The 14 Traits of a Fascist Nation

In 2004, a political scientist by the name of Dr. Laurence Britt published a paper now commonly referred to as "The 14 Points" which described the 14 traits of a Fascist regime. He studied the regimes of Hitler, Moussolini, Franco, Suharto and Pinochet and found strong commonalities in all of them. The 14 common traits are listed below:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism

5. Rampant sexism

6. A controlled mass media

7. Obsession with national security

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together

9. Power of corporations protected

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts

12. Obsession with crime and punishment

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption

14. Fraudulent elections

Of course the really scary thing that immediately came to my mind when I first read the 14 points was how well they describe the current political climate in this country. Then I found the Old American Century site and an article detailing the parallels. This is really frightening stuff. The thing about fascism is that it generally begins as a populist movement and is ushered in through legitimate political means. It is insidious, and develops slowly enough that "the people" often aren't aware of how their own political system is changing until it is too late. This hits way too close to home.