I’ve been thinking about the Occupy Wall Street movement and where it might lead. Up until today I entertained the view Chris Hedges expresses in the interview below, that we may reach some sort of tipping point where the police “cross the line” and refuse to follow orders (to disband protest encampments), leading to who knows what (revolution? new government?).
The more I thought about this possibility, the less likely this scenario seemed. Why?
" Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy." -- Benito Mussolini
Historically, prolonged extreme concentrations of wealth and outrageous income inequality tend to play out in two ways:
1) Violent Leftist/popular revolutions, such as the French Revolution, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the Russian Revolution.
2) The rise of a Fascist state, as the elites use “fear of the other” to gain support for policies that suppress freedom and democracy, and increase coercive control of the impoverished masses. Fascism never rises without support of the elites.
In the United States, with its strong pro-capitalist institutions and values, we’re more at risk for fascism than we are for violent Leftist revolution. There are strong currents of popular fascism in the racist, xenophobic blatherings of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. More and more our lawmakers are controlled by corporate interests. Disturbing incidents where police and military are used against U.S. citizens are on the rise.
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