»In which freedom is not free

Ted Rall's comic today echoes my current political idea: forming the Fascist Party of America (a cursory check via OFSE turns up zilch). What perverted idea of Freedom might a Fascist have that our beloved Democrats and Republicans (oh, and Independents, too, right) have not already thought up? Our civil liberties are eroding faster than a Malibu cliff, and all in the name of preserving freedom. I looked up the lyrics to that annoying song but they mention nothing about this bitterly ironic justification for imposing mindless regulation on quotidian aspects of American life.

I am not concerned that the American Way of Life is disappearing: I worry that it has changed to resemble the iron fist of fascism. We have a secret police, we have detention, we have government control of newspapers; we, the American public, have legitimized much of this through our election of figureheads who weakly act as conduits for the interest of big business, of central power, and of money, money, money. We endorse it tacitly by wallowing in our fear, allowing misinformation to sweep over us and render us helpless. The current administration reminds me most of the reign of The Great Communicator, in which the United States was parcelled out to private interests, rather than the interest of the community.

The illustration comes from David Lance Goines, and is one of my very favourite images. I first saw it hanging above the desk of my third-year Greek professor, Laura Slatkin: we were reading the Antigone.