america is lowkey fascist frfr

Researchers have identified connections between fascism and the ideals of Plato, though there are significant distinctions between the two. Italian fascism positioned itself as the ideological heir to Ancient Rome, particularly the Roman Empire. The philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, which emphasized the absolute authority of the state, had a profound influence on fascist ideology. The 1789 French Revolution also played a pivotal role, as the Nazis perceived themselves as resisting many of the ideas it championed, particularly those related to liberalism, liberal democracy, and racial equality. In contrast, fascism significantly embraced the revolutionary ideal of nationalism. Central to Nazi racial ideology was the belief in a "high and noble" Aryan culture opposed to a "parasitic" Semitic culture. Meanwhile, earlier forms of fascism focused more on non-racialized notions of their respective nations.

Fascist movements typically display several key themes, including authoritarianism, nationalism, which encompasses both racial and religious forms, hierarchy, elitism, and militarism. Additional characteristics of fascism, such as a perception of societal decline, anti-egalitarianism, and totalitarianism, can be traced back to these core principles. Roger Griffin hypothesizes that fascism represents a synthesis of totalitarianism and ultranationalism, underscored by the myth of national rebirth and regeneration, a concept he refers to as "palingenetic ultranationalism."

This essay is going to go in-depth as to why dangerous ideas such as authoritarianism, hierarchy, elitism, sensationalism, egocentricity, anti-egalitarianism, and totalitarianism are currently being implemented into the U.S government and damaging the freedom it hypocritically prides itself in.

Point number one, the Ku Klux Klan. Starting in Pulaski, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve of 1865, six former Confederate officers, James Crowe, J. Calvin Jones, John Kennedy, John Lester, Frank McCord, and Richard Reed, founded the Klan. They attempted to fight back against the reconstruction efforts of the United States Congress through 1865 and 1876. The lack of central organization in the group caused it to fall apart, but, sadly, the second Klan was founded by William Joseph Simmons, a preacher, in 1915 on Thanksgiving Day on the top of Stone Mountain, Georgia. In 1921, the Klan began using a modern business practice, using full-time paid recruiters, it began to appeal to new recruits as a fraternal organization. Then, the third Klan. Prominent in the 1950s and 1960s the name “Ku Klux Klan” was used by many different local right-wing terrorist groups in order to violently protest against desegregation and the civil rights movement.On occasion they would form alliances with southern police departments. In 1964 four members of the Third Klan were charged and convicted of murder for the deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi and for the murder of the children who passed in the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which occurred in Birmingham, Alabama on the 15th of September 1963. It took until 1999 for Charleston, South Carolina to consider the clan a terrorist group. 

These images were taken by Anthony S. Karen in 2009, the klan was still very active by this time. As of 2019, the Anti-Defamation League estimated there to be around 3,000 Klan members, while the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated 6,000. That is around 30 to 51 active Ku Klux Klan groups, and nothing is being done about them, their terrorism, or their violence.

Moving on to the next point, AFC, the America First Committee. Formed on the 4th of September 1940 by Robert D. Stuart Jr. at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, the America First Committee was an isolationist pressure group opposing the United States’ entry into World War II. Surpassing 800,000 with 450 chapters at its peak. It had a diverse bunch, including Republicans, Democrats, farmers, industrialists, Progressives, Communists, anti-Communists, and anything else you can think of. Though, despite attracting such a wide array of characters, the AFC got into controversy for its anti-Semitic, pro-fascist, and pro-Nazi ideologies found in its prominent leaders, speakers, and members. "Seeking to brand itself as a mainstream organization, America First struggled with the problem of anti-Semitism of some of its leaders and many of its members," said the historian Dunn. Now, the group had some Jewish members in the beginning. Lessing J. Rosenwald was on the national committee, former California congresswoman Florence Prag Kahn was a member, and the first publicity director for the AFC’s New York chapter was Jewish, but the Anti-Semite Henry Ford had joined the national committee at the same time as Rosenwald. This eventually led to Rosenwald resigning from the committee. In response the AFC removed Ford, as well as Avery Brundage, who’s behavior at the 1936 Berlin Olympics were considered anti-semetic, from the national committee. Attempts to get more Jewish people to join the AFC were failed. As Dunn writes, "the problem of anti-Semitism remained; some chapter leaders spewed anti-Semitic accusations, while others invited anti-Semitic speakers to address their members." The AFC attempted to keep distance from Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest and radio host, though not directly involved with the America First Committee. While Coughlin was a prominent figure in the 1930s and 1940s known for his radio broadcasts and criticism of the New Deal, he was primarily focused on social and economic issues within the United States, not specifically the international situation leading to World War II, and despite the attempt by the AFC to separate themselves from the radio priest both parties were extremely right-wing and isolationist. The current United States president, Donald J. Trump is using the “America First” slogan, and while denying being an isolationist, his behaviour towards foreign nations says otherwise.

The third point is the German-American Bund. Founded on the 19th of March 1936, led by Fritz Julius Kuhn, the Bund was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany. The organization, whilst denying any connection to the Third Reich, was taking advice and funding from said Nazi organization.

The German-American Bund had five central tenets:

• Establishing white Christian supremacy in the United States;

• Expelling Jews from labor unions and government positions;

• Ending relations with Soviet Russia and outlawing Communism in the United States (which happened);

• Stopping the flow of (Jewish) refugees into the United States

And

• Isolating the United States from international conflicts and world affairs.

America endorsed this Nazi behaviour.

My fourth point is the Japanese-American concentration camps. In 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were living on the U.S. mainland, mostly on the West Coast. Two-thirds of them were U.S. citizens, born and raised in America. But after the attack, fear and suspicion toward Japanese Americans grew. The U.S. government decided to remove nearly all Japanese Americans from their homes and force them to live in camps for most of the war. The government said this was to protect national security, but it went against many of their constitutional rights. Before the war, U.S. agencies like the FBI and Navy intelligence were already watching Japanese Americans. After the Pearl Harbor attack, they arrested over 3,000 people they thought were dangerous. About half were Japanese Americans. However, these agencies believed the rest of the Japanese American population was not a threat. Still, the public was terrified. Japan had won battles in places like Guam and the Philippines, and rumors spread that Japanese Americans had helped Japan attack Pearl Harbor. Some people thought Japanese Americans might help Japan again. Popular newspaper writers added to this fear. One, Walter Lippmann, suggested that Japanese Americans were just waiting for the right time to strike. Another, Westbrook Pegler, said all Japanese Americans in California should be locked up, even if it meant ignoring their legal rights. Government officials were unsure about locking up American citizens without proof of wrongdoing. Attorney General Francis Biddle and Secretary of War Henry Stimson did not support it at first. But military leaders, like Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy, pushed hard for the policy, saying it was necessary for safety. Eventually, Biddle gave in, and Stimson told President Roosevelt it was time to act. On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This allowed the military to create zones where anyone could be removed for almost any reason, leading to the forced relocation of Japanese Americans. While the United States was fighting fascist regimes abroad during World War II, its treatment of Japanese Americans at home revealed troubling similarities to fascist practices. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government, under pressure from military leaders and public hysteria, signed Executive Order 9066. This order allowed the forced removal and incarceration of over 100,000 Japanese Americans, most of them citizens, without trial, evidence, or due process. This kind of unchecked executive and military power mirrors the authoritarian tactics used in fascist regimes, where the state overrides individual rights in the name of national security.

The policy was driven more by racial suspicion than by facts. Intelligence agencies like the FBI and the Office of Naval Intelligence had concluded that Japanese Americans as a group were not a threat. Still, public fear and racism, inflamed by the media, helped justify group punishment based solely on race and ethnicity. This use of nationalism and racial condemnation to justify the harsh and cruel government action is blatant fascism. Not to mention that, the military's ability to overrule civilian leadership in making this decision shows a breakdown in democratic checks and balances—another sign of fascist influence. Though the United States remained a democracy overall, the internment of Japanese Americans represented a moment when democratic values were suspended, and fear-driven authoritarianism took their place. It was a contradiction: a nation fighting fascism overseas while implementing fascist-like policies at home. 

My fifth point is the Counter-Intelligence Program, known as COINTELPRO, was a secret and highly controversial operation run by the FBI from 1956 to 1971. Its stated goal was to protect national security and prevent violence by monitoring subversive groups. However, in reality, it became a tool of political repression, targeting civil rights activists, anti-war protesters, and other progressive movements who were demanding justice and systemic change. Rather than focusing on crime, the FBI used COINTELPRO to silence dissent, discredit activists, and maintain the status quo—often through illegal and unethical means. This program reveals how quickly a government can slip into fascist behavior when it sees its own citizens as enemies for demanding equality and change. The targets of COINTELPRO were wide-ranging but carefully chosen. The FBI focused most of its energy on left-wing movements and individuals who were seen as challenging American power structures. These included the civil rights movement, especially leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Black liberation groups like the Black Panther Party, anti-Vietnam War activists, Native American and Puerto Rican independence organizations, and feminist groups. Though the FBI occasionally investigated white supremacist groups, the majority of its efforts were spent trying to dismantle organizations fighting for racial, economic, and social justice. This reveals not only political bias, but a deep fear of any movement seeking to empower the oppressed and marginalized. The methods used by COINTELPRO were deeply unethical and often illegal. The FBI wiretapped phones without warrants, spread false information to sow division, forged letters to create distrust within groups, and used psychological warfare to wear down leaders. One of the most disturbing examples was the FBI’s attempt to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. by sending him an anonymous letter encouraging him to kill himself. 

In other cases, the agency leaked false stories to the media, pressured employers to fire activists, and instigated violence between rival groups. These tactics were not designed to stop violence but to prevent political change. They were meant to discredit movements, break apart organizations, and stop leaders before they could gain too much influence. COINTELPRO remained a secret for years, hidden from the public and protected by powerful institutions. It was only exposed in 1971 when a group of activists calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. They discovered and released classified documents revealing the scope and intent of the program. Public outrage followed, and in 1975 the U.S. Senate launched an investigation through what became known as the Church Committee. The committee confirmed that the FBI had violated constitutional rights, abused its power, and operated with little to no oversight. COINTELPRO was officially shut down, but by then, the damage to the movements—and to public trust—was already done. What made COINTELPRO so disturbing is not just what it did, but what it represented. It showed how a government that claims to defend freedom and democracy can, under the surface, use the tools of authoritarian control to silence its own people. The program acted like a domestic political police force, attacking anyone who dared to challenge racism, inequality, war, or government corruption. It treated dissent as a threat rather than a right, and it punished those who believed America could be better. These are not the actions of a healthy democracy—they are warning signs of fascism. When power is unchecked, and when institutions can operate in the dark, the result is repression, fear, and the destruction of movements that seek justice.

My sixth point, and my final point before the counter-claim and rebuttal, is the January 6th Capitol attack. On January 6th, 2021, a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Fueled by conspiracy theories and false claims of voter fraud, the rioters were encouraged by President Donald J. Trump and other right-wing figures who refused to accept the outcome. This was not just a protest. It was a direct attack on democracy. The crowd included white nationalists, militia groups, and far-right extremists. They waved Confederate flags, wore Nazi symbols, and called for violence against elected officials. Many believed they were defending America, but in reality, they were trying to overturn the will of the voters and install a leader who had clearly lost. Their actions echoed authoritarian movements that reject elections and use force to stay in power. Law enforcement was unprepared despite clear warnings, security was light, and some officers seemed sympathetic to the rioters, which is absolutely staggeringly insane. This peacefulness with violent rioters was in horrifying contrast to the aggressive police response during peaceful Black Lives Matter protests the year before. After the attack, some Republican leaders condemned the violence, but far too many others made excuses, pushed more lies, or acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Right-wing media also spread blame and confusion instead of holding people accountable. This kind of denial only makes future violence more likely. 

For my counterclaim, I wanted to use something I was told by people in my life, “This is old, America isn’t like that anymore.” For my rebuttal, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father from Maryland, was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March 2025, even though he had legal protections under U.S. immigration law. He had been granted "withholding of removal" status due to credible fears of persecution in his home country, meaning he was supposed to be safe from deportation. Despite this, a bureaucratic error led to his deportation, with the U.S. government later acknowledging the mistake. However, the Trump administration argued that the deportation was still technically lawful, revealing the troubling reality that even legal protections could be ignored under certain political motivations.

The debate over immigration policies exposes how easily immigrants, especially those with legal protections, will be caught in the crossfire of right-wing political agendas. The error demonstrated in the carelessness of policymakers has been for the rights of individuals who are supposed to be protected by law. While courts eventually ruled that Abrego Garcia's deportation was unlawful, the initial mistake reflects a broader pattern of harsh immigration practices that prioritize enforcement over fairness or human dignity. Abrego Garcia’s deportation also raised uncomfortable questions about the priorities of those pushing for tougher immigration policies. It highlighted the cruelty of separating families and subjecting immigrants, even those with lawful status, to unjust treatment. For some in power, the idea of protecting immigrants from wrongful deportation seems secondary to their broader political goals of tightening borders and reducing immigrant rights, regardless of the human toll, and just as a reminder, if one person in a country doesn’t have the right to due process, no one does.

So, the next time someone tells you “The government wouldn’t do that,” oh yes. Yes, they would.

WENDIGOON QUOTE WAS SO NECESSARY

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