Thank you Mr Giroux for writing such an extraordinary and intellectual yet easily readable article. I agree with everything and fear the alliance between christofascists, militarists, white supremacists and business elites. I remember Giroux for condemning the Iraq war and Israeli brutality when others feared being called anti-Semitic or unpatriotic. Have to admire his intellect and courage!

I was paid 104,000 bucks in last twelve months by working from my home and I did that by w­o­r­k­i­n­g part time for few hours /day. I used work opportunity I found online and I am so thrilled that i was able to make so much money. It's very user-friendly and I am just so thankful that i learned about it. This is what i do... http://statictab.com/dntj48t

Thank you for confirming that the dead drop box is activated.

"104,000 bucks" ....."so much money"

Illuminating framing based on the presumption that the target audience would

1. Perceive the sum as "so much money".
2. Perceive that "money" is the prime motivator.

"working part time for few hours /day"

1. That the pathway to benefit is through "working" within the present socio-economic system.
2. That benefit should be derived through the minimal of "work".

"I am so thrilled"

1. That you perceive that the target audience is so restricted in imagination/opportunity to be similarly thrilled.

"I am just so thankful"

1. That you perceive that the target audience is so restricted in imagination/opportunity to be similarly thrilled by their integration/restriction within the present socio-economic system.

2. That the source of "work" is others.

Thank you for your illustration of immersion in prevailing ideological constructs which should be encouraged since your ignorance is a source of strength of your opponents.

George Orwells '1984' and 'Animal Farm' is warning against Communism and you are already living in it. Go and look up 'the ten planks of Communism and compare it to USA. Trump is the anti-thesis to the thesis and your minds are already subjected to double-speak and mass psychological propaganda while any conflicting articles/websites are subjected to being suppressed or worse.
Case in point David Crowley, director of 'Gray State' which is about the Police State was found murdered along with his wife and young daughter in their home. 'Murder-suicide' uh huh, seen that before from prominent critics and whistle-blowers.

You people are being led by your emotions, reacting, instead of thinking!
'Ignorance is strength'.
The West's media networks has been monopolized by 6 men creating the illusion of reality.

donald lives pretty much alone in the wh. conveniently his wife and son will be staying in new york for most of the week.

does anyone else suspect donald is probably grabbing some pus5ies in the wh while his wife is pushed away in new york????

in the tradition of jfk, bill clinton, there's no doubt donald is getting some pus5y action during his first few days in the wh.

i guess he learned from clinton that it's easier to get bj's and sleep around while the wife is not living in wh.

The media, better known as the free press did not become an enemy until Nixon, it was, and still should be a vital part of democracy. But once Reagan became president, it was sold out and eviscerated to the point that it became just one more arm of the one percent, and of all people Clinton signed it over to them.

I get the thing about "the media is the enemy" -- so are the voters who didn't vote for DJT for good reason. Facts are stubborn things. Everyone got the stories and the polling running up to the general in November wrong. It's also important that facts contribute to the story even when they don't align with Bannon's. Voter disenfranchisement and suppression kept thousands of people from the polls. Who knows if they were Democratic or Republican voters? Will we ever know? Bannon's really angry and he's not telling us why he is, except to bad-mouth and bash sections of the population he clearly hates. To me, that doesn't sound like a place for constructive change to rise from. I'm reading that chaos is what he wants to create, but for what purpose? He's someone who professes to love America, but clearly hates Americans (that's a loose quote from The American President). Hatred of the Other isn't a formula that's ever worked well -- anywhere in the world.

President Trump And His Swamp Creatures
(excerpt from longer satire)

By February, 2017 Trump’s Cabinet nominees were in place, as were the White House Staff and Presidential Advisors. There was much difficulty in the Cabinet approval process, driven both by Democrats in Congress and by Citizens emboldened by the massive Women’s demonstrations of January 20 and 21, 2017.

Infuriated with all the criticism, the President decided that he would hold a Presidential Dinner in late February, 2017. Surprisingly, it turned out that Trump’s appointments, while taken seriously by many, and praised by the alt-right, was only a clever ruse by our President to show that he is really serious about his promises to clear the ambient of swamp rats. That’s why Hannibal Lector, Trump’s appointee as Chief White House Chef, was instructed to prepare a special Banquet.
The White House Chef was placed in charge of the menu and will personally oversee the preparation of a range of delicacies. The Presidential Dinner became known as the Last Supper for White House dignitaries.

Surely Chef Lector, experienced even in the culinary preparation of human body parts, will know what to do swamp rats. It is rumored that the Presidential Dinner will feature delectable side courses of a marine animal nature served with the best German Liebfraumilch and, Mussolini’s favorite, fava beans in tomato sauce and the finest Chianti as a chaser. Each Cabinet member will be served a side dish appropriate to their high office.

Hannibal has promised Trump that the Head of the Office of Trade appointee will be served at the Dinner a Mexican enchilada made with adulterated imported U.S. corn meal, stuffed and flavored with mescal worms and warmed with the exhaust of a Ford vehicle manufactured in Mexico. It was expected that after the Dinner, NAFTA and all existing trade agreements would be abrogated and that corporate sponsored globalization and neoliberalism will be short-circuited.

Another of his primary side dish will be the Wall Street banker’s brain matter sautéed in hallucinogenic mushroom sauce. Chef Lector ran into a problem with some of the Goldman Sachs people because the brain grey matter had atrophied, so he scalped some younger executives from Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Enough grey matter was removed from allhide the incision scars on the tops of their heads that Hannibal had cut open to access brain matter.

From those appointed to social service agencies Hannibal’s dishes will be based on blood drawn while undergoing a physical exam required by the President. The medical exam also requires that the middle finger of each will be amputated. This will make it impossible to be impolite to social service clients or to the President. Hannibal ground up the fingers and when mixed with the blood, delectable blood sausages were made.

On the advice of Planned Parenthood, Hannibal decided that Tom Price of Health and Human Services will be served fertilized human eggs in placenta sauce as his main dish with the blood sausages a side plate, with the expectation that he will excuse himself from the feast and never be heard from again.

Hannibal decided that Head of the Labor Department, Puzder, already grossly overweight and suffering from diabetes, would have a fast food special, a triple decker hamburger with an oversized wonder bread roll and lots of catsup together with salt and cheese smothered French fries and a quart of Coca Cola. The food will be served by two former Trump beauty queens in skimpy bikinis. Presidential Advisor Steve Bannon objected to the presence of any women, clad or unclad. (The female Secretaries of Education and Interior were able to bypass the gender barrier because no white men favoring privatizing education and oil and mineral leases in National Parks could be found, although Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel was seriously considered). Bannon read the Pres and Hannibal part of his article “Would you rather that your child had Feminism or Cancer?” Also he cited his Breithart news story “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.” Hannibal recommended to Trump that Bannon be starved to death or sent back to Goldman Sachs. (As a condition of their temporary employment at minimum wages the beauty queens received a bonus once they agreed to a Presidential grope in the privacy of the kitchen).

Hannibal and Donald conferred at length about how to serve the Generals in the Department of Defense and other agencies. Mike Flynn, National Security Advisor, was first to be discussed, then James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Secretary of Defense. Gen. Mattis is also responsible for oversight of the Corp of Army Engineers that must grant approvals for pipelines. Trump got worried that there would be more Indian uprisings against the pipelines as recently in North Dakota. The generals thought that pipelines were essential to national energy security and if this meant reviving the Indian Wars, so be it. How the nickname Mad Dog came about I don’t know, but it may have originated after Corporal Manning released Iraq atrocity tapes to Wikileaks. (Ms. Manning it was good of the Army to allow your sex conversion, but I am sorry to report that the Prison Authorities have forwarded your male parts to Chef Hannibal, but am pleased to say that Hannibal has refused to use them in any way and that President Obama has pardoned you to time served for the public service crime of publicizing war crimes).

It was decided that the most appropriate side dish for generals would be roasted testicles in an egg vessel, bathed in hollandaise sauce and served on a tray decorated by all the service metals granted the lot. Unfortunately, General Mike Flynn’s balls were so tough they had to be pressure cooked before serving. This was presumed due to his extensive stays in Iraq and Afghanistan where he overdid his sexual prowess by having nightly ventures into the private harems provided by those loyal locals he promoted to political position. General John Kelley refused to eat his testicle delight. He was so adamant and tough that eight security guards were necessary to force feed him. After the Dinner he declared that he will head Homeland Security only long enough to see that the agency and all its stupid programs were dismantled. The one exception of gourmet testicles was General Mattis, who commanded during the November 2004 siege of Fallujah, Iraq that left 5,000 dead civilians. It was thought fitting that, after castration, he should be denied his last supper and deposited without ceremony in the mass grave of Fallujah victims.

It is expected that after Hannibal’s specialties what is left of Banker’s brains will atrophy so that they can do no harm and that the eunuch generals will leave war to history and fight for peace.

Hannibal gave great thought to an appropriate dinner for President Trump. He decided the first course would be a Russian borscht soup with beets imported from Uzbekistan, with a drop of crude oil for consistency. To give the borscht true red color Hannibal imported frozen blood from jihadist fighters in Syria. The soup was spiked with a bit of Colombian cocaine provided by the Drug Czar and sprinkled with Afghan poppy seed provided by the CIA. To accompany the soup, the President was served a wine glass of Liebfraumilch, not from German Rhine grapes, but genuine mother’s breast milk. Trump’s next course was a Mexican enchilada stuffed with limburger cheese and wild swamp spinach (all leeches removed). For the first time in his outstanding career as Chef, Hannibal was stymied what to prepare as the President’s main course. Hannibal finally hit upon the idea of extracting the egos from any maniacs that might compete for attention with President Trump and serving them raw with a jalapeño dip.

The Dinner did end on an unpleasant note. Some Chinese technicians had rigged the temperature control mechanism starting at 20 degrees Celsius. After each cliché, threat, or nonsense verbiage the temperature increased from one to five degrees, depending upon the utterance. After one hour everyone at the banquet began to sweat, the temperature had reached 30 C. The technicians called in said they could do nothing to lower the temperature, except bring in a lot of fans. People began to get worried when the thermometer registered 38 C, removing all coats and ties. Finally, at 42 degrees President Trump rose to express his regrets. He had received word that some joker was making a point about the certainty of global warming. Trump’s yellow hair was plastered to his skull. Sweating profusely the President slumped over the last of the Mexican enchilada and fainted. Vice President Mike Pence, a Christian fundamentalist was also served fertilized human eggs in placenta sauce. He gave a hurried prayer for the welfare of the cabinet and asked that God Bless America and all that the brave country stands for once the Nation is Made Great Again. The Washington D.C. emergency medical team was called in to remove the President and many of the guests. The black medical personnel could not contain their smirks.

Rebellion and Christianity

I wish to initially approach the idea of violent rebellion from a Christian
critique. In so doing I deliberately steer clear of the spiritual connection
with God or the Divine consciousness aspects of most religions including
Christianity - and address the social and political elements instead.

While the Christ myth follows along the lines of Hero myths in many
cultures- it also has an aversion to politics and rebellion. One might argue
conveniently so, since to survive original Christianity had to prosper under
brutal overseers- until it became brutal itself centuries later. So what better
way to "neutralize" the state than to simply deny its legitimacy in
God's Kingdom, yet agree to its demands on Earth.

In some ways the Christ myth and its preaching of peace carries over to more
recent teachings from King, Gandhi and others that stress creative
non-violence. Yet their teaching renders nothing unto Caesar. They advocated
peaceful rebellion- and were determined to achieve social and political
justice- whatever the cost to themselves and their followers.

But while culturally imbued, it is certainly right to question whether this
early Christian doctrine of state subservience and subtle subversion- hasn't conditioned
the masses over centuries to willingly give away their Earthly power and
freedom for heavenly rewards. Becoming subject to state control and domination.
I believe this view is also part of the Marxist critique.

However, from this line of reasoning, it is certainly not wise to conclude
that physical violence is good. In fact it is abhorrent. Its effects ramify
through generations- and untold bloodshed is its inevitable result. But given
the history of state violence, it is legitimate to question whether the
appropriate response to the state oppressor is peaceful resistance or violent
uprising or both.

Perhaps the answer is that "it depends." Would violent resistance
to Hitler by the Jews and others saved lives early on? Could colonialism have
been defeated without violent rebellion? If there were more violent and
sustained slave uprisings, would the calculation of slavery being in the
South's best interest been far less persuasive to the elites and for a much
shorter period of time? And in the face of imperialism, whether US, Russian or
European- is peaceful resistance the best way of insuring long term tranquility
and peace?

Of course we are conditioned to see the other guy's violent rebellion as OK-
but not rebellion in our own society. That would be treasonous. Perhaps the
only thing worse in society's view is not paying taxes.

And this leaves us today with the Trump "question." Make no
mistake, Trump prides himself on his violent nature. He may or may not have
physically killed someone- but he believes deeply in power, domination and
state violence. And he is supported to varying degrees by many in his own
cabinet and party. If you watched the Republican Party election debates- many
of Trump's policies today would seem well within the norm of that peer group.
And in a rare moment of unanimity during one of the debates, they even referred
to themselves collectively as the creme de la croup. After which they went at
each others throats.

The message here to the US elites is clear. Trump is an embodiment of state
violence. Americans will increasingly weigh the calculus of violence versus
non-violence as they begin to experience increasing levels of repression and as
the Administration's policies cause increasing death and mayhem here and
abroad. Many Americans are finally realizing that complacency is not an option.
And the more they are forced to sacrifice- the less willing they will be to
succumb to half way measures.

Given this likelihood, you might think elites would seriously consider
impeachment as a short term solution. But never underestimate the power of
denial and corruption. They won't consider it until they are forced- not by
national interest, but deep fear of consequences to their power and influence.

"The memory of totalitarianism, with its demand for simplistic answers, intoxication with spectacles of vulgarity, and a desire for strong leaders, has faded in a society beset by a culture of immediacy, sensations and civic illiteracy. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to underestimate the depth and tragedy of the collapse of civic culture and democratic public spheres, especially given the profound influences of a permanent war culture that trades in fear, and the ever-present seductions of consumerism, which breeds depoliticization and infantilism." (from the article)

I think it's necessary to complete Giroux's breakdown of totalitarianism, U$A brand, by remembering along with George Orwell's dystopian version that of Aldous Huxley, as the quote above indicates elements in the mix from both. To recall Huxley, I'll turn to Neil Postman's rendition from "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" (the title alone has never been more relevant than with the present rise of the clown prince and court). It's worth quoting at length:

"But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another – slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

Both Orwell and Huxley's versions must be remembered to understand the full demonic genius and inverted nature, following Wolin, of U$ totalitarianism. And such understanding, if radical or going to the roots of the social system(s) in which we live, must similarly be integrated with an historical knowledge that does not succumb to what Giroux himself warns above and throughout his article as "the culture of immediacy, sensations, and civic illiteracy," which contribute to the kind of "thoughtlessness" and "banality of evil" Hannah Arendt identified as one of the chief conditions for totalitarian regimes. As Giroux acknowledges: "The grave period Americans are about to enter into under a Trump regime cannot be understood without an acknowledgement of the echoes of a totalitarian past."

It's not far-fetched to consider this past of a piece with the entire imperial history of America as Amerikkka, foundationally articulated in its Constitution, and preceded by the earlier conquest and settlement of the continent by European invaders. In this respect, if democracy has existed at any time during this occupation of land and peoples, it is to be found despite this history, among First Nations peoples, slave revolts, labor solidarity and resistance, and so on.

The historical consciousness by which we best are able not only to understand but also to act at this present culmination of all that has gone before us ultimately includes the history of capitalism, integrated with such equally formidable oppressions of white supremacy and patriarchy as have made capitalism possible, above all in this modern nation-state, and the history of imperial civilizations as these emerged in human evolution over approximately the past ten thousand years, which has become dominated by social systems among humans based on hierarchies of power around the centrality of class power in controlling the very means of our living and of earthly life itself. None of this seems far-fetched in adequately comprehending and responding to the crises of the present, that of climate change being among the most obvious as akin to a prophetic time of reckoning.

So yes, we must fight Trump with all we've got, though there is considerable cause for concern that what we've got at this point is not nearly enough to reverse the totalitarian corporate state, or fascism U$A and indeed worldwide, which continues to engulf us like a real war 'of' terror. But if we fight without the historical consciousness of belonging to struggles which have been waged since the beginning of recorded history, we will fail to forestall the "dark times" ahead, even should the clown prince and court of the present be dethroned. If we are to sound the alarm at the threshold which has been crossed with Trump, let's do so with revolutionary consciousness and practice equal to the true crisis of the present.

"practice equal"

Equivalence is to iterate the linear paradigm and hence is quantitative.

The opponents' system is based on equal but different where "but" precludes equal.

Some practice equal and different where "and" facilitates equal which is qualitative change transcending the opponents' system - the lateral strategy.

Those reliant on the book are immersed in a perception of the past faciltating iterations of linear paradigm, a process accelerated by reliance on "categorical imperatives" and bridging doubt by belief to attain certainty.

Ideology is akin to immersion in a swimming pool - on emergence you still carry water droplets.

Practice suggests that Mr. Orwell's observation/slogan should be expanded to read - "Your ignorance is your opponents' strength".

However as a lateral complex of all of the above, the opponents crave iterations of the linear paradigm whilst evangelising "Apres nous le deluge", which practice suggests in their framing should be expanded to read "Apres nous le deluge pour nous" where "nous" relies on the twin misrepresentations of "We the people..." and "hold these truths to be self-evident....".

As has been practiced by some, rendering the "deluge" as transcendence, not equivalence such as targeted assassinations, tortures and other forms of coercion perceived by the opponents, facilitates equal and different, which is not perceived by those reliant on the book.

"Your ignorance is your opponents' strength"

Recognition should be afforded the opponents for their complicity in their own transcendence.

As long as Liberals and Conservatives continue to vote as they do and continue fight against each other we'll all suffer. Conservatives had their Hillary cult. Liberals now have their Trump cult.

Sigh.

https://therulingclassobser...

The fascist neo KKK have an admiration for Nazism , Trump's father did, and apparently so does Donny Trump. - Yesterday is here today,...Hitlerism again.

The disaster started with Clinton, Bush, Obama - this making of a candidate like Trump is now a surprise?

No the disaster started with Reagan, and we are just following his supporters playbook, destroy the middle class worker by destroying the unions that gave him a living wage, but blame the brown folk for it. Make them vote against their economic interest by racial dog whistles, this is the conservative playbook, they destroy the economy, blow up the deficit, then when they are no longer in power, blame the Democrats, even when they blew up the spending in the first place.

The disaster started with Nixon.

It started in Mesopotamia.

"If you don't let us screw you, there is a much meaner bastard named Tump right outside. Is that want you want? Or can we continue?"

It's the fear mongering component of the ruling class agenda.

I get the feeling I should read Machiavelli's "The Prince" again. And "Animal Farm". And
"Brave New World". I'm about 1/2 way through re-reading "1984". Saw a T-shirt the other day that said, "1984 was meant to be a warning, not a blueprint." As the old saying goes, "May you live in interesting times." Here they are.

A small consolation: at the age of 70, his clock is short.

Spot-on.
If what Giroux lays out is true and prophetic (and I think it is), I wonder why he sees any hope? So far, the courts have behaved as they should, as the co-equal branch of government. What happens when we get the equivalent of the Reichstag Fire Decrees?
Will the structures in place provide enough of a counterweight to protect the US democracy? Having read Aristotle's THE POLITICS, I am not so sure.

Giroux is one of the most incisive political/economic critics.

lol

Every effort should be made to identify clearly the primary cause and means of President Loser's ascent to power: We've ceded all meaningful control over our society to the machinations of limited liability, typically publicly traded, gargantuan corporations and a cabal of banksters. We will not effectively resist Mr Loser's administration until we resolve to attack ALL giant corporations and giant banks as the agents of a lengthy totalitarian putsch.

Limited liability means no culpability and no accountability before the law. More importantly, it means the law will continue to be written by the criminals it's intended to regulate and punish.

We can talk about how Loser has denigrated the government and worked to delegitimize it, but our government's pay masters have long seen to its drunken debauchery and indifference.

This is a thorough evaluation of trump and Bannon's Neo Fascist agenda and war against Democracy. As Spricer is brainwashing us about keeping us safe repeating it over and over, Ryan and company are shredding our safety nets and implementing a plan of impoverishment for the American people as they will also destory our health care system. Industry can now indulge in unfettered environmental abuse and poison us without having to warn us of any impending danger, banks with no regulations can also indulge in all sorts of ilegal activitives and most likely will send us into another deep recession or Great depression. And as industry contaminates our air, food and water and desimates our Earth climate warming is rapidly destroying our ability to survive as a species. This is how much Trump wants to " protect us". This is a total lie and deception. We must continue wide spread protests because fascism will destroy us and our lives and future is at stake.

Precisely: we need to 'clearly assess our situation, in order to figure out what to do from here.' Here we are, with a divided Democratic Party that is part of the problem, and without any viable political alternatives or a public sphere for discussion and broadcasting. How can we assess and mount a plan of action?Where would 'it' go, given the multiplicity of fault-lines, the complexity of the issues and the very real presence of forces of suppression and/or obstruction? How do we begin?

It is disheartening to me to observe a general tendency towards criticism and dissent even in the 'comments' section of a site like this one, rather than seeking work together to identify and prioritize issues. Too often we seem to revel in criticism, even amongst 'our own'.

The dissent comes as a result of people waking up. They will act, as a path becomes clear. The first thing is to abandon both corrupt corporate parties. The second thing is to find common ground with real conservatives--economic and political grounds if nothing else.

Neoliberalism is fascism with velvet gloves--I've said that many times too.

Belarus, Ukraine, Iran, Syria. All under the gun of fascist Reich Fuhrer Putin lap dog Trump. We are a rogue nation under the foot of a treasonous government.

Wrong. You are buying into the Fake News of the MSM. Everybody should know by now that CNN, MSNBC, NPR and the NY Times are full of it.

By now informed people should know this. You have the internet. Ignorance in the age of the internet is a choice.

Putin is not Stalin, but Trump is a home made Hitler. America you got away a long period with all the crimes you committed against humanity.

In 2011 I wrote the following (you'll have to take my word for it):

(((By the election of 2016, or 2020 at the latest, the declining economic situation in the USA will throw up a fascist dictator, or more likely a theo-fascist dictator)))

When I'd written it---I read it and thought "that's ridiculous"

But here we are.

Just in the first days of insanity the business of the nation has been subverted into the hands of men whose only concerned is business itself, and total control of USA Inc.

The great leader is removing healthcare protection, something all other civilized nations take for granted. He is removing environmental protections on air and water. Opening lands to the rapists he is so fond of castigating, only these rapists will rape the Earth itself.

Full employment is promised but there is no possible way that employment can be brought back, machines do all the real work now.

There is no interest in religion, but to get the godbotherers onside, they too must be led to believe that “others” are responsible for the sickness of the nation.

So those who do not conform must be discriminated against. Be in no doubt that they will eventually be disposed of.

A political speech from 1933:

"I will employ my strength for the welfare of the German people, protect the Constitution and laws of the German people, conscientiously discharge the duties imposed on me, and conduct my affairs of office impartially and with justice to everyone," Adolf Hitler. January 30th 1933

when you’ve digested that, take the trouble to watch this video:

youtube.com/watch?v=xGfHkdR...

send it to others, and be very afraid…..it offers the reality of what we face as fascism stirs again.

Be assured that the list of “disposable” people will get longer.

The new Fuh-rer and his cronies are beginning to take control on their terms. Already the press is being vilified. Wrong voters wrong people—there are always others to use as scapegoats.

Sycophants are being hired who will agree that his new clothes are a wonder to behold, and generals who will command his military bidding.

That part is critical, because when his promises are seen to be empty, and his ‘restructured’ economy falls apart, the economy itself will crash and the result will be widespread civil unrest.

That will require military intervention, who better to command that than the generals already hired to do his bidding, under the leadership of the ‘’inner circle’’ closest to the great leader.

Just as with the last fuh-rer, the generals are dependent on the leader’s favour.

With the economy shattered, soldiers will fall in behind whoever pays their wages---they have no option.

In no time at all you have a dictator installed.

Then Krystallnacht can really begin.

The thousand-year Reich promised of eternal prosperity, and millions believed to be true as they cheered him on to ravage europe,

His promises of infinite "More" turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that lasted just 12 years and brought the nation to literal ruin.

There is no more to be had, we've picked the Earth clean, and voting for prosperity won't make it happen

The book, “The End of More” (Pagett Amazon) explains why there is no more. The new fuh-rer will not be held responsible of course, but insane religious fervor will no doubt identify those who are.

Not much difference between the tww feeds...they blend together.

Elections are no longer relevant. Both parties have see to that.

IT would be too late. How long did it take fascists in Italy, Germany and other States to take power?

Watch out!!!!
We may loose "democracy" that works for 1% and exterminates the rest.

HG should have read a Princeton report. THERE IS NO DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. IT IS OLIGARCHY.

Should I cry for Oligarchic rule we live under? Is the oligarchy really threatened by totalitarianism? What a bunch of nonsense from HG. But since he is really intelligent it must be plain and simple sellout, and he apparently became openly an agent of globalists who want us divided, who want us save the very system that is murdering us. No way!

But HG articles are just top of the Everest of alternative media crap. While in the past its contribution to counter-Orwellian rhetoric and MSM lies was somewhat valuable and needed I think TO and other so-called independent outlets need to shut down or let a real fresh blood in , let in the people who live in reality of vast majority of American working people.

They must stop incessantly repeating tired “palace revolutionaries’ ” tautologies of old, former flower children, “raging against establishment” activists who themselves became opposition “establishment” as calcified and detached from reality people’s lives with their outdated ideas of misguided “Gandhi style” civil disobedience seen now by the results as hopelessness and political surrender to oligarchic nuts, their brutality and psychotic murderous drives.

It’s time for all those limited number of repeating authors, may be thirty in all, regularly appearing regularity on Truthdig, Thruthout, Alternet etc., to understand that with few exceptions, they are not an authoritative voice for younger generation, as they often think they are and they are not a new age leaders but rather they became as much as a product, a calcified excretion of this same abhorrent regime as rightwing political nuts did.

After forty years of political activity, strikes, petitions, protest, forums, meetings, happenings, independent press, TV radio programming, even political electoral activity in opposition to this abhorrent regime, its time for them to admit a failure and let younger more radical people without any old political baggage to be heard on such a forum as TO and other sites currently run by more or less disgruntled former courtiers of American political establishment who had “change of heart” or otherwise a gravy train of power on its way into madness and oblivion, passed them by.

Now it is time for phony opposition to go, before you find yourself not an agent of change of social conscientiousness but severe impediment to it.

It is time for generation XY or younger thinkers, reluctant “concerned” or “outraged” working class activists of necessity and not grandiose ideological leaders or decaying pragmatists. We need new people, coming out of working class, retaining working class conscientiousness, who would not make again a mistake of older generation of progressives believing that any positive change for 99% could be ever achieved by submitting to a rigged political process and who openly reject it and embrace extra political, extra constitutional means to assert their unalienable rights as human beings, a right to economic self-organization of their own society, a right to self-governance, devoid of oligarchic repression and exploitation and to discard this horrendous regime as a whole as an inhumane immoral structure that needs to be destroyed not replaced.

No genuine rebellion or true revolutionary movement however, has any right to divide victims of this abhorrent regime i.e. people who work for living along some phony division lines concocted by oligarchic propaganda machine and disseminated as identity politics or partisanship. The unity of the people is above all.

Anybody who want to divide us along those lines is a traitor, a willing or confused stooge of oligarchy and could be co-responsible for chaos and pain and suffering of majority of Americans.

Will it happened? Will we be united in our humanity against our common enemy, oligarchic ruling elite regardless of their political persuasions?

Will all those self-mind-censored old progressives understand that they are going nowhere but where their repeat failures of last four decades of enormous growth of American oligarchic state, lead them, namely allowing for destruction of civil society on their political shift under barrage of mass propaganda and tragedy of economic depression?

Will they fade into a dustbin of history to pass responsibility for struggle to a new generation devoid of illusions and false notion reforming of unreformable, fixing of unfixable, fully aware of a fundamental fact that there is no begging for power, only taking it?

I doubt that, oligarchic paychecks are too good.

"The unity of the people is above all." Never has. Never will.
The "unity" of the people will be a temporal convergence of interests by parties that normally do not mingle or share much. But, when all is said and done, what you offer are new divisions not new alignments.

Voting is not democracy. The people's rule is democracy, no representative government of people aspiration, no democracy is possible, since in such a case people do not rule or influence the government policies.

Who exactly are the "people"? I assume we can start with you, but who else? Seriously--define the people, and not as some vague social ideal.

Hannah Ardent noted that in simply voting, you control only space within the ballot box. By accepting the candidates presented by the two parties, we give up our voices and our power since they are both in thrall to the power brokers.
Watch the money and power here. Who benefits and who loses?

Giroux is not a sell-out to the "globalists", he is merely a sell-out to himself. He is doing what many ignored writers and intellectuals do...which is to resort to alarmist messages so as to appeal to fearful audiences and readers. In fact, that is what nearly all of the writers here do, and in most cases these authors don't have the skills to pander to more sophisticated readers, and so they resort to extreme hyperbole and nonsense such the claims of "fascism" and "totalitarianism" in the article above.

The mainstream writers do the same thing though, but the "globalists", or the MSM, is not in the market for empty claims that scare consumers and drive away advertisers. They want confirmation that the future is in good hands with a little controversy to show that the details are being scrutinized.

"They want confirmation that the future is in good hands with a little controversy to show that the details are being scrutinized."

Good to see your sanguine face again Ray. Too bad you are wrong again. I have a suspicion you are fully vested in the status quo which is why you are comfortable tolerating a "little controversy" here and there that you would call democracy. The problem is you are ignoring the elephant in the room. Neoliberal capitalism is spiraling out of control in a non-linear way. Don't get too comfortable.

LOL, yea, it is spiraling out of control as it has for about 250 years, with doomsayers all along pretending to know the unknowable future. Ironically too, those who are confused by the complexities of life seem to draw a certain comfort from making unsupportable claims on the future. Phycologists contend that, what they call 'alarmism'... provides a feeling of omnipotence which soothes insecurity and confusion.

And I don't call it a "democracy", and I have in fact already posted some comments on this very board to that effect.