American Democracy: The Best Form of Fascism Money Can Buy

Published in Issue 424 of The Black Commentator on April 28, 2011
Republished in Bill Totten’s Weblog (Japan) on May 4, 2011

By Larry Pinkney

“You show me a capitalist and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.”
–Malcolm X [el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz]

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted…”–Dwight D. Eisenhower  [Farewell Speech]

Ah… Here we are in the 21st century, mindlessly basking in the warm rays of de facto bloodsucking U.S. corporate domination combined with at least four ongoing bloody U.S. wars and military interventions abroad, an impotent and hypocritical Democrat and Republican Congress, and a “peace” prize toting- predator drone / torturing president whose claims to fame are his slippery tongue, his pigmentation, and his inexplicable rise from relative obscurity to be the adorned head of the U.S. corporate/military Empire. Oh…The unspeakable joys of watching the gutting of U.S. constitutional rights under the auspices of the now expanded ‘Patriot Act’s’ so called war on terror, the trillions of dollars of blood money stolen from everyday people for the coffers of the corporate elite, and the ceaseless obfuscation and prevarication by the U.S. corporate owned, corporate-stream media and other systemic institutions. What joy! What sad and utterly pathetic joy in this year of 2011!

Today’s combination of unbridled corporate hegemony and unending military adventurism is ‘America’s’ democracy. It is the best form of fascism money can buy. That’s right, fascism!

People in this nation have been brainwashed by decades of systemic misinformation and disinformation to believe that fascism only exists in the blatant forms of jackboots and/or storm troopers marching down the streets. The reality however is quite different. There is a systemically entrenched economic and political symbiotic relationship between the elites of corporations and those of the military. The fundamental component for the fruition of fascism is the systemic integration of and by the corporate and military elites to “manage” [i.e. control] the nation’s economy and the daily functioning of the nation on virtually every level of significance. The extent to which corporate and military systemic integration (which include the areas of research and development) have ballooned, in real terms, means that the corporate/military elites dominate and control the very life-blood of the U.S. economy. There is no nice or tender way of stating this. It is an insidious 21st century form of fascism by any other name. Thus, democracy (and most importantly the democratic “process”) is, and has been, mortally subverted and thereby rendered, in essence, null and void–no matter the pretense.  It does not take a rocket scientist to grasp the fact that when the process itself has been subverted, the end result is anything but a genuine people’s democracy.

When, for example, most people think of corporations such as Exxon/Mobil, British Petroleum, Boeing, Lockheed, General Electric, Whirlpool, CBS, etc. they are totally unaware of how deeply these companies are involved in making trillions of dollars from U.S. military government contracts, including research and development thereto. However, contrary to popular mythology, these military contracts do not translate into a massive amount of jobs for everyday people, but rather huge profits and dividends for the corporate elite.  Additionally, everyday Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow people are kept ignorant of the outrageous and enormous financial/political influence these corporations wield over the corporate-stream “news” media. Indeed, many of these corporations actually own or otherwise financially control so-called “main stream” media networks locally, nationally, and internationally. This is yet another example of the utter subversion of democracy.

Nationally, various tactics, some covert and others overt, such as the Emergency Financial Management (EFM) Law in Michigan, are utilized to institute corporate / state take-overs of townships and/or cities, etc. which blatantly gut the democratic process and the alleged constitutional rights of the residents of these regions. However, the most obvious, though often ignored example of the subversion of democracy and corporate fascism at work, is the obscene amount of financial contributions that corporations pump into the campaigns of political candidates and/or elected officials. Now that corporations in this nation have been granted legal “personhood” (despite their not being people), only illusionaries could refer to the United States as a genuine or real democracy. The people are told that they have the right to vote for a Democrat or Republican Party tow-legged fox or wolf, but the odds are hideously and systemically stacked against everyday people; proving yet again that the United States of America has the best form of de facto fascism that money can buy.

The only way to bring about real change is to first recognize that the United States of America, whether controlled by Democrats or Republicans, has a corporate/military government–a genteel version of 21st century fascism functioning under an ever thinning veil of disingenuous ‘democracy.’  There are those who pretend that they care about the everyday people, but who in reality, are nothing more than systemic gate-keepers for the Democrat or Republican Parties. No matter what their rhetoric might be, their objective is to confuse, control, and pimp the pain of everyday people. We must recognize them and the system that they represent for what they are!

It’s time for systemic change. No more two-legged foxes or wolves. No more Democrats or Republicans. It’s time for everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people to reject this system in favor of organizing for real change. We must insist upon an end to political repression at home and U.S. wars abroad. We want jobs, justice, education, universal health care, and peace. We the everyday people must bring an end to this 21st century fascism that masquerades as a ‘democracy.’

What time is it? It’s time to organize, organize, and organize some more!!! It’s time to actively join the global human family and stand up for ourselves and for our Mother Earth. ‘Each one teach one!’ Aluta Continua! The struggle continues! Onward then my sisters and brothers! Onward!

Larry Pinkney is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book.)