Fascists are morphed Populists

Confronting the Roots of American-Style Fascism in One Family's History by Julie Carr, a poet and Professor of English at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the author of Mud, Blood, and Ghosts: Populism, Eugenics, and Spiritualism in the American West, which will be published in May by University of Nebraska Press.

Omer Madison Kem (standing) with his family and their sod house, Nebraska 1886.

These days, not many people talks about the populists. In the age of Ron DeSantis and MTG (Ugh! Marjorie Taylor Greene!)  we’re more likely to see the MAGA crowd, or at least some of their leaders, referred to as fascists. 

But back in 2016, Trump’s followers were routinely described as populists, though hardly anyone seemed sure of what that meant. Because, my great-grandfather, Omer Madison Kem, was a founding member of the original Populist Party, formed in the 1890s from the Famers’ Alliance in the South and West in protest against the vast abuses and inequalities of the Gilded Age, I thought I did know something about it. 

For example, I knew that the Populists had fought against political corruption and capitalist greed and for the rights of workers, farmers, and the poor.

When way back in 1892, Omer Kem and ten other Populists entered Congress as Senators and Representatives, mostly from the Plains states, they took radical and pro-worker positions in debates surrounding tariffs, taxes, and the rights of the poor. 

Over a period of 60 years, the state forcibly sterilized over 2,600 Oregonians. From 1923 to 1983, Oregon law allowed for compulsory sterilization of those deemed unfit for reproduction.

During the 1892, legislative session Kem and the other Populists called for the forfeiture of railroad land grants, an eight-hour workday law, and the nationalization of transportation and finance. 

After Pinkerton agents killed at least seven strikers during the Homestead Strike that July, 1892, Kem supported a resolution to investigate the corporate use of violent strikebreakers. 

Kem advocated for direct election of U.S. Senators (rather than election by state legislatures), demanded safeguards against land speculation in the West, so that “men of very meager means” could have the “privilege of making for [him]self and [his] family a home,” and in 1894, while the country faced a devastating depression, Kem argued passionately for a graduated income tax so that the rich would be compelled to support the needs of the vulnerable.

At a time when 9 percent of American families owned 71 percent of the country’s wealth, when the average industrial worker lived on $406 a year, and when striking workers were routinely beaten and shot at by hired thugs, the Populists had actively and energetically sought justice for the working poor. 

As Black Kansas Populist Benjamin F. Foster wrote, the Populists “are in favor of the masses and against monopolies. It is the party of the poor man ... and would give him a chance to live and heal his present misery.”

And yet, just less than a decade after his time in Congress, my great-grandfather became a passionate advocate for eugenics, including the forced sterilization of people he considered “unfit to breed.” In the 1910s, ’20s, and ’30s, he eagerly trafficked in the scientific racism that has long influenced U.S. immigration, and criminal justice policies, and both European and American fascism, to this day.

What is the connection between the Populist cry for equality (“equal rights for all, special privileges for none!” was their slogan) and the turn toward a proto-fascist belief that some people are worthy of life and reproduction and others not? 

From 1896's, An Illustrated Congressional Manual: The United States Red Book.  Omer Kem (b. November 15, 1855 in Hagerstown, Indiana; d. February 13, 1942 in Cottage Grove, Oregon.)

Was it simply that Omer Kem, along with much of the country, got caught up in the pseudo-science of the day (social Darwinism mixed with Mendelian genetics)? Or was there something deeper in Kem’s Populist roots that would lead him in 1926, to write a letter to the Oregonian in which he advocated (as he had many times in letters to family, friends, and other papers) for the forced sterilization of the poor, and then a decade later to go even further with a quasi-endorsement of infanticide? ❗

That letter to the Oregonian earned Kem an admiring response from a man named Mr. Schuman, a member of a Portland (Oregon) -based fascist organization, the Nordic Aryan League of America ❗, who addresses Omer “with Aryan greetings.” Kem finds the writer a little batty but does not hesitate to respond, noting that he and his interlocutor are in general agreement about the value of the “Great White Race” (with this phrase my great-grandfather makes me wonder if he’d been reading Madison Grant). 

“The time will come,” he writes, “when so-called white couples marry, they will not know whether their children will be black, white, ringed, streaked, striped, bronzed, or spotted. The only way now left by which this calamity can be averted, is to sterilize all participants in these mixed marriages.”

In a recent talk sponsored by the April Institute for Antifascist Research and Education, Cynthia Miller-Idriss spoke about the factors that can lead someone to become radicalized by White Nationalism or Fascism. 

Citing dates drawn from the biographies of participants in the January 6th, insurrection, Miller-Idriss notes that those who are vulnerable to fascistic thinking (though she does not use that term) tend to be people who, having experienced precariousness, fear losing what power they do have (even if they are currently perfectly well-off): “I call it a kind of precariousness plus entitlement,” she says, “because in order to be afraid of something being taken away from you, you have to think you’re entitled to have it.”

Indeed, this quality defines my great-grandfather and many of the white agrarian Populists from plains states, the vast majority of whom had found their way to Kansas or Nebraska by way of the Homestead Act. 

As poor laborers from mostly the Midwest, they’d been promised the privilege and security of property, but for many it had not turned out that way. Unregulated railroads, falling crop prices, terrible weather conditions, and an aggressive lending industry meant that in 1890s, Nebraska there was one mortgage for every three persons—thus, more than one per family—and most of the farms were mortgaged for all they were worth. It was in these conditions that the Populist party arose; white men, having been promised security at the expense of Native populations deemed unworthy or worse, found themselves nevertheless buried in unpayable debt.

The internal contradiction—between a desired and assumed independence and an actual, though decried, dependence—can be readily seen in the (familiar to us) phrase Kem used to describe his feelings upon first acquiring his homestead: “I had passed my 26th birthday somewhere on the way, acquired 320 acres of fine land and you may rest assured that I was one proud boy.”

Plains Populism arose out of a condition in which the white settler-farmer was deeply insecure in his relation to the land, which was nonetheless the foundation of his identity (and his survival). In this context, it made a kind of perverse and dangerous sense that some settler-homesteaders like Kem would seek to relocate the source of their legitimacy from where they lived and what they did to who they thought they were, that is, from the land to the blood. 

When, in September of 2020, Donald Trump told a crowd of white supporters that they hailed from “good genes,” and referenced “the racehorse theory,” he was offering a clue to where the GOP would go next. One root to this frankly fascistic rhetoric lies in the soil of Kansas and Nebraska, in the settler-history of families, like mine.

Immigrants support the American economy

Reference alert! Read Willa Cather's classic essay:

Nebraska for more perspective about this echo opinion.

Echo letter to The Grand Island Independent, from Guillermo Peña, Grand Island, Nebraska

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, in New York Harbor

You must understand that immigrants have made the American economy and continue to do so. 

We who are descendants of immigrants make the economy and are the heart and soul of the economy.

We continue to hear statements that immigrants are less and that we are not worthy of the pay. No matter if we come from the Philippines, Laos, Sudan, Somali, Italy and especially Latin America, we make up blue-collar workers.

We immigrants continue to work the chains of agriculture.

It is only fair that immigration laws help immigrants to integrate and become part of the good life. The laws should also make sure that everyone is accounted for and that the state and federal governments are getting their fair share of taxes even though, as of now, we immigrants don’t count. We contribute to one of the highest income brackets for the state of Nebraska and the federal government even though we continue being undocumented. 

Undocumented individuals are shunned, we are told we are less than — we are not. We have political power and we have voting power.

It is time to recognize that people in Grand Island, Nebraska have changed their views — and will continue to change — that the immigrants are a working force and a major drive in the heart and soul of Hall County. We continue to push the economy even with cut and bruised hands. It’s the Latinos, Sudanese, Somalians and Laotian/Vietnamese who continue to be the driving force in the Heartland. Moreover, I will continue to remind people about who puts that steak at your table — it’s my parents. If that doesn’t scream blue collar and family, I don’t know what does.

Let’s never forget our Native brothers in Nebraska and our decedent brothers from Germany, who founded this town Grand Island and the state of Nebraska with equality before the law.

Donald Trump and Joseph Goebbels

Echo opinion letter: Has the 'Big Lie' been resurrected?

https://starherald.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-to-the-editor-has-the-big-lie-been-resurrected/article_44d58ad9-7357-5d0c-b38e-ac8a4ed3fddc.html#tracking-source=article-related-bottom

Published in the Star-Herald, Nebraska newspaper:

To the editor: I grew up during WWII, and as a child, I recall the time that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the president, (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) with the approval of Congress, declared war on Japan and Germany. It was December, and I remember that night, the newspaper boy going through the neighborhood, shouting: "Read all about it! President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany.”

People readily engaged in patriotic activities, even we children. A call went out for scrap metal, tires and other materials that could be used in the war effort. We children went through neighborhoods, collecting scrap, putting it in our wagons and taking it to the neighborhood collection sites. Mr. Tabor, a WWI vet and a neighbor, was in charge of the collection sites.

Weekly news reels in theaters kept us apprised of the unfolding war events. Pictures were seared in my childhood head, some of which remain with me to this day. Among the images were that of Adolf Hitler and his staff, including his propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. Yes, there were the ghastly images of what was happening to Jewish men, women and children.

Hitler needed a scapegoat, which meant that he needed a safe target to complain about, someone who had little power and who could not fight back. The target was Jewish people, who as I understand it, had experienced the horror and pain of discrimination throughout Europe.

This is where Joseph Goebbels enters the picture. Goebbels believed that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.”

Joseph Goebbels, (29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda, with Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.

The big lie was about Jewish people being at fault for the poor social-economic state of Germany.

Has the concept of the “big lie” been resurrected in our (Trump!) time? It is interesting that one of our Nebraska senators chose to protest the results of the presidential election. I wonder if Representative Smith knew that a number of courts, including the Supreme Court, denied the big lie of Rudy Giuliani and President Trump?  Opinion, from Tom Perkins, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Teach Donald Trump to count

Echo opinion letter to the editor, published in the Nebraska Sun-Journal newspaper:

Sesame Street "The Count"

Maine Writer note:  It is difficult for #DonaldTrump to read and count, but even our genetic relatives, the intelligent gorillas, can be taught to count to 3.....so, it's a mystery to me why Trump cannot understand how it is that the state of Georgia counted three times, and came up with the same result.  In other words, Trump lost x 3!

THREE times the votes were tallied in Georgia. 

Three times, Joe Biden secured the presidential election.

Moreover, on Jan.6th, the electoral ballots were to be counted and challenged. 

Protesters were present who opposed the election. Donald Trump addressed those protesters and vowed not to concede! Afterwards radical zealots marched to and stormed Capitol Hill, seizing the building with malicious intent. Donald Trump, addressing the group stated “he loves them” and understands their pain; then asks them to leave peacefully. I respect those who don’t follow in my beliefs. For those who feel the domestic terrorists, who stormed Capitol Hill, were heroes, I have no respect for you. To Adrian Smith and other government officials who have cowered to a (sick!) narcissistic, authoritarian president tRump (!)-you should resign immediately!

Thank you Ben Sasse and all other officials who stand for democracy!  From Cathy Bowman,  Gering Nebraska

Vaccinations prevent disease - Nebraska public health funded by anonymous donor

https://www.omaha.com/opinion/editorial-vaccination-campaign-in-omaha-area-helps-kids-and-the/article_1b5043de-780a-51bc-94f5-bfba98e40614.html

Editorial echo: Vaccination campaign in Omaha area helps kids and the entire community

 

Young girls can prevent life threatening diseases by receiving vaccinations to prevent the papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

A new collaborative effort aims to boost the adolescent vaccination rate in the Omaha area. 

The initiative has an important public health message: Parents can get their children, ages 9 and older, vaccinated at the local pharmacy.
Public health experts have set a national target of an 80 percent vaccination rate for adolescents. Nebraska’s rates fall short, with 61 percent of the state’s girls and 56 percent of boys up to date on their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, one of three vaccines needed for adolescents. (Meningococcal, HPV and Tdap - tetnus,diptheria and pertussis) 

https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/physical-health-and-nutrition/vaccines/what-vaccines-do-adolescents-need/index.html

All three vaccines can be given together in one visit. 

Moreover, the vaccines are typically covered by health insurance.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health and College of Pharmacy and the Douglas County Health Department have launched a campaign to inform parents. CVS, Walgreens and Hy-Vee pharmacies are participating as part of a two-year, community-based research study funded by an anonymous $300,000 donation to the University of Nebraska Foundation.

Getting children up to date with their vaccinations is one of the most important things a parent or guardian can do, with benefits for not only the children but for our community as whole.

Nebraska echo- Letter to editor: Senate needs humane bill

Senator Ben Sasse and Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, must be reading letters to the editors published in their state's newspapers. 

Here's an echo post, from among the many, written by Joe Shaw of Lincoln, Nebraska, published in the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper.

Senator Ben Sasse has the ability to prevent his constituents from the harmful impact of an unnecessary repeal of the successful Affordable Care Act

LINCOLN, Nebraska- I urge our senators to vote no on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. I count many friends and family members among the 22 million Americans who will lose insurance.

At 57 and with diabetes, which is under control, I am afraid my pre-existing condition and age will result in much higher premiums that my family just can't afford.

Congress, if it wished, could fix the problems with the ACA, with an aim of lowering and controlling the spiraling costs of healthcare. Why isn't this their aim? I am baffled by both the Senate and the House bills, which mostly seem to be cuts to Medicaid in order to provide tax cuts to the richest 1 percent.

I implore our senators to represent us all and craft a humane healthcare bill that will work for all Americans.

Joe Shaw, Lincoln

Republican cruel "unhealthy plan" will do more harm

While Internet cruising various so called "red state" newspapers, I don't delve very far into recent editorials and letters to the editors to find stress about funding our most vulnerable citizens. Medicaid cuts will make these editorials more prevalent and even easier to find. The question, of course, is about who will do something to protect the most vulnerable among us?  Republican cuts to Medicaid will do more harm to treatment programs and damage the people who are in need of being served.

Children and adolescent mental health services are vital to protect our nation's future

In Nebraska- the Omaha World Herald

Editorial: Closing of facilities putting a strain on Nebraska's behavioral health providers

World-Herald editorial Jun 30, 2017 

Churn in the business world is commonplace. Some companies last; others fail to make it and are forced to close shop.

Nebraska is lately seeing another type of churn, a troubling one: the closing of some entities that provide mental health and substance abuse services, and stressed financial conditions for others.

ABH Addiction & Behavioral Health Services, an Omaha-based small business that has provided services to adolescents and families, recently closed. ABH, which operated in Omaha for 17 years, was serving more than 50 youths at the time of its closing and had a waiting list for its services.

Journeys, a 16-bed residential therapeutic group home for teenagers in Omaha, closed in January.

Inadequate reimbursement for services, compelled ABH to close, said Angie Bellinghausen, its president and clinical director, to The World-Herald.

It’s true that in some cases, other providers can pick up the burden. That’s what happened when three organizations commendably took over duties at Campus for Hope, an addiction treatment center in Omaha’s north downtown, when Catholic Charities stepped away from providing such services.

But many mental health and substance abuse treatment providers in Nebraska are under major financial stress due to problems with claims processing and authorization of care under Medicaid. Nebraska lawmakers heard testimony on the problem Tuesday.

The reimbursement problem is also affecting other Nebraska health care providers, such as doctors, nursing homes and home health providers.

Nebraska shifted on Jan. 1 to a new Medicaid processing system called Heritage Health. Under it, providers of health care or behavior health services can choose among three managed care companies administering the bulk of the state’s Medicaid program.

The new approach facilitates treating patients’ range of conditions, mental as well as physical. But so far the claims processing has in many cases failed to reimburse providers accurately and in a timely fashion.