Virginia University school newspaper. Authored by a "Staff Columnist".
***************
It was not only "fascism" that Lewis feared.
He also wrote:
"I went to a denominational college and learned that since dictating the Bible, and hiring a perfect race of ministers to explain it, God has never done much but creep around and try to catch us disobeying it." 13, 154
"I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation. We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers ... coax us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made; just wiser than you.' For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now — and we're going to try our hands at it." 16-V, 197
"'I wonder if you can understand the 'fun' of making a beautiful thing, the pride and satisfaction of it, and the holiness!' The company glanced doubtfully at one another. In Gopher Prairie it is not good form to be holy except at church, between ten-thirty and twelve on Sunday." 18-III, 219
They were like the Sunday-afternoon mob starting [sic] at monkeys in the Zoo, poking fingers and making faces and giggling at the resentment of he more dignified race.... They were staggered to learn that a real tangible person, living in Minnesota, and married to their own flesh-and-blood relation, could apparently believe that divorce may not always be immoral; that illegitimate children do not bear any special and guaranteed form of curse; that there are ethical authorities outside of the Hebrew Bible; that men have drunk wine yet not died in the gutter; that the capitalistic system of distribution and the Baptist wedding-ceremony were not known in the Garden of Eden; ... that there are Ministers of the Gospel who accept evolution; that some persons of intelligence and business ability do not always vote the Republican ticket straight; ... that a violin is not inherently more immoral than a chapel organ...
http://www.english.ilstu.edu/separry/sinclairlewis/
(Written on my birthday! How cool!)
"....advocated the nationalization of education, health care, transportation, national resources,manufacturing, distribution and law enforcement."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"......came to power by turning the working class, unemployed, and academic elite against the conservative republic."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"....party membership was especially popular with educators, bureaucrats, and the press."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"Being ....was "politically correct". They called themselves 'The Children of the New Age of World Order' and looked down their noses at everyone else."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
".....acquired more power, ...referred to ....critics as 'The Dark Forces of Anarchy and ***Hatred***'."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports on the Jews..."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"....demanded that all good people register their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of 'terrorists and madmen'."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"The Gestapo began to confiscate and seize the homes, businesses, bank accounts, and personal belongings of .....citizens...."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"Pagan animism became the state religion of the Third Reich and Christians were widely condemned as 'right wing fanatics'."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"Unmarried women were paid large sums of money to have babies out of wedlock and then given medals for it."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"Evil was declared as being good, and good was condemned as being evil."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"World Order was coming and the ......were going to be the 'peacekeepers'."
Gee! Sounds like Democrats!
"Then the Reichstag (government building) was blown up and Hitler ram-rodded an "Emergency Anti-Terrorist Act" through Parliament that gave the Gestapo extraordinary powers."
Now THIS sounds like something Them Dem's will pin on Bush and his Republican henchmen....
Which is it, moron?
Right vs. left?
Or moderate vs. neo-con (whatever you think THAT means)?
Hitler - the leader of the national socialist party (NAZI) was a vegetarian who as leader of Germany nationalized health care, the banks and most major industries. He was for taxing the rich and total and enforced public education (so that the next generation could be indoctrinated). He was also a gun-banner.
Mmmmm - now who and what party does that sound like?
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