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Friendly Fascism
Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America | Bertram Gross
3 posts | 4 to read
A look at corporate authoritarianism that William Shirer called “the best thing I’ve ever seen on how America might go fascist democratically.” In 1980, US capitalist politics wore a “nice-guy mask,” a troubling disguise to cover up a creeping despotism in which the ultra-rich and corporate overseers were merging with a centralized state power in order to manage the populace. This immanent corporate authoritarianism threatened to subvert constitutional democracy. But unlike the violent and sudden usurpations that led to fascism in the days of Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese empire builders, this new “smiling” American breed of fascism was gaining ground through gradual and silent infringements on the freedoms of the American people. First published over three decades ago, Friendly Fascism is uncannily predictive of the threats and realities of current political and economic power trends. Author Bertram Gross, a presidential adviser during the New Deal era, traces the history and logic of declining democracy in First World countries and pinpoints capitalist transnational growth and inappropriate responses to global crises as the sources of late twentieth-century despotism in America. Gross issues ever-urgent warnings about what happens when big business and big government become bedfellows—chronic inflation, recurring recession, overt and hidden unemployment, the poisoning of the environment—and simultaneously proffers a practical shift of perspective that could help US citizens build a truer democracy. He imagines an America in which heroes are no longer needed and the leadership is a group of non-elitists who “recognize the ignorance of the wise as well as the wisdom of the ignorant.”
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ColleenLindsay
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Presented without comment.

Julsmarshall No comment necessary. 8y
sammisho I don't know if I should laugh or cry. 8y
Prairiegirl_reading He reminds me of Colonel Blake on Mash when Radar would hand him papers to sign and he'd just sign off on anything without reading. We all know he doesn't read. 8y
melbeautyandbooks Wow! I think this might be pretty accurate and scary! 8y
63 likes5 comments
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Has anyone read this? I just heard about it today from a Dem friend. Curious to know your thoughts! #resistlist #overthis

MyNamesParadise The fucker, I mean, our President signed at least one more executive order today. #TellMeHeIsntHitler 8y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MyNamesParadise No more "wait and see." This is a nightmare. 8y
70 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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LindsayReads
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99 cents today...seems like an #overit read? It would appear this edition was released this year, so presumably the content is up-to-date.

BarbaraTheBibliophage I just heard about this book. Sure wish I would have seen your post and bought it for $.99! 8y
20 likes1 comment