Posted on 12/23/2007 6:44:53 PM PST by AmericanMade1776
White House hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Sunday that the U.S. is moving toward fascism, stating that corporations are increasingly “running the show” and citizens are being deprived of their liberties.
Paul clarified that he did not refer to the type of fascism that Adolf Hitler practiced in Germany. “We’re not moving toward Hitler-type fascism, but we’re moving toward a softer fascism,” Paul said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Loss of civil liberties, corporations running the show, big government in bed with big business.”
The lawmaker said the U.S. is moving toward “corporatism.” He also lashed out at a system in which those are criticized as unpatriotic who do not support the war in Iraq or the Patriot Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
While I have my differences with Ron Paul, I cannot help but wonder why he is attacked even when he is right....
Anyone who is blind to the truth behind this statement (that the US is moving toward fascism) is blind. Have we not called the liberals known as the Democrat Party of being as much? Is our country not seemingly moving farther left into fascism?
Fascism
1. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
2. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
3. Oppressive, dictatorial control.
Reg. post 138 - Exactly. And that was a point I was trying to make, but I don’t think I made that clear in my last post. Thank you.
Pretty silly statement, so was Bush.
I don't want to speak for Paul, but I think you misunderstood him. He's not pointing the finger at the right, I don't think he's blaming one side or the other. The fact is, there are politicians in both major parties who are phonies - they call themselves Democrats or Republicans but they're actually globalists. I know that this sounds like conspiracy theory stuff to some, but I think what we're heading towards (I'm not saying this is in the near future, but it seems to be the direction we're going) is a socialist-corporatist, authoritarian world government. The bottom line is, it's getting away from our foundation, the constitution, and individual rights, and also national sovereignty.
thank you for a very well composed answer. I will reserve more detailed comments until I wake up!
Did he say that the president was the one doing the criticizing?
I happen to support Ron Paul. My second and third choices would be Thompson and Hunter. My fourth choice would have to be McCain.
I think that some of the critics of Ron Paul here on Free Republic should probably have focused their energies over the last few months on contributing to their favored candidates and/or volunteering for their favored candidates. I know that my 2nd and 3rd choices are the 1st and 2nd choices of Free Republic.
It’s unfortunate for conservativism that people here (supporters of Hunter and Thompson) have made the strategic decision to focus all their energies at coming up with clever nicknames for Ron Paul, to call him a kook, to speculate on the effect of a 3rd party Ron Paul run, etc, etc, instead of working hard for Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson.
Back in the day, Free Republic was mighty. Free Republic’s candidates won. Free Republic kept the Clinton’s in check.
I would have thought that the mighty Free Republic could have been able to help Duncan Hunter in some real tangible way.
I guess criticism of Ron Paul didn’t help Duncan Hunter as much as some thought.
Ron Paul is moving towards insanity.
I think Paul supported mandatory term limits - those that applied to everyone, not optional, or voluntary term limits - pledges from a candidate that he/she would only serve a set number of terms.
Mandatory term limits didn’t pass. He didn’t pledge to limit the number of terms he himself would serve.
I understand how extraordinarily complex those ideas are, and I’m sure that you (and Russert) won’t be confusing legally mandated term limits (which Paul supports) with optional or voluntary term limits.
Corporations and liberal, government bureaucrats work hand in hand to eliminate the small businesses.
Government regulators, inspectors, etc. can kill a small business, but might lose their jobs if they go after a big business.
E.g., 30-40 years ago, most gasoline stations were mom and pop operations. Today, well over 50% are corporations. One reason gas costs about $3 per gallon today is the concentration in the oil industry. The big companies might take a public view of opening up Anwar, but really they want to keep the supply of crude tight and the cost high. If they really wanted it opened, they would be able to buy enough politicians to make it happen. How many Americans really give a crap about some area that maybe 100 people visit every year?
Today, 4 Waltons are in the top 10 richest Americans, but Walmart pays their employees a very small wage. Back in the 70’s, Sears was the largest retailer in the US, but they paid a lot of their employees the equivalent of $15 per hour today, plus benefits.
If you are not over 50 years old, you probably don’t realize how far our country has gone down.
Paul hasn't suggested that as an option. Quite the contrary.
Ah, the good old days!
Santa's just hooking up his sleigh now. Merry Christmas.
interesting he played the left wing martyr card here, where he could have talked about so many suppressions of freedom of expression on the right side of the political spectrum, especially regarding abortion and religion in the public square.
Exactly...My question is, who let all these people into the Republican Party??? Or, what is the Republican Party???
It's not the party of conservatives...It's not the party of Pro-American Patriots...
The Republican Party appears to be the party of liberal pro-lifers...It's the party of 'money is my God' globalists, etc...
What can be more comical than to watch Republicans fighting over which liberal to support for the Republican nominee for President???
I got news for 'em...It don't matter...None of them can beat Hillery...
So what??? I wish he'd give a couple hundred mil to Hunter...
How much of the donations for the Rinos comes indirectly from China and Mexico???
At this point, I don't care if it comes from the Klingons, if it will put a conserative Patriot in the #1 slot...
I don’t think the LP, then or now, would cotton to Ron Paul’s anti-business rhetoric. To couch his opposition to encroaching fascism in terms of corporate evil rather than government corruption, has more than a whiff of liberal batshit to me. (No offense there, Battman.)
For sure, not back in the day...when my parents were entertaining libertarian activists and discussing such issues while I was bouncing on some now-arthritic libertarian knee. :)
Maybe now they have some new generation that knows not Hospers and Rothbard; but I can’t believe they are now intermingling with anti-business or neo-luddite greens.
(Though one can almost hear Rand saying “You asked for it!”)
There are some things that Paul espouses with which I agree. However there are a number of issues where I’m so diametricly opposed to his views, I’ve been thinking about reclassifying myself from “small ‘l’ libertarian.”
One thing with which I will agree, is that the title of this thread is correct, but in economic terms only... In economics, fascism is defined government control of privately owned businesses. We’ve been seeing this more and more, with more government regulations. This is certainly the case. The rest, not so much...
Mark
Corporations have sold their souls and the soul of America. They HAVE taken over and every decision the gov’t makes is about corporate profits.
We have plenty of nothing in this country anymore - quality sucks, service sucks, and you can’t find well made products because they are made in China - cheap labor. We are a debtor nation and the world owns us.
No matter who is in the oval office makes no difference - taxes go up, prices go up, and things will continue as they have been. I do believe that there is an invisible controlling force, a few people controlling the finances on a global scale and we (America) are just one of the pawns. The housing debacle was by design by greedy corporations. You think 401k is a good deal? That was a cop out by corporations so they wouldn’t have to foot the bill paying retirement plans. Oh, and who works for corporations for longer than a few years? Many 401k’s don’t vest until after 5 years; they know this and that is why by design, people change jobs frequently.
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