Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Yesterday at 2:20 pm I learned that my zoom class that I was teaching was not on Zoom, but in a classroom half an hour away. Shelby drove me as I was too frazzled, and she figured out the computer connection as I began to lecture. Today, I support her on her Zoom lecture and eye doctor appointment. So, today I am sitting back and reflecting.
The news of the neo-fascist party’s victory in Italy is in the news. This is being hailed on the American right by the likes of Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Tom Cotton and Steve Scalise.
This party is directly descended from Mussolini. It was Benito who overthrew the government of Italy by a threat of violence. A young man in Germany tried it and failed, went to prison, wrote a book, and came back to overthrow the government of Germany. It was Mussolini that first said, “Make America Great.” A phrase picked up by Reagan and then by Trump. In 2015 it was reported that Trump had a copy of Mussolini’s speeches in a book by his bedside. He admitted as much. How much he read of themI don’t know. to suggest he reads books is a bit of a scholastic stretch for me, but …
It got me to thinking, “what have any of the aforementioned people done to help their country or the world?”
My mother used to say, “Mussolini made the trains run on time.” Apparently, that was a problem. Trump manage to pour fresh concrete on Wolman Skating rink in NYC. What about the others?
Mussolini and Hitler started WWII, which resulted in e deaths of 50 million people. Reagan destroyed the unions in our country, poo-pooed climate change and the middle class’s decline is shown to have started during his presidency and it has never recovered. What about Cruz, MJT, Cotton, and Scalise? Can you think of anything they have done to help? I can’t. I remember someone looking up all the bills that Jim Jordan had sponsored. Zero. No, wait, maybe he got a post office named – not sure.
What about the Republican Party writ-large? Can you think of anything they have done to help average people? John Boehner said that in the twenty five years he was in Congress he never saw a Republican health care plan. The current Republican party plan is to do away with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid calling them “entitlements.” They are the party that came up with the scheme to force students to take loans at predatory interest rates and then not let those students renegotiate those loans.this after destroying the system of student loan and support that had been in place since the GI Bill was passed and led to one of the most successful generations of students the world had eve seen.
Fascism is on the rise in Europe, South America, and here. It’s core idea is to stay in power no mater what. Regardless of what they say they are going to do, what they end up doing is enriching themselves, corrupting the institutions of governance, and screwing over the general population. The tactics are always the same: blame someone else, promise to fix everything, beatup your opposition.
We are in sad and dangerous times.
Make sure you and everyone you know votes.
Totally agree. I am not supposed to listen to the new to calm my anxiety attacks. It’s really hard to not listen or read news. Several years ago while at a kite festival in Italy. One of the get togethers featured a local politician. Someone leaned over and whispered to me that the guy was a communist. I had a call run down my spine. The world is going backwards!
Your stating the tactics at the very end is key. My friends and family are freaking out.