I'm confident that we'll never see fascism appear again. It's simply too taboo to copy it exactly.

But here's what I'm worried about:

• You have the potential for a huge recession (double dip too) with the debt ceiling.
• You already have a serious question of the ability for the Democrats and Republicans to govern our nation and maintain our country's credibility.
• As an extension of the above. I say we can see people lose faith in democracy if our representatives fail to even do the most basic things like fulfilling its payment obligations (not just interest payments, but social security payments. I bang my head when I hear someone say we have enough money. It's basic arithmatec, we don't have enough money to pay EVERYONE. Somebody will need to get the short stick. Bond owners will be worried, even if they get their interest payments, if they see the US being unable to fulfill its other obligations).
• You have an extremely weak job growth, and high unemployment. College students with high student loans, will become shocked a few years later, when they realize that what used to be thought of as an gaurantee (the middle class) isn't any more. This is a really key point IMHO. Essentially, you have a large number of people, coming from the middle class, feeling like they're under siege.
• You already have an extremely partisan political landscape. FNC and the Republican party have always been pretty wacky since Goldwater and Reagan (sad to see how McCain's positions changed in the 2008 elections), but it's sad to see that someone like John Boehner would walk away from an incredibly one sided deal, due to pressure from the tea party. You then have MSNBC trying to copy FNC, and I think that in a couple of years the left will become more radical as well.

I truly think that if the shit hits the fan, there'll be more extremism on the right and left. It's important to note though, that fascism wasn't a right or left movement. It was a reactionary movement against extremism (ironically). When you have a huge recession, an radical right and left that can't seem to govern properly, and high unemployment, the middle class will become afraid. And if there's a politician that can appeal to that fear, then I say you have a movement similar to fascism (without the hyper nationalism, purging of the enemy, statism, etc).

College Unemployment

College Unemployment 2

Debt Ceiling

Debt Ceiling 2

Extremism/Idiot

Can't embed:

CNN Weekend Shows: Velshi: Show courage & raise debt limit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVcG3AG3k8

The Mother of All No-Brainers
By DAVID BROOKS

The Republicans have changed American politics since they took control of the House of Representatives. They have put spending restraint and debt reduction at the top of the national agenda. They have sparked a discussion on entitlement reform. They have turned a bill to raise the debt limit into an opportunity to put the U.S. on a stable fiscal course.

Republican leaders have also proved to be effective negotiators. They have been tough and inflexible and forced the Democrats to come to them. The Democrats have agreed to tie budget cuts to the debt ceiling bill. They have agreed not to raise tax rates. They have agreed to a roughly 3-to-1 rate of spending cuts to revenue increases, an astonishing concession.

Moreover, many important Democrats are open to a truly large budget deal. President Obama has a strong incentive to reach a deal so he can campaign in 2012 as a moderate. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has talked about supporting a debt reduction measure of $3 trillion or even $4 trillion if the Republicans meet him part way. There are Democrats in the White House and elsewhere who would be willing to accept Medicare cuts if the Republicans would be willing to increase revenues.

If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred billion dollars of revenue increases.

A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.

The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.

This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.

But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.

But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol.

Over the past week, Democrats have stopped making concessions. They are coming to the conclusion that if the Republicans are fanatics then they better be fanatics, too.

The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is — a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.

If the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.

And they will be right.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 5, 2011

An earlier version of this column misstated the amount of revenue increases needed in exchange for spending cuts. It is a few hundred billion, not a few hundred million.

Note. I shall be describing aspects of facism that are preswent in America. Just because I say they are present, does not necessarily mean I believe they are currently present as strongly as they were in facist Italy/Germany etc

Fascism ( /ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a radical, authoritarian nationalist political ideology.^[1][2] 

Fascists advocate the creation of a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through indoctrination, physical education, and family policy including eugenics.^[3] 

Indoctrination is already present. Fox news is a good example, it literally was set up to influence political opinion,

Forced physical education seems unlikely

Eugenics is already present

http://womensbioethics.blogspot.com/2008/09/paying-poor-women-in-louisiana-not-to.html (Paying poor women to have their tubes tied)

http://newsone.com/nation/associatedpress3/n-c-may-pay-black-women-for-forced-sterilization/ (Black women had enforced sterilization in the 70's)

Fascists seek to purge forces, ideas, and systems deemed to be the cause of decadence and degeneration and produce their nation's rebirth based on commitment to the national community based on organic unity where individuals are bound together by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood.^[4] 

That's present, particularly focussing on the degeneration, although the decadence is present slightly.

Fascists believe that a nation requires strong leadership, singular collective identity,

Tough on crime/terrorism etc are always good ways to get votes in the USA

and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong.^[5]

This one's a tough one. I would argue that that is describes USA pertty well, although Nazi Germany was very different in that they openly admitted that it was to strengthen the fatherland. USA by contrast at least claims that they are doing it to help others

Fascist governments forbid and suppress opposition to the state.^[6]

Hmm, another tough one. USA sure makes it hard to oppose the state, as compared to democracies like Australia, but they are a long way from forbidding or actively suppressing.

Fascists promote violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality.^[7] 

‘the best way to revitalize the economy is war’ - G W Bush

Fascists view conflict as a fact of life that is responsible for all human progress.^[8] 

Hmm, conflict as a fact of life is definitely present, I doubt many would claim it is responsible for all human progress.

Fascists exalt militarism as providing positive transformation in society, in providing spiritual renovation, education, instilling of a will to dominate in people's character, and creating national comradeship through military service.^[9]

That's a big tick

 Fascists commonly utilize paramilitary organizations for violent attacks on political opponents, people whom they oppose, or overthrowing a political system.^[10]

Nope

Fascism is anti-anarchist,

yes

anti-communist,

yes

anti-conservative, 

no

anti-democratic,

not to any huge degree

anti-individualist, 

don't think so

anti-liberal, 

Very

anti-parliamentary

No, this is a big difference between USA and fascism, see the text at the bottom

, anti-bourgeois, and anti-proletarian.^[11] 

It is getting there for both in recent years.

and is typically, with a few exceptions, anti-clerical.

This is not the case at all.

Fascism occured when cunning and powerful politicians used feelings of patriotism in order to grant more powers to themselves. Eventually, they made it so that all loyalty was to the state, and ther ecould be no other loyalties. USA is radically different to this. The way that the USA's democractic capitalism will collapse (if it is going to at all) is due to an increasing concentration of wealth and power, not in the state, but in companies. The increasing gap between middle class and upper class income will set up an aristocracy - the only way to get power is to be rich, the only way to become rich is to belong to a rich family. The USA will see the state becoming less and less powerful, which is not Fascism at all.

I don't believe its as likely as other extremist scenarios.

If anything, I worry that we'll slide into a socialist-corpratist union. We had a similar result ~75 years ago when the Great Depression occurred. FDR was given massive amounts of power after Hoover's blunders, and in turn enacted so many socialist acts, he nearly turned the nation into a full-blown communist state (albeit with Democratic elections). He enacted Social Security, the CCC, FHA, and sought to destroy business competition by cozying with big businesses which he saw as 'saving' the economy (read up on FDR and charges of Fascism).

Such a scenario could happen again - massive increases in governmental oversight on businesses, protecting a favored few, while government offers more monetary redistribution - taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Of course, given that its America, such results will be disasterous as par the course for wealth redistribution in America (see: Social Security, Medicare, and other redistributing programs in America)

Fascism and socialism/communism takes hold in countries because a charismatic leader comes to power and promises to solve all your social or economic problems; and never once are the jackboots and political oppression these individuals will face mentioned. While I wouldn't say Obama is a fascist, I think his presidency demonstrates how big of a risk there is for Fascism in the United States; and it also offers a glimmer of hope that the United States has some form of inoculation against fascism ...

To a certain extent conservatives tend to choose their leaders based on what they see as the best of bad choices, and there is rarely any belief that their leaders are smarter or better than can really be demonstrated. In contrast, progressive leaders are often put on a pedestal and elevated to the level of a "rock star" and are rarely questioned on the substance of their plans; and Obama has been elevated to a level far above typical political leaders to where it is more correct to say that people see him as the "messiah". This has created an environment where the media and a large portion of the voting base believes everything he says and follows him without question regardless of what he is doing. While I don't see him doing this, the kind of power this gives a leader could allow him to erode the essential rights away from individuals until the USA was a fascist state.

What I believe may demonstrate the US is inoculated from this fate is how independent voters, libertarians and conservatives are willing to stand up to the media and fight against the growth in power of the state. While it is obvious that a large portion of conservatives are motivated more by partisanship than principle, the fact that independent voters and libertarians are willing to make a stand in the face of unsupported and unfair claims that they’re "racist" is reason to be optimistic.

I would argue that we are already somewhat of a fascist nation in America, it's just far more clandestine and subtle. But if you look at the characteristics of a fascist state, the description fits the bill of the US quite well, especially when you consider how much of a stranglehold large corporate entities have on the US media, politics, and consumerism.

I imagined myself being the fascist leader that comes to USA aid when we are 30 trillion in debt with no end sight of debt. One of the first steps would to declare all debt is null (what Hitler did before WW2). I would then give Canada an ultimatum to join USA or else... I would then take over all land down to the tip of Panama. I would either conscript all said persons in Central America into an army or send them to South America. This would give USA such a small border on their south that illegal immigration would be almost impossible.

Come to think of it nothing would probably help USA unless we stopped fighting pointless wars, invested into our infrastructure, overhaul our crappy healthcare system, stop devaluing our dollar, move off oil, get our manufacturing base back, etc....

when difficult times like these come,people do tend to form groups that fight against each other.the USA economy problem is really huge.US likes to live easy on their ancestors work,that can only last for a short period of time before you have to start working again.In this economy everybody will be concerned for their state of life.So yeah it is moving towards fascism.

although i would call it class separation,US is on course to a class based society and as one class finds something common between themselves,they will fight the other to main their class

USA moving off wars and oil would actually increase the cost at home in the short term which people just aren't ready to let happen

this is the ill effect of a globalised economy that somebody has to work.today's globalised system makes industrailized nations live easy and slave other countries and they don't feel like getting out of that easy lifestyle

I was just wondering how would not going to war increase the cost of the defense budget?