On the road again

John Dean [Wikipedia], the Watergate whistle-blower, in his new book asks if the US is on the road to Fascism. He says not, but we should be wary. I disagree about the "road" part. We're so far down the road we don't even speak the local dialect. See if you don't agree.

John Dean, the White House lawyer who famously helped blow the whistle on the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office, says the country has returned to an "imperial presidency" that is putting the United States and the world at risk.

In his new book, "Conservatives Without Conscience," Dean looks at Republican-controlled Washington and sees a bullying, manipulative, prejudiced leadership edging the nation toward a dark era.

"Are we on the road to fascism?" he writes. "Clearly, we are not on that road yet. But it would not take much more misguided authoritarian leadership, or thoughtless following of such leaders, to find ourselves there.

Read the Merriam-Webster definition.

fascism:
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control [early instances of army fascism and brutality -- J. W. Aldridge]

We've arrive according to Aldridge's definition and, except for the forcible suppression of opposition — — assumed physical as opposed to strong-arming and subterfuge — — we're nearly there by M-W's definition.

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