The great 20th Century writer Sinclair Lewis put it best: “When Fascism comes to America it will be carrying a cross wrapped in a flag.” Well, this writer now adds ‘ And wearing a MAGA hat’ to the mix. Sometimes alarmism is needed , as it was with last week’s horrific  Hurricane Ian. Alarmism was truly needed in Weimar Germany circa 1928 when Hitler’s Nazi Party won 12 seats in the Reichstag ( Germany’s Parliament). Before then, they could be labeled, as Americans labeled the George Lincoln Rockwell led American Nazi Party in the 50s and 60s, as a Nutty fringe group. Yet, once the Nazi Party started to look respectable, and not just a bunch of comically clad brown uniforms worn by mostly thuggish rabble-rousers, they became dangerous. Once The Depression hit Germany in 1929-30, more citizens there should have taken notice. Too many didn’t and the rest is history… a sordid, tragic one.

Weimar’s  Social Democratic Party, cousin to our modern Democratic Party here, were too much of a ‘ Sellout’ to the rich and powerful to gain complete trust of German working stiffs. The Communist Party could be an option, but too many Germans were frightened by what transpired under Stalin In the Soviet Union. The militancy of the German Communists, on parallel with the Nazis, caused too many German working stiffs to back off. The Nazis used this fear of anything ‘ Red’ to offer a better option for the masses who were fed up with the ‘ Do little’ Social Democrats and ultra conservative Monarchist parties. They promised a return to the normalcy that was evident before WW1. The Nazis cunningly spoke a populist rhetoric and a protest against the Versailles ‘ Diktat’ as the treaty ending WW1 was angrily called. They knew most German working stiffs were tired of being broke and undernourished  during  those new hard times. Who was to blame? Oh, the Anglo/ French banks and of course Da Juden. Does this sound familiar by simply replacing a few names here and there?

Trump and his cohorts used the anger of white American working stiffs that should have been directed towards the corporate Capitalist system and the two political parties that serve it. Instead, Trump and his cabal focused on the Democratic Party which was in power at the time, and of course the phobia towards Muslims and the undocumented ( Please note, recently they added transgendered Americans  and blacks who protest police violence). For a MAGA working stiff the Democrats have always been an easy target, because they have historically been hypocrites and phonies. Sadly, the Democrats have equally been on the payroll ( campaign donations AKA legal bribery) of the super rich- stopping them from implementing real, viable legislation… just never as blatant as the Republicans, who break all the records for autocratic fascist thinking. Their party is now focusing on issues like transgender teens, abortion and of course the ‘ Usual Suspects’, the undocumented AKA Illegal Aliens. They dare not direct their followers ( minions?) to focus on who is really screwing working stiffs. Duh, like ‘ Right to Work’ non union businesses that keep wages low along with shitty benefits, corporate landlords charging high rents with lousy service, credit card companies with outrageous interest rates to name just the tip of the iceberg?

It’s ironic, as this writer is blue collar in my genes, how this empire can get away with things in a much shrewder manner than Adolf. Hitler, once in power, simply outlawed all unions. Here we keep laws like Taft Hartley on the books to stifle working stiffs from forming unions in the private sector. Can you imagine that an employee at a company that actually does have union representation can refuse to join or pay dues and still gets the same benefits as his or her fellow workers when the union negotiates a new contract? Not only that, but if he or she has a gripe with management the union has to represent that worker at any meeting with management … Gratis!? Of course, when and if a union goes out on strike, and is peacefully picketing, the police show up, not as public safety referees, but in actuality as security guards for the company and NOT the workers. Please show me how it says in our Constitution that the owners of capital have more rights than the labor force to be protected from violent acts. Fact is, that too many working stiffs throughout our nation have and will continue to wear those MAGA hats.

The Nazis began their Third Reich by burning books as they hounded Jewish businesses and any Jew they encountered on the street. You should know the rest. In my state, Florida, this new Wanabee Fuhrer has ordered the burning of books and the hounding of the transgendered and undocumented. He dictates what and what can NOT be taught in schools concerning the history of slavery in America  (In Texas some MAGA officials actually labeled America’s use of black slaves as ‘ Involuntary Relocation’). At the Supreme Court, where they just voted to basically get rid of a woman’s right to choose, Clarence Thomas ( I have trouble calling this man a justice) wants to outlaw contraceptives. Perhaps MAGA should stand for ‘ Make America ( 1930s) Germany Again’ . Foretold is forewarned folks.

PA Farruggio
October 2022