Fascism and right wing Trumpist extremism

"Fascism is identified most commonly with Benito Mussolini’s Italy. It is also used to describe Hitler’s Germany and Franco’s Spain, among others.  (Fascism is threatening American democracy!)

Maine Writer: In my opinion Trupziism=Fascism.

It is characterized by militarism and nationalism, usually with a strong dictatorial leader benefiting from a cult of personality. Fascist regimes are often prejudiced against marginalized groups. Their leaders reject liberal democracy, tend to emphasize social and economic control and are generally not averse to the use of violence," Nicholas Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times.

"Fascism does not merely condone violence, it is violence," George Will in The Washington Post. 

"The Republican Party has embraced American fascism, an anti-democratic ideology that is unique to the US and is engrained deeper in Americans' collective consciousness and history than most of us have been taught," Linette Lopez in Business Insider

Two opinion echo letters published in the Los Angeles Times: 

To the editor: Nicholas Goldberg defined fascism as “a terrifying totalitarian movement that plunged the world into an era of near-cataclysmic violence.” Isn’t the sordid spectacle of the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)- held in  a disconcerting sign of what our future holds? Thousands of predominantly white Republican Christian nationalists worshiping a golden idol in rhapsodic frenzy was not simply “un-American” — this was the U.S. version of the Nuremberg rallies.

From Melissa Verdugo, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

To the editor: My understanding of fascism, as associated with Mussolini’s regime, was a nationalist economic philosophy where the benefits of government, industrial complex and military were aligned to the detriment of the individual. I believe President Eisenhower was trying to warn us about this in his farewell speech.

Since dictators Mussolini and Hitler were the “face” of fascism, their despicable authoritarian policies, racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism overshadowed the economics and became the connotation for “fascist” — in particular to those born after 1945, who only know of World War II from history books.

Gilbert H. Skopp, Calabasas California

Republicans are responsible for this jobs report- WSJ

Slowdown in State, Local Investment Dents U.S. Economy
Cities and states slashed spending on infrastructure—from highways to sewage systems to police stations.

Wall Street Journal reports:

America's roads are an embarrassment - President Eisenhower expected more from our maintenance. 

President Eisenhower Friday, 29 June 1956, kicked off the largest road-building program in US history. Of the $33,480,000,000 total cost, a large share of the cost would be met by the federal government, with much smaller matching contributions from the states He signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, a bipartisan bill sent to him by Congress three days earlier in the week, which authorized the expenditure.

By ERIC MORATH and BEN LEUBSDORF Oct. 26, 2016 

A sharp pullback in spending by cities and states on infrastructure—from highways to sewage systems to police stations—is weighing down on U.S. economic growth.

Such government austerity is unusual in the eighth year of an economic expansion, and it is acting as a headwind for economic expansion just as the worst effects of the energy-industry bust, a strong dollar and inventory drawdown are fading.

The decline in state and local investment depressed gross domestic product growth this spring and was on track to weigh on economic growth again in the third quarter.

“We’re seeing anemic [government] revenue growth and consistent austerity-oriented budgets,” said Gabe Petek, managing director for state ratings at S&P Global Ratings. States are trimming investments in infrastructure and higher education, “areas of the budget helpful for generating economic growth going forward,” he said.

In​ Kansas (where President Eisenhower was born!), officials this spring delayed 24 road-construction projects to help balance the state budget. The more than $500 million in work had been slated to start by the end of 2018, including expanding U.S. 50 into a four-lane expressway near Dodge City.

Instead, the state will spend money to maintain existing roads. “We want to make sure the roadways we currently have are in the best condition as possible,” said Joel Skelley,director of policy at the Kansas Department of Transportation. ​

Total state and local government spending last year accounted for roughly 11% of U.S. economic output, four times as large as federal nondefense spending, and swings in public investment can have outsize effects on the growth rate. The Commerce Department will release its first estimate for third-quarter GDP on Friday.

Many state governments have yet to fully recover from the recession and associated steep declines in tax revenue. 

Moreover, in late 2015, inflation-adjusted tax revenue was lower in 21 states, compared with the peak before or during the recession, according to Pew Charitable Trusts.

The situation doesn’t seem to be improving. Preliminary data indicate that state tax revenue fell 2.1% in the second quarter from a year earlier after advancing just 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The recent drop reflected mixed stock-market returns and slowing growth in sales-tax collection and paycheck withholding.

Revenue declines restrain the ability of state and local governments to borrow money for capital projects. Such a situation prompted Connecticut to cancel or delay selling about $1 billion in bonds earlier this year. By law, the state has a debt limit tied to tax collections, and lawmakers must make cuts when the limit can’t be raised.

As a result of the lost funding, the University of Connecticut is delaying a $150 million renovation of its Gant Science Complex by several months and postponed plans for a $10 million overhaul of the roof at Gampel Pavilion, home of the national-champion Husky basketball teams. Instead, the university will use caulk to fix the leaks.

“We’re trying to balance priorities,” said Scott Jordan, the university’s chief financial officer. The cuts are “forcing us to take a look at what things support our core mission and Connecticut’s economy,” he said.

At the same time tax revenue is falling, costs for Medicaid, public-employee health care and pension obligations are rising, leaving many states with little discretion to deploy tax dollars elsewhere.

Democrats and Republicans disagree on the appropriate size and role of government, but infrastructure spending often enjoys bipartisan support. President Barack Obama and the GOP-led Congress last year enacted a $305 billion, five-year highway bill. Many Republican governors advocate spending to repair crumbling roads and support basic services, though some favor public-private partnerships for infrastructure.

Still, some conservative economists argue the system of tax collection and government funding is inefficient and that long-run economic growth would benefit from fewer public outlays.

For governments faced with tight funding, putting off building projects can be more politically palatable than sharp cutbacks in public safety or school budgets.

Construction spending by state and local governments fell in August to its lowest level since March 2014, according to the most recent data from the Commerce Department.Through this year’s first eight months, such spending was down 1.4% from a year earlier, while federal-government construction outlays were flat and private-sector construction spending was up 7% compared with the same period in 2015.

The government cutbacks could dent U.S. economic growth overall, many economists say.

“It’s going to be a very significant drag in the third quarter,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson. But he said he expects a rebound in late 2016 or next year because the volatile construction-spending data are undershooting the trend suggested by government revenue numbers.

Construction of public buildings—courthouses, fire stations and other government facilities—should begin to rise in 2017 after years of decline, Dodge Data & Analytics predicted in a recent annual outlook. “This is expected to be the bottom of the cycle for public buildings, as government fiscal conditions have slowly mended,” the report said.

Troubled finances are weighing on state credit ratings, a report card of fiscal health. S&P downgraded its ratings of six states so far this year—the most since 1991.

The downgrades include states where political gridlock has upended the budgeting process, while in others, such as Alaska and North Dakota, a pullback in the energy industry is weighing on tax collections.

Despite the downgrades, state debt remains highly rated, including 15 states with the highest AAA-rating.

Past economic expansions gave states an opportunity to make critical investments and build up rainy day funds and other buffers to protect against recessions. That isn’t happening in several states this time. The median state in fiscal 2016 could run on its reserves for 29.2 days, down 14 days from the level a decade earlier, according to Pew,

Most states are selling bonds to refinance existing debt, not to raise funds for investment in new projects.

“We’re not seeing a push to take advantage of the lower interest rates” to raise new funds, said S&P’s Mr. Petek. “It’s not our forecast, but you can’t rule out a recession in the next two or three years, and several states haven’t put themselves in a good position to weather it.”

(There's no question in my mind that if the issue of tax relief was correlated with economic growth, the entire US economy would be in the stratosphere of being robust right now....hypocritical and greedy Republicans would rather bring down our entire economy than to reinvest income redistribution where it's needed to improve our human condition and quality of life.)

Emminent domain and the Keystone Pipeline

A heated exchange about the concept of "emminent domain" caused the audience to engage in booing Donald Trump, at the Feb. 6th, Republican "political Punch and Judy show", in New Hampshire. Indeed, Donald Trump gets the "broken debate clock" award for his educational response to use of "emminent domain".

As a matter of fact, Donald Trump was right in his response - the use of emmient domain is important in advancing the greater good.

Emminent domain means compulsory purchase of property, typically for the purposes of development related to public use or municipal rennovations. Conceptually, Republicans are opposed to it, unless there's money to be made by the people who are in the path of the emminent domain. It's a hypocritical position. In fact, emminent domain is often an excellent way of improving the economy for everyone. Moreover, it's costly. Properties involved is purchased at fair market values and, frequently, taxes are raised to pay for the proposed projects. For example, President Eisenhower advanced "emminent domain" to promote the nation's important interstate highway system.  On August 2, 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Although Republicans respond to "emminent domain" like a cat recoils from water, the fact is, their support for approving the Keystone Pipeline system is reliant on the use of this compulsory purchase in mutiple states. In other words, Republicans despise "emminent domain" unless the end result means somebody gets rich as a result.

Imagine the "compulsory purchase" involved in building the Keystone Pipeline System!

Republicans support the Keystone Pipeline but, in fact, the system will never move forward without the use of emminent domain.

It doesn't take "rocket science" to figure out how emminent domain works to build the Keystone Pipeline System

The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010. It runs from theWestern Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas, and also to oil tank farms and an oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Three phases of the project are in operation. They are:
The Keystone Pipeline (Phase I), delivering oil from Hardisty, Alberta, over 3,456 kilometres (2,147 mi) to the junction at Steele City, Nebraska, and on to Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois, and Patoka Oil Terminal Hub (tank farm) north of Patoka, Illinois, completed in June 2010. The Keystone-Cushing extension (Phase II), running 468 kilometres (291 mi) from Steele City to storage and distribution facilities (tank farm) at Cushing, Oklahoma, completed in February 2011. The Gulf Coast Extension (Phase III), running 784 kilometres (487 mi) from Cushing to refineries at Port Arthur, Texas was completed in January 2014, and a lateral pipeline to refineries at Houston, Texas and a terminal will be completed late 2015, going online a year later.

In other words, emminent domain is against the Republican way of doing things, unless, of course, they can figure out how to use public money to make fortunes.

Wrong minded right wing American history about immigration

There is an ironic inverse correlation about how Republicans misunderstand immigration. 

In other words, conservative Americans who oppose immigration reforms or a path to citizenship aka "amnesty", are ignoring their their owns heritages while truth and facts don't support their extremist points of view.

General George Washington needed the help of the French in the American Revolution

Apparantly, when it comes to immigration, many Americans, who are particularly right wing conservatives, seem to think this issue isn't about "us".  In fact, the "US", to a person, excluding the Native Americans, is an immigrant nation.  

Here are some historical incongruouss facts about the  right wing American assumptions concerning immigration. 

Largely, right wingers like Ted Cruz aka "Cruz to loose", the Republican Senator from Texas and presidential "wanna-be", think immigrants pose a threat to our nation's security and the economy.  "Cruz to loose" and his "think a-likers" are absolutely wrong minded! In fact, the American military employs thousands of patriotic loyal men and women who are either immigrants or first generation immigrants. They are protecting our nation in war and peace. Seconly, immigrants contribute to the growth of our nation's economy, rather than take from it. In fact, immigrants pay taxes, obey the laws, consume goods and work hard at jobs many Americans don't particularly care to do for ourselves.

American history has plentyof examples of wrong minded immigrantion thinking.

1.  Let's begin with the French troops who assisted General George Washington and assisted Americans to win the Revolutionary War!

2.  During America's industrial expansion, when manufacturing companies were thriving, it was immigrants from Ireland and French Canada who helped to keep badly needed mills thriving, while the bosses made fortunes. Often, the immigrant workers, who provided the labor, were required to live in squalor and frequently died of infectious diseases. 

3.  President Eisenhower's "wetback" policy, to respond to a growing Mexican immigration problem, was proven to be a disasterous failure. In fact, operation "Wetback", now a deragatory term, was an immigration law enforcement initiative created by the Immigration and Naturalization Service diirector Joseph Swing. The program was implemented in May 1954 by U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, and utilized special tactics to deal with illegal border crossing and illegal residence in the United States by Mexicans. The program became a contentious issue in Mexico-United States relations. After implementation, Operation Wetback gave rise to arrests and deportations by the U.S. Border Patrol characterized by physical abuse and civil rights violations, and even deportations of hundreds of U. S. citizens unable to convince border agents of their status.  Reports about the deportation process during Operation Wetback described a humanitarian disaster, especially in one incident when 88 deportees died as a result of inhumane conditions in extreme heat.

4.  President Roosevelt's administration prevented the immigration of many Jewish immigrant refugees from Europe, prior to World War II.  Reporting in the Holocaust Encylopedia, establishing a haven in the United States for German Jewish refugees in the 1930s,was extremely difficult for a variety of reasons. Among these were general questions regarding immigration to the United States. The new quota system of the 1924 US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) imposed severe restrictions on immigration based on nationality. Moreover, in 1930, Roosevelt's predecessor, President Herbert Hoover, announced that, given acute unemployment during the Depression, US immigration authorities would henceforth interpret a 1917 ban on immigration of persons “likely to become a public charge” to include persons who were otherwise able to work, but in the conditions of the Depression were unlikely to find a job. As it turned out, the Jewish immigrants who were turned away during the 1930s, certainly could've been valuable citizens by providing badly needed labor during the World War's defense industrial workforce.  

5.  When it came to providing leadership about immigration reform, it was the conservative Republican icon of the past, for the right wingers, President Ronald Reagan, who gave thousands of alien people a path to citizenship. In the Immigration and Control Act of 1986, President Reagan, in reality, created a GOP supportive voting block among Hispanics when he promoted this "amnesty" legislation. At the time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that about four million illegal immigrants would apply for legal status through the act and that roughly half of them would be eligible.

Now, right wingers like "Cruz to loose" and think a-likers are saying the US should stop desperate Syrian refugees from immigration into the United States, because one of the killers who attaked Paris on Novembr 13, may have had a Syrian passport? 

"There you go again" as President Reagon once said. This incongruous thinking proved to be wrong minded in the past. Consequently, there's every reason to believe blocking immigration reform is, likewise, wrong for our nation's future.  

America is an immigrant nation and Senator Ted Cruz,, who was born in Canada, knows he's wrong to oppose Syrian immigrants from legally entering the US.