FASCISM, NO NEED TO DELVE INTO THE PAST TO DESCRIBE IT.

A mere 10 or so months ago there were people who wished to avoid the F word. Fascism. "We were prepared," they said, "with the Constitutional guarantees left us by our great fore-fathers." We had a legislature that would provide checks on the executive. And if they couldn't provide those checks, we have the Supreme Court. That checks and balances thing proved too damned weak when cheques were offered from accounts with unlimited balances.

Fascism can be quantified. Measured by the written words of people who lived through it. From the fascism of Musilini, to 3rd Reich Fascism, to Spanish facism,  to Hungarian fascism practiced by Victor Orban, to the 22nd century fascism of the Trump stink. There will be nuances here and there but they have the same basic principles. You can find other descriptions, I prefer to use Umberto Eco's 14 characteristics. A writer who grew up at the confluence of Italian, Spanish, Turkish and German fascism, in what until recently was the height of fascism.

1) the Cult of tradition: among these traditions are occultism, nazi writings, and extreme patriotism. Trump regime? CHECK, CHECK, CHECK.

2) The rejection of modernism: the Enlightenment, gone. The Age of Reason, replaced by, 'cuz I say so. Even democracy has outlived its usefullness.

3) The cult of action for actions sake. Action, any action has beauty. No reason for reflexion on past events. No after-action inquiry needed. Stay in the now. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Be like The Puppy-killer lady, not like  Old Joe. Blowing 3 boats out of the waters off Venezuela on the suspicion of drug smuggling says it all. No need to prove innocence, there are no witnesses.

4) Disagreement is treason. Criticism is to distinguish, and to distinguish is to succumb to modernism. Science praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. Can't have that.

5) Fear of difference. Fear people unlike us. People of color, different speech habits, even different religions. Racism, misogyny, homophobia, all of these are the result of mobilized fear.

6) Appeal to social frustration. Disaffected middle class, worker dissatisfaction. Blame it on others. Name your other. Just don't blame republicans.

7)  The obsession with a plot. Indicting former political opponents for poorly-described reasons and made up charges. Sending American citizens to foreign prisons because they have darker skin, they might be drug smugglers, or killers, no proof needed.

8) The enemy is both strong and weak. Remember when they accused President Obama of being both a tyrant and feckless, in the same sentence? Classic, and it got worse.

9) Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. Life is lived for struggle, shoot first, talk later.

10) Contempt for the weak. The poor, oppressed, people of color, people who oppose you, people expecting help from appropriate government agencies. All are despised by people who have never carried military weapons in defense of democracy.

11) the cult of hero-worship. Conservative hero's must be unassailable,  leftist heroes must be destroyed.  Of course this is accompanied by a death cult. Sound familiar? Steven Miller, maybe?

12) Machismo and weaponry. Implies both a disdain for females and intolerance for non-standard sexual behavior.

13) Selective populism. The emotional response of a select group of citizens can be accepted as the Voice of the People. Only unknown bureaucrats deep in the Heritage Society underground can do the selection.

14) Fascism speaks Newspeak. Schoolbooks make use of impoverished vocabulary and an elementary syntax, thus limiting complex and critical reasoning. Know anybody that this reminds you of?

This is where we are today. Fascism is deeper in one of our parties than at any time in our history; one party. The Republican party.