Corporate Fascism is ruling America?

A couple years ago when I started this site, I was thinking to myself "what do these different political labels mean", one of which is the term "Fascism". You hear it thrown around, so-and-so gets called a Fascist, and of course you have Hitler's and Mussolini's regimes as the primo examples of Fascism. Since Fascism equates to death camps, we can't have Fascism exist anywhere, can we?

That's kind of the idea, but there's little concrete definition available of what this term means. Hence my earlier article What is Fascism, and where is it now? took information from a very informative book review to try to derive a meaning to this word. In that article I concluded it's a political style emphasizing domination by the goverment of the people, seeking simply to control everything. In other words, its an exercise in overbearing power.

Another example of "Fascism" in action is demonstrated in The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols is a book full of faked up charges against Judaism first written in Russia during the Czarist days. It is the source of peoples claims for a great Jewish conspiracy to control everything. It was later used to great effect by Hitlers regime to sell the German population on the dangers the Jews presented to the world. The Plot exposes the propoganda and the conspiracy to distribute this book, and how its been widely distributed to many countries around the world even though it's been exposed numerous times as a complete travesty.

But, we think, that's not what is happening in America. We don't have goon squads patrolling the streets beating up anybody that walks funny, do we?

I think the answer gets back to the question of the definition "Fascism".

For example: Harper's Magazine: We Now Live in a Fascist State (Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:34:38 -0700) This is a speech given by Lewis H. Lapham, editor of Harpers Magazine, in which he says that America is already, and has been for a long time, a Fascist state. It's just that the Fascism isn't by the government, but by the corporations.

First he points out how the word has been stolen from its original meaning, and instead redirected to mean "evil acts" such as genocide.

The bulk of the article talks of how the corporations strive to control everything. Employees of corporations are expected to walk and talk the corporate line. If what you say, do, believe, etc falls outside some bound of corporate acceptableness, then you'll get fired. What keeps people in line is the way that so many things are tied to having a job. Ones identity, livelihood, reason for being, health insurance, retirement, etc, is all tied up with whether one has a job or not. The corporation cannot stand the free thinker.

Hmmmmm?