Fascism on the March

Can we all start getting alarmed now? Cut the delusion. Stop dismissing conspiracy theories. Nothing is theoretical about it. It is happening, and it has been happening for years.

Just consider the simple question of who is watching the watchers, and who polices the police. What happens when the top officer of the law disavows, contorts, and abuses the law?

The Justice Department retaliated against its own attorneys who's work ran contrary to the political aims of the Republican Party. In other words, Alberto Gonzales uses the DoJ to persecute the president's political enemies. Then of course, he lies about it.

Today, it's revealed that the DoJ and the FBI are abusing "national security letters." These are the letters it sends when asking for personal records of US citizens without a warrant.

While the Inspector General who reported the DoJ's violations says they were not deliberate, what was deliberate was the mechanism that removed the checks and balances designed to prevent such abuse of power: The Patriot Act.

ps - How about them secret trials, eh?

pps - Fascism? Here? Check out Joe Conason's It Can Happen Here.