Rick Scott's Fascist Vision For America
Fascism is difficult to define, but like pornography, we know it when we see it. Rick Scott wants to bring fascism to America and he has an 11-point plan to do so.
Rick Scott has penned an 11-point document that outlines his vision for America just in time for the midterms. It is full of red meat for the GOP base, and the ideas laid out in the document look a lot like fascism to me. Anyone who understands history, particularly the fascist movements that we fought against in World War II, should be frightened by the openly fascist ideology being bandied about in this document.
Mindy Weisberger
It isn't like this is the first sign of fascism formalized by the Republican party. In 2020 the GOP decided to republish the party platform document from the 2016 election with just a tiny change-a resolution/preamble that pledged undying support for Donald Trump.
A critical component that shapes fascist movements is when the leader of a movement claims to speak for a whole nation. The group is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others and is willing to use violence. They are eager to use whatever means necessary to achieve the goals they might have. They will construct an "us vs. them" narrative and construct a bogeyman to project their problems and fears.
They will storm capitol buildings and claim that it is everyday political discourse. They will try to rewrite history and imprison their political foes. Yep, we are well on our way, folks.
Rick Scott seems to have no grasp of history while advocating for the revisionist history the GOP has been clamoring for over the past year. His first point focuses on "education," In the lede, he says nothing about the educational system. Instead, Mr. Scott suggests we "inspire patriotism" and stop teaching the "revisionist history of the left." He postulates that critical race theory is a political ideology (as opposed to an academic study. "We need to get back to teaching the three R's" (reading, writing, and 'rithmetic), taking us back to the 19th-century view of education. He suggests that our kids will say the pledge of allegiance and salute the flag. Or else?
His second point argues that America will eliminate race from our politics and that we are all made in the image of God. This kind of talk is hardly American by any standard, as we have enshrined in our constitution the freedom of religion-Mr. Scott thinks that is all poppycock and that we are a Christian nation. All the keyword triggers are in the document: socialism, family, God, Israel. It is a red meat feast!
It goes nowhere but downhill, screaming toward the fascism stop at the bottom. "The soft-on-crime days of coddling criminal behavior will end. We will re-fund and respect the police because they, not the criminals, are the good guys." I wonder what George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Nicholas Bils, Cameron Lamb, Jared Lakey, Daniel Hambrick, and the 100s of other wrongfully murdered people have to say about it. Oh yeh, they are dead.
He wants to secure the border and name it after Donald Trump. I mean, what the fuck. Not to be outdone by the previous points, he goes on to ostracize the transgender community and women's reproductive rights with the statement, "Men are men, women are women, and unborn babies are babies." and emphasizes that science is his guide. Not this science.
The entire document paints the Democrats as un-American, and he attempts to position the GOP as the patriarchal savior for America. In #10, he suggests that current Americans cannot welcome God into all aspects of their lives and that Democrats and Big Tech are secularizing the world with wokeness. I don't even know what the fuck that means to be completely honest. If you are Hindu or an atheist with a different viewpoint of God, you are shit out of luck in his vision for America. Perhaps you don't belong?
He continues by wrapping the manifesto in a bow with his last point by suggesting that America will isolate itself from the outside world and that we are not "globalists." We know what this word means, and so does his base. Language like this is straight-up Zionist and targets another facet of the GOP base. Don't believe me? "We will only help countries that are willing to defend themselves, like Israel." Interesting choice, as if that is the only country that actively defends itself.
One might surmise that the declaration oozes patriarchy, but it will play with his hard-right base. The "Rescue America" plan is not the vision for America that will sustain itself, nor is this a vision that aligns with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution! But this document captures the GOP's current state and why they will go down as the party that almost brought fascism to America. I say "almost" with optimism that America will come to its senses, or history is bound to repeat itself.
