Fascism then. Fascism now?

The title of this post is taken from an article written by a Canadian lawyer named Paul Bigioni and published on today's Toronto Star. In the article, Bigioni draws parallels between pre-War II Germany's and Italy's rapid change from liberal democracy to Nazi dictatorship and the current developments in the US. Most of the similarities he sees between the occasions, are related to the role of the big business and their influence on the policies made by the governments.

When people think of fascism, they imagine Rows of goose-stepping storm troopers and puffy-chested dictators. What they don't see is the economic and political process that leads to the nightmare.

He also writes:

Digging deeper into 20th century history, one finds the exaltation of big business at the expense of the citizen was a central characteristic of government policy in Germany and Italy in the years before those countries were chewed to bits and spat out by fascism. Fascist dictatorships were borne to power in each of these countries by big business, and they served the interests of big business with remarkable ferocity. These facts have been lost to the popular consciousness in North America. Fascism could therefore return to us, and we will not even recognize it. Indeed, Huey Long, one of America's most brilliant and most corrupt politicians, was once asked if America would ever see fascism. "Yes," he replied, "but we will call it anti-fascism."

This is a fascinating article that seriously warns us of the dark times ahead if the current trend is not stopped.