Fascism is a nebulous term that people throw around as a pejorative, even for minor things.

When asked what they mean by fascism, they're at a loss. Like the word 'racist,' 'fascism' or 'fascist' is typically used by liberals and their ilk to smear their opponents and to cut off debates. As for those who seriously write about fascism, each seems to have his own definition. Perhaps George Orwell said it best in 1946: "The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies 'something not desirable.'"

Still, a broad working definition of fascism can be found by going to the source -- Benito Mussolini, the father of 20th-century fascism. Mussolini said: "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." Looking out over the American landscape, isn't this almost exactly what we see today, an unholy marriage between the state and big business?

To understand the scope of this, understand that the state is far more than just elected officials. It also includes the massive unelected and mostly unaccountable government bureaucracies which are permanently in place. As for corporations, it includes the mainstream media which could properly be called the corporate media. In the U.S. today, six media behemoths control a whopping 90% of what Americans read, watch, and listen to. They are GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Timer-Warner, and CBS. Other corporate players include the tech companies, the big banks, and international corporations which are too numerous to mention.

The current Wuhan pandemic provides an excellent illustration of how American corporatism works.

Pfizer and Moderna produce the COVID vaccines while Washington and many state governments act as cheerleaders for them through their no-excuse vaccination mandates. The corporate media spews out praises of the vaccines, all the while lying about their effectiveness and ignoring the adverse reactions to them. At the same time, the high-tech companies, which dominate social media, squelch any criticism of the vaccines even when such criticism is presented by highly creditable doctors and scientists and is substantiated by actual results on the ground. Government bureaucracies like the CDC and the FDA did their part also by issuing emergency use authorizations (EUA) for these experimental vaccines when effective treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were available from day one. And FDA still forbids the use of these low-cost generic drugs to treat COVID. And all the while vaccine sales ramp up.

This corporatism goes beyond the COVID vaccines. It's everywhere. As the government-mandated lockdowns devastated small businesses on Main Street, the wealth of corporate billionaires grew. And ask yourself, since the fiscal crisis of 2008, who has been benefiting from the policies of the Federal Reserve, the big banks, or the average American? And when things get sticky, who gets bailed out, the "too big to fail" banks or the likes of Joe the plumber and Jane the hairdresser?

It's all so seamless. The state and the big corporations each provide cover for the other. Here's an example. President Biden said he might use OSHA regulations to force companies of over 100 people to require their employees be vaccinated. And although not such regulations have yet been issued and might never be, many large companies are tripping over themselves to issue such a mandate. One hand here is washing the other.

There's little dissent between the state and the big corporations as to the overall agenda being perused. And that is to increase centralization and government control over society. The only ones on the outside looking in are the American people, the very ones whom government policies are supposed to benefit. Or as the late comedian George Carlin would have put it: "It's a big fancy club, and the American people ain't in it."

If fascism is too harsh a term for you to describe what is going on in America today, then refer to it as corporatism. Mussolini would understand and approve. But whatever you call it, the fact is the existing de facto merger between the state and large corporations is suffocating the middle and working class of America.

Image: FreeSVG // CC0 1.0 public domain

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