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Many of us who are anti-imperialists and therefore also antifascists will sadly recall that following the stolen presidential election of 2004, John Kerry inexplicably and far too readily conceded defeat, despite the evidence that the infamous Diebold voting machine fraud had given the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rove/Bush administration control of the White House for another four years. Following the 2004 electoral coup (see the powerful documentary about the election fraud of 2000, entitled “Unprecedented: The Battle for the Presidency in Florida and the Undermining of Democracy in America”), a politically savvy and historically knowledgeable acquaintance of mine from the East Coast (who happens to be Jewish) wrote an important essay that I attach below.
    
I print it here because we have had a decade of hindsight watching the alarming (and rather stealthy) “progress” that the American Empire has made since the year 2000 (actually 30 years since Friendly American Fascism gained a lot of steam in the 1980s, with the NeoConservative, pro-Big Business, anti-small business, anti-family farm, anti-democratic, warmongering Reagan/Bush[the Elder]/Cheney/Rumsfeld years that increased the national debt by $4 trillion by dramatically cutting taxes for the wealthy and flushing untold trillions of borrowed dollars down the Pentagon toilet in the name of national security).

The now-tottering, morally and financially bankrupt American Empire has morphed into its current over-extended existence, living on incalculable amounts of borrowed money that can’t possibly be repaid. The Empire is a bubble that is ready to pop at any time. This whole process was orchestrated with the complicity of any number of anonymous, un-elected, sociopathic billionaire captains of industry and finance and their minions, sycophants, lobbyists, and bought-and-paid-for lapdog congresspersons and neo-con Supreme Court justices (and we know who they are)—all enriching themselves at the expense of the largely unaware (though somehow still blindly patriotic) flag-waving American taxpayers, who, not recognizing what are their future oppressors, consistently vote against their best interests.
The American Empire was nurtured with “bipartisan” support from both wings of the elected, but corporate–  and Pentagon-controlled (supposedly two-party) War Party, the Republicrats. Serious readers will recognize the contents of the essay as being remarkably prescient.

I once asked the author for permission to forward the piece around to some of my political internet lists, and he never replied in the negative. Therefore, after waiting in vain for a reply, I am taking the liberty of printing it here but withholding his name. I agree with many of his comments, and readers of this column will notice the accuracy of many of his predictions. Here is the essay:

There Has Been A Fascist Coup in This Country—
With Media Complicity

“Noam Chomsky has lucidly explicated the imperial consensus adhered to by both parties since the U.S. became # 1 after WWII. However he has also pointed out that the Bush National Security Strategy scared even the mainstream foreign policy elite. It predicts an escalation of the international arms race and all kinds of unprecedented threats to our survival.

The Democrats
of course are morally
complicit in a
fascist coup

“I see major differences between what the Kerry Administration would have done and what the Bush agenda is. However considering the fecklessness of Kerry and the Democrats, they of course are morally complicit in a fascist coup.

“I say a fascist coup, but one must realize that the Neo-Cons wielding the power in the Bush Administration had been out of power since Reagan. One must also remember that all indications are that neither the military nor the CIA wanted the war in Iraq. The Joint Chief of Staffs had testified before Congress in the summer of 2002 that war on Iraq would be a bad idea. So did Scowcroft, Eagleburger, etc. The CIA reported at that time (front page of the NY Times) that Saddam was contained. The Bush Junta prevailed because of its fanaticism and determination—just as Hitler did. (Clinton endorsed ‘regime change’ but he was far too cautious to go ahead with this crazy war.)

“First, the coup has been covered up again. Nothing in the NY Times was written about electoral fraud—let alone Kerry winning sufficient electoral votes to defeat Bush. This does not bode well for a Watergate-type expose even though Howard Zinn wistfully invokes that precedent. He forgets that the Democrats were far bolder and more principled back in the Nixon era—and they were in control of Congress. But it does illustrate that there IS a split in the ruling class. Otherwise why would the election have been rigged by the Bushies?

“Second (bad sign), The Bush Junta has effectively ignored the Supreme Court ruling against Bush. The military tribunals they are now providing in Guatanamo are a far cry from any kind of due process. The Supreme Court might just as well have ruled in favor of Bush, as he feels free to effectively disregard it with no consequences.
 “Kerry would have stayed in Iraq because imperialists put a premium on maintaining ‘credibility’—as Chomsky has repeatedly argued.  Eventually he would have been forced to withdraw by combination of insurgents’ success and U.S. opposition. I expect however that Bush will enact Patriot Act II, as he has said he will do. He has ‘a mandate’ after all. With prospective demonstrators facing the risk of being selectively stripped of citizenship or sent to Guatanamo (as Bush plans) how large do you expect future protests to be?

The NeoConservative
imperial strategy
towards the Arab world

“The NeoCon imperial strategy towards the Arab world is distinctive. It basically involves—at least in the mind of its American Likudnik designers—fighting a proxy war for Israel in the MidEast. This has been the dream of Israeli Likudniks since Oded Yinon first articulated it in 1982, as discussed in Ralph Schoenmann’s book The Hidden History of Zionism. Instead of working with ‘friendly’ Arab regimes they will be overthrown, one by one. This is all articulated in the writings of American neo-cons. Israel will be the hegemon of the Middle East.

“How can Bush do this with resources strained in Iraq? They’ll find a way. The prologue will be a new propaganda build-up with perhaps another Pearl Harbor-style attack within the U.S. For the Likudniks who oppose even a facade of peace negotiations (BTW do you think Arafat just happened to mysteriously get sick?), a big bonus will be the expulsion of the Palestinians from the West Bank, under cover of war. This would not have occurred had Kerry gotten in but then again had he had some guts he would have been elected, and never would have conceded under the shadow of massive voter fraud.


For Cheney of course
the goal is U.S. control
of oil and the world

“For Cheney of course the goal is U.S. control of oil and the world. Israel is incidental to him but the neo-cons are the biggest hawks so they’re in bed together. And then we have the Falwells and Robertsons who HOPE to hasten Armageddon by expelling Palestinians and illegally expanding Israeli territory!

“Yes of course the Democrats NEVER oppose Israel, but they did not sign on to the NeoCon project of fighting a war against the Islamic world. Israelphile Nader (who co-signed a letter with Conyers) was one of the most vociferous opponents of the war in Iraq, and, BTW, American Jews—despite their Likud Party Zionazi ‘leadership’—also opposed the Iraq war. As in 2000, only a small minority of Jews voted for Bush in 2004.
“As far as Kerry goes, his opposition to the policy of ‘escalating’ the war on terrorism was confided to the NY Times magazine, a few weeks ago. He even talked about re-starting the peace process in Israel. Of course he had talked about ‘killing the terrorists’ during the campaign, but he had no chance of getting elected if he sounded ‘weak.’ One of the ironies of the election (and one of Rove’s trumphs) was that Rove made the war hero appear as a ‘girlieman’ and the Chickenhawk like a war hero. Of course the Bushies also convinced the Bush voters that they had found WMD in Iraq!

“On the domestic front Bush can consolidate the Republican dictatorship by appointing 100s of Scalias to the federal courts. Thus the courts will no longer act as a check upon Executive power. If he’s lucky he’ll appoint a Supreme Court judge (besides Rehnquist)—but it does not matter because he ignores their rulings anyway. Bush may have very well won the popular vote; at any rate, he has millions of Christofascists to cheer on any war he undertakes. This is the Israelization of U.S. policy—and it is noteworthy that no matter how unsuccessful Sharon is in defeating terrorism he keeps getting re-elected.



The U.S. is now
a totalitarian
country. Period.

“Of course Bush’s successor—assuming that he decides to step down—will be assured of re-election with Diebold controlling the voting equipment. Bush has succeeded in eliminating all the checks and balances on Executive power, and, unfortunately, unless there is a revolt within the military itself or unless the top echelons of the Republican Party revolt, I cannot see how this disaster can be reversed. The Republicans who control both houses are not going to restore honest elections. The U.S. is now a totalitarian country. Period.

“This is a different program than the Democratic wing of the ruling class ever would have enacted.  But they don’t have the courage to oppose it, so I suppose the point is academic. I suppose it is worth bearing in mind that the ruling class has always been split and is unified only at the beginning of a war, under a threat of challenge to their rule or under a fascist dictatorship where resistance is futile. Thus, rather than risk exposing Bush of electoral fraud, and undermining the democratic legitimacy of the U.S. in the eyes of the world, John Kerry conceded before the vote was even counted. He too will live in infamy for that act of betrayal of his supporters, those who still represented the dream of American democracy as opposed to the theocrats in the red states—the Confederacy.”