The Lunatic Right and Beyond

News Item: Newt Gingrich's nascent presidential campaign crashed and burned as his entire staff bailed. Newt took it in stride, evidently feeling no pain as he and his wife continued on the two-week pleasure cruise that his advisers had urged against.

Newt's a "big picture" kind of guy, who can't be bothered with arcane details, so the patience of his staff apparently was tested beyond its limits. One item that made waves was Newt's recent trashing of Rep. Paul Ryan's proposals for health care an example of "right-wing social engineering".

Newt's comments illustrate the shocking reality of just how far right the political spectrum has shifted since back in the day when he helped define the radical edge of right-wing thought with the infamous "Contract with America". Now Newt can position himself as a mainstream conservative while the new generation of extremists take up their positions on the edge.

The radical right is flirting with fascist philosophy, attacking Big Government while remaining quite comfortable and cozy with Big Corporations shifting power into their domain. In addition, we see elements of class warfare emerging as the Depression deepens. We saw how passionately Republicans defended tax cuts for the rich; Banksters and Wall Street have raked in record profits as the rest of the economy struggles. The first targets on the budget cutting block are unemployment benefits and anything benefiting the poor.

Unfortunately, progressive forces are bereft of leadership. There is no standard bearer leading the battle against creeping fascism. Despite a Liberal-sounding platform, Obama is difficult to distinguish from his predecessor. He squandered his initial political capital on the ill-conceived health care bill, the Gulag at Gitmo remains open for business and warmongering is more robust than ever. The nefarious Patriot Act was renewed with little debate, and the environment continues to be trashed as the EPA apparently allows industry to write the regulations.

My use of the word fascist is not merely a partisan attack on the Right; There is ample evidence that elements of Nazism survived Germany's defeat in WWII. This has been well documented by authors such as Peter Levenda and Joseph Farrell. I find it fascinating to study how this has influenced the rise of the Evil American Empire. More will be forthcoming on this.

Lynn