Scared
people lead to desperate decisions and that is exactly what happened following
the great depression of the 30’s. As president Franklin Delano Roosevelt came
into office in January of 1982 he brought forth the “New Deal” which was a
series of domestic economic programs. The New Deal went along with the growing
sentiment of the time that a strong leader leading a strong government could
right many of the wrongs in a country and its economy. The New Deal had many
strong ties to fascism in its structure by providing a plan for industries to
follow as opposed to having a free form market system.
These
changes were a direct result of the fear of a market economy that the great
depression brought forth. Fascism was a
way of countering the fear of the untamable beast that was the market economy.
It promised a fantasy of having a government holding the power to secure a firm
foothold in the magnitude and direction of the economy as well as the nation as
a whole. Today the setup for a similar fear is eerily similar to that following
the great depression of the 1930’s. The United States is once again teetering
in the welcoming arms of fascism.
After
the stock market crash the government began a huge bailout of some major
corporations that were crippled by the crash. As Mussolini put it “Fascism
should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State
and corporate power.” The government’s direct involvement in keeping these industrial
giants in play was fighting against the will of the market and its desire to
put stiff lumbering giants to rest. This merging of power between the
government and corporations can also be seen in the newest health care reforms
going in pushing the country towards more socialist and fascist tendencies. I’m
interested in seeing the direction that all these new policies bring us in the
coming years but I believe that the influences of fascist ideals are undeniably
present.
No comments:
Post a Comment