“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” – Benito Mussolini
Talk about your public/private partnerships! This is scary. Forget the extra-constitutional power this gives an exclusive club of people for a minute… We’ve got Blackwater training to secure the county in the event of martial law, we have corporate cronies given incentives to spy on us along with the ability to have whistleblowers investigated, and add to that we have the Senate considering immunity for the Bush administration and the telecommunications companies for spying on us. What’s next, Brownshirts?
The FBI Deputizes Business
By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive
February 7, 2008
Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public doesâ€â€and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to “shoot to kill†in the event of martial law.
InfraGard is “a child of the FBI,†says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm. FULL STORY ÂÂ
Fascism in the USA–if it ever comes–will go under the sign of the flag and entail a partnership of corporate and government authority.
Today’s Senate vote on the Telecom immunity issue is a case in point. Check out how your favorite senator-turned-presidential candidate voted (hint: one voted to hold Telecoms responsible for any possible criminal collusion with Bush and one did not vote):
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00015