archived: 27 Jan - 2 Feb, 2008         Back                 Next

UPDATED:  JAN 31, 2008 

"THE CHRISTIANIZING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, PART 2” 

This week I am offering you part 2 of chapter 10 of “Jonathan Westminster’s” book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, originally published in 1996 and purported to be published in 2048, on the 25^th Anniversary of the Restoration of US Constitutional Democracy, following the conclusion of the Second Civil War.   

Two weeks ago I presented the “text” of the 2008 Inaugural address of the President, Jefferson Davis Hague, who in the narrative had been that year re-elected as the candidate of the Republican-Christian Alliance.  His address was delivered on the new Inauguration Day, December 25, 2008, and took place in the National Cathedral in Washington instead of in front of the Capitol.   

This week I present some of the commentary on the Address, as recorded by the book’s author, Westminster.  The guide to the characters with which I opened my column of two weeks ago will be found at the end this column, just ahead of the Addendum.  And yes, there is a contemporary Addendum this week, just as there was in Part 1. 

A Connie Conroy Note (December 27, 2008) 

We did it again!  Maybe not as sintilating (sic) as the first time around, but we did it.  We produced a great speech, at the last min­ute, again.  Boy it's great to have those quotes to go to.  I hope there are some left we can use next time.  This time it was a bril­liant stroke too to recognize that we were using that old stuff by name.  No more charges of plajarism (sic) from those sticklers among us. 

And I like the way we slipped in those old Far Right groups at the end.  Boy, some of them are really crazy!  But we need them.  Things are starting to get a bit rough out there. Some­times we've just got to have some un‑official "off the shelf"^[1] muscle to get things done we just can't ask the cops or the FBI or the Federal marshals to do.  Those other guys can do it and sometimes do it for us.  Better to have them in­side than out. 

Interesting.  Some people have al­ready noticed that the Prez spe­cifi­cal­ly didn't mention the American Nazi Party, which has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last few years.  Well, for the record, that's for our Jews.  I'm not sure what the final answer is going to be on the Jew Ques­tion.  But for now anti‑Semitism is official­ly out, no matter what the bastards do. 

The Prez sez that "our Jews" have been too important to us and our growth to chuck them out now.  He says that's why we won't have anything to do with the Nazis or with the swasti­ka.^[2]  Not only the Na­zis but several of the groups in our new coali­tion use it as their symbol.  Well, our Jew allies under­standably don't like it.  Also, and not too many people know this, the Nazi swastika is sim­ply the reverse of an old American Indian symbol that meant good luck.  Well, we certainly wouldn't want to be associated in any way with a symbol used by one of the inferior races. 

Anyway, the Prez sez we are officially not anti‑Semitic. Nat­ural­ly, from time to time we do have some flare-ups of that stuff on the street.  But they almost always involve liberal nigger-lover Renegade Jews, not Real Jews.^[3]  So nothing to worry about there.  Our Jews stay with us, and with a wink and a nod^[4] we let the boys have their fun. 

The Prez does acknowledge, privately and publicly, that many out­standing Jewish thinkers made very important contributions to the politi­cal doctrines underlying our system of government.  He likes especially to hark back to a Right‑Wing Jew organiza­tion called "Toward Tradi­tion" (1994), formed during the elec­tion of '94 that created the famous "Freshman Class" of which he is so proud. 

Anyway, big win, great speech, if I do say so myself. On­wards and upwards! 

Author's Commentary (Part 1): 

And thus on a fateful Thursday, President Jefferson Davis Hague deliv­ered his Second Inaugural Address from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  Although it would indelibly set the future course of the nation under his leadership (which would last until the final over­throw of the NAR), one wouldn't have known that fact from the speech.  Departing from a Presidential tradition, Hague did not address the ma­jor problems faced by the country at that time, even to the limit­ed ex­tent he had in his first Inaugural. 

That critical problem list included [SJ note – all references will be listed at the end of next week’s column]: 

-A standard of living that still continued to fall for most Americans, and a gap in both income and wealth between the very rich and ev­ery­one else that still continued to widen.  Both patterns, as noted on sever­al previous occasions, had been established during the Tran­si­tion Era (Brasher; Throw; and see Chapter one).  They were firm­ly en­trenched by R‑CA Federal tax, fiscal, and regulatory poli­cies of the early Fascist Period, policies that echoed that of the infa­mous 1994 Re­publican "Contract on America" (HRC). 

-The continuing decline of manufacturing in America, caused by con­tin­uing "globalization," a cosmetic term that really meant the export of capital and the jobs that accompanied it.  The massive economic and social impact of the decline in man­u­fac­tur­ing was left untouched by what had been touted to replace it: the old Toffler Ian "Third Wave/Information Age."  That was a no­tion that somehow the processing of an intangible, "information," could replace the production of tangible goods and services as the regular, reliable, adequate source of income for any significant num­ber of people. 

            Further, the now long‑discredited notion held that somehow the pro­cessing of information could meet real, tangible needs of every­day life of the people for goods and services.  For everything from survival to the full enjoyment of life, people need food, clothing, shel­ter, trans­por­ta­tion, health care and educa­tion, entertain­ment, cultural activi­ties, athletics, and so on, not infor­ma­tion about them.  In the real world, where needs for tan­gibles are tangible, the "Third Wave" notion simply didn't work.  But it had made for good politi­cal the­ater. 

-The virtual disappearance of governmental investment in "infrastruc­ture:" roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, and airports; public health care facilities, schools, colleges, universities, and research institu­tions; water supply and sewage disposal systems; flood control, irri­gation networks, and other waterway maintenance projects; the air traffic con­trol system, national parks and forests and wilderness ar­eas (soon to disappear en­tirely); seashore maintenance and coastal navi­gation sys­tems; and the like. 

            What remained for the most part was only that which had been "pri­vatized" and then survived.  The result was a very spotty sys­tem.  To be sure, the rich and others living in the growing number of walled com­munities guarded by private armed forces did well (Egan).  And, as noted in Chapter eight, the prison system flour­ished, contin­uing a pat­tern established in California in 1995‑96 when for the first time spend­ing on the state prison system had exceeded that on the state's two uni­versity systems (Butterfield).  The prison system had been "privatized" to a significant degree, and provided huge profits for those connected to the new Prison/Industrial Com­plex (see also Chapter three). 

-The continuing growth of interpersonal violence accompanying the repeal of any limits on gun ownership that had occurred early in the Pine Presidency. 

-The public and political prominence of public and personal racism, homophobia, misogyny, and xenophobia, and their continued exploi­ta­tion by the forces of Right‑Wing Reaction. 

-The constantly spreading personal alienation and destruction of the basic interpersonal fabric of society resulting from the incessant pro­mo­tion by Right‑Wing Reaction of the philosophy of "every‑man‑ for‑himself‑and‑the‑devil‑take‑the‑hindmost," otherwise known as "self‑responsibility" (see Chapter seven for an excellent Tran­sition Era summary of this philosophy by the Right‑Wing phi­los­opher Mi­chael Levin). 

-The failure of any of the measures adopted through the Constitution­al Amendment process since the ratification of the 28th (the first Bal­anced Budget Amendment) to materially affect in a positive way any of the underlying economic or social problems faced by the old United States. 

To be continued. 

A little Guide to the characters.  “Jefferson Davis Hague” was a great grand nephew of “Boss” Frank Hague of pre WW II Jersey City (see last week’s Guide for a few details).  “Connie Conroy” was a White House press officer.  “Alex Poughton” was an English journalist assigned to cover the US during the Fascist Period.  “Parthenon Pomeroy” was a Hague loyalist.  “Curley Oakwood” was the 300 lb., leading hate-radio screamer, supporting the Regime. 

ADDENDUM (JAN. 24, 2008):   Disclaimer: I did NOT make up the material below, and I really did write the text above, in 1995. 

The “moderate,” “maverick,” sane guy” John McCain has really said the following, courtesy of

The National Jewish Democratic Council (January 8, 2008

(http://www.njdc.org/issues/detail.php?id=767&iss=3): “ … the Christian right has a major role to play in the Republican Party” [New York Times, 4/3/06]; McCain stated that a candidate’s Christian faith is “an important characteristic” for a president, that he would prefer a Christian president and that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation,"  and that "America is a Christian nation, and it is hardly a controversial claim" [The New York Sun, October 1, 2007]; The Arizona Daily Star reported that McCain "sided with the president" on "teaching intelligent design in schools;" McCain "told the Star that, like Bush, he believes 'all points of view' should be available to students studying the origins of mankind; McCain has endorsed an Arizona ballot initiative that banned both gay marriage and civil unions by writing discrimination into the Arizona constitution (Arizona Republic 1//8/06); on his campaign bus in March of 2000 Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/2/00); in November, 2007 a John McCain supporter in South Carolina asked him "How do we beat the bitch” in reference to Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator McCain response was to laugh and respond "That's an excellent question" (New York Times 11/14/07); In an April 16, 2007 letter to Service member’s Legal Defense Network (SLDN),

McCain stated that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy instituted in 1993, “unambiguously maintains that open homosexuality within the military services presents an intolerable risk to morale, cohesion and discipline.” [http://www.sldn.org/templates/press/record.html?record=3877§ion=2].

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