but don't underestimate how far the roots of fascism are intertwined in the fabric of this country. America has been fueled by the idea that our children will be better off than we were, just like we are better off than our parents were. But the American Dream may no longer be viable, or at least, the perception it is not has taken root. People are scared, and they are angry, they are looking for someone to blame, and there is no shortage of demagogues ready to serve them up scapegoats.

Along with declining long term prospects for the economy is the coming demographic bomb, America will soon no longer be primarily a white country, certainly not a Protestant, Anglo-Saxon one. These two totally separate issues will inevitably be conflated by the unscrupulous. No one can deny the American propensity to nativism and racism is being subtly exploited here. Add to that the fear that fundamentalist Christianity is afraid to lose its stranglehold on the culture. These people are mobilizing, and they are being led by those who have mismanaged the economy and now fear they will have to pay the piper.

Obama may win in the short run, mostly because his opposition is so ludicrous and their policies so unrealistic; and in the long run, demographics and the distribution of wealth will form the political landscape. But in the mid-term those who feel threatened will do whatever it takes to maintain their hegemony. They are systematically organizing at the local level, Congressional districts, state houses, municipalities, even school boards. And they have assured themselves of the anonymous corporate funding they need to overwhelm any local opposition. The franchise restriction initiatives they are instituting are helping maintain their electoral position, and they now have a fully formed and funded propaganda machine in place. And they are embarked on a cynical and ruthless campaign of obstruction, denial and sabotage to make it impossible for their opponents to carry out even routine governmental function. It is a form of legislative terrorism.

In the meantime, all institutions that question their cultural dominance, political power, and economic control are being systematically attacked: the unions, government, the press, the arts, the intelligentsia, academia, even the commercial media. Fascism is defined as the dictatorship of the middle class, and the middle class is threatened. They are ready to do whatever it takes to keep from sliding back, and ready to follow any elite that claims to be helping them up to their level.

I am starting to become acutely aware this is rapidly becoming no country for old men.