I am tired of seeing diaries routinely recommended where the United States is described as “fascist Corporate State” run by a secretive “Corporatist Cabal”.  These are offensive to me as an American and a Democrat. The idea that America is “fascist” must seem outrageous to those who came to our shores to escape tyranny and build new lives for their families.  It is a slap to the men and women who serve in uniform, since it implies they are risking their lives to defend an unjust government.  It is an insult to those of us who work to elect Democrats, since it implies we are dupes of a conspiracy of plutocrats who, like the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, secretly manipulate every facet of society.

I lived in West Germany during the 1980’s and had the opportunity of spending time on the the other side of the Wall – in the Arbeiter-und-Bauern-Staat (Workers and Peasants State) of the “German Democratic Republic.”  The regime of Erich Honecker also called West Germany and the United States “fascist corporate states” to divert attention from its own unjust, totalitarian system. Not many bought into the propaganda, since it was obvious that Western capitalism was superior to the dysfunctional and oppressive state-controlled economy.

Like most Americans, I am thankful that I live in a country where I can start, grow, work for, and invest in a business enterprise – even a “corporation”. Like most Americans, I reject the notion that America is a “fascist corporate state.”