Liz Cheney, Fascist

Nope, at this point I have no qualms about calling LIz Cheney a fascist. Nor do I worry that I am being to strident and bringing down the tone of the conversation. No, at times we have to speak truth to power and the truth is that some of the leaders of the conservative movement are clearly fascists and that Liz Cheney is one of them. I'm not speaking in the general way that Hunter Thompson did when he labeled anything politically conservative as either fascist or Nazi (which was just a German brand of fascism after all). I am speaking in the specific: a political ideology that is extremely nationalistic and authoritarian and which seeks to organize the government on corporatist grounds, one which bullies the opposition and governs through intimidation and fear. Fascism is the absurd extreme of conservativism (just as communism is the absurd extreme of liberalsim). And Liz Cheney is a fascist.

In case there was any doubt, read how she has labeled lawyers who helped to represent terrorism suspects and who now work for the justice department as "The Al Queda Seven" and has suggested that they are terrorist sympathizers. She asks if they share our values (she certainly does not share mine--that is my values on justice and the constitution, which she seems not to value at all). In this nation everyone has a right to legal representation. Condemning a lawyer solely because of his or her client list is wrong. It has a chilling effect on our legal system. Liz Cheney is so far off on this that several conservative pundits and lawyers are condemning her statements. One even compared her to McCarthy and said that Cheney might be worse. There is little difference between McCarthy trying to intimidate people into giving up their communist associates and Liz Cheney trying to intimidate people because they had the temerity to offer counsel to someone who needed it. WHen it comes right down to it what we are talking about is guilt by association, being guilty simply because you have associated with communists or with terrorists or with gays or with jews. Hell, in this case we are not even talking about a friendly or a political association. We are talking about lawyers representing clients!!

People have got to stand up to these people and say that, yes, while you have the right to express your opinion, what you have said is fascistic. It is vile and evil and un-American. It could have come right off the pen of Josef Goebles. It is nationalist bullying in an attempt to intimidate political opposition from a reactionary right winger who advocates an authoritarian domestic policy and a belligerent foreign policy.

And that makes you, Liz Cheney, a fascist.