Admiral Miklos Horthy of Hungary is generally
acknowledged to have been history's first fascist dictator (that is an
authoritarian ruler, operating under capitalism, who was not royalty. And Admiral
Horthy? Well, while Hungary is presently
a land-locked country, before World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a
major naval presence on the Adriatic Sea, through Slovenia, Croatia, and parts
of Italy). Following the overthrow of a
Hungarian Communist government by Romanian royalist forces in 1919, with the
acquiescence of his own King he was appointed "Regent" (for the King) in 1920,
and became an authoritarian, repressive, right-wing dictator. He held the post of Regent until he himself
was displaced by the Nazis in 1944.
Italy's Benito Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister
by the Italian King in 1922, and with the latter's acquiescence by 1927 had
become dictator of Italy. (He invented the word "fascism" to describe his form
of authoritarian government.) So, we have two prominent fascist dictators in
essence appointed by Kings. It may surprise you to learn that the most
prominent fascist dictator of them all, Adolf Hitler, got to his position by
more-or-less constitutional means, in a Republic, not a Kingdom.
Following the end of the First World War, an attempted
German Communist revolution was thwarted by the combined forces of the
ex-Prussian Army and various right-wing paramilitaries. With the cooperation of
the right-wing of the German Socialist Party, the successors to the Prussian
Hohenzollern Monarchy (the Kaiser having abdicated and fled to Holland), and
other center and right-wing forces, established what came to be known as the
Weimar Republic. (Weimar was a small provincial city in central Germany chosen
as the new Republic's capital.) Those forces created the first republican
constitution for Germany out of whole cloth. The resulting
Presidential/Parliamentary system governed Germany from mid-1919 until the Nazi
coup d'Ã ©tat which took place in stages starting on January 30, 1933.
A key feature of what was called the Weimar Constitution
was that it had a clause that granted the President emergency powers, which he
could claim on his own authority, but under fairly strict control by the
Reichstag (parliament). The President from 1925 onwards, the former commander
of Prussian forces in World War, was Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg.
Hindenburg claimed Constitutional emergency power in 1930 and ruled under it
until he appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor (Prime Minister) on Jan. 30,
1933. Hitler then proceeded to establish what would become the state ruled by
his National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazis for short). (Clever
name, eh? Like certain other folks, the Nazis had their own good namers and
sloganeers.) Among his very first acts was to begin rounding up Communist Reichstag
deputies and other leading communists and imprisoning them either without
charge or on specious ones. But even with their enforced absence from the
Reichstag, he still did not have the 2/3's majority he needed to amend the
Constitution. He wanted to enable the Reichstag to grant emergency powers to
the Chancellor, as well as to the President.
Then came the Reichstag Fire of Feb. 27, 1933.
Although it was actually set by a team sent by Hitler's no. 1 deputy, Hermann
Goering (1), it was a false-flag event (sound familiar?) Hitler blamed it on
the Communists, and using documents later proved to be forgeries (the Communist
leadership was shocked to see them) was able to stir up a major anti-communist
hysteria in the nation. This situation eventually led to the passage on March
23 by the Reichstag of what was called the "Enabling Act of 1933," (there
having been others during the course of the Weimar Republic). This one,
however, gave Hitler dictatorial power and the rest, as they say, is history.
However, except for the fact that the Nazis cheated (if the Communist deputies
had still been seated in the Reichstag, Hitler never could have gotten the
2/3rds vote he needed to pass the Act), the whole thing was "Constitutional."
Indeed Hitler made sure that the act was regularly renewed either by the
Reichstag or eventually by himself, on the time schedule set during its
original passage.
Among other powers, Hitler was able to arrest and
imprison without charges or trial any German he labelled as a "threat," or what
have you. Having the parallel Army of the Schutz Staffel (SS, "Protection
Squadron") just going out and shooting perceived enemies or "members of an
inferior race" in the street and etc., happened later. Further, I believe,
although many Germans were sent to concentration camps and into the hands of
the Gestapo (the "police" branch of the SS) direct execution happened only
outside the borders of the German state.
You likely see where I am going with this. President
Obama has apparently arrogated to himself, and through himself to the US
Presidency, the power to arrest, and indeed kill, US citizens, on US soil, for
"crimes" like "suspicion" of terrorism, "potential" terrorism, or "aiding and
abetting terrorism" (2, 3). The next possible step is broadening that out to a
total authoritarian government, based on "responding to terrorism" as defined
by ??? (3) Now the Democrats who find
themselves behind this say words to the effect of "well, Obama can be trusted
with these powers." Maybe, maybe not. But
nevertheless, what of a possible successor? And in any case, is any of this
Constitutional? Well, not if you read the plain language, as "Justice" ("I rule
the way I want to rule on any given day, given how I feel that day, my
prejudices [literally "pre-judgements"] and all, and that's just tough, buddy")
Scalia is always lecturing us to do (see Articles II and VI and the 4th
and 5th Amendments).
US Presidents have been arrogating to themselves war-making
and extra-judicial powers that are simply nowhere to be found in the
Constitution at least since Lyndon Johnson used the (fake) Gulf of Tonkin
incident to vastly expand the US un-declared war on Vietnam. And that trail has
led to the Obama Presidency. At least Hitler could claim (and he did) that what
he did beginning on January 30, 1933 was in accord with the Weimar
Constitution.
American exceptionalism? You betcha. If fascism does
eventually come here it will be because a series of US Presidents gradually
expanded their executive power, way beyond anything provided for in the
Constitution, often invoking "communism" (see Reagan breaking the law, the
Boland Amendment, to support the counter-revolution in Nicaragua) or "terrorism"
(see G.W. Bush and now B. H. Obama, to justify what they are doing). At least
previous fascist dictators could cite Kings, or a Constitution, or plain old
civil war to overthrow a democratically-elected Republic --- see Franco Spain.
In the U.S., if it comes, it will simply be on a President's say-so. And there
will be no-one to say "NO."
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References :
1. Tigar, M.E. and Mage,
J., "The Reichstag Fire Trial, 1933-2008" The Monthly Review, Vol.
60, No. 10, March 2009
2. Paul Craig Roberts, "It
Has Happened Here in America: The Police State is Real," Feb. 9, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/ it-has-happened-here-in-america-the-police-state-is-real/5322223.
3. Chris Hedges, "The NDAA
and the Death of the Democratic State," Feb. 11, 2013, http://www.truthdig.com/ report/print/the_ndaa_and_the_death_of_the_democratic_state_20130211/
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