Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Rise of Fascism in Bush-Perry Texas


by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy


Recently --Texas Gov Rick Perry's boisterous audience of schizoid GOP idiots were caught waving US flags: SECEDE! Perhaps, because of what the GOP has made of it, Texas should secede. By presiding over the deterioration of public education in Texas, the Bush/Perry GOP has created a fascist model in which the profits of huge, right-wing inclined corporations rise as TX educational standards decline; a model in which illiteracy rises concurrently with corporate profits; a model in which the living conditions of millions deteriorate as the lifestyles of a dwindling few grow opulent beyond the ability of even oil barons to imagine.

Texas is about 50 years behind the US. As Bush-Perry neglected education, crime rates rose, most noticeably --murder! Drop-outs account for most, if not all, increases in violent crimes. Minorities --primarily black and Hispanic --are meanwhile disproportionately represented in the Texas gulag system but under represented in the State legislature, the various city councils, and the state judicial system.

Texas is about 50 years behind the US, much more so if compared to Europe. Minorities --primarily black and Hispanic --are disproportionately represented in the Texas gulag system but under represented in the State legislature, the various city councils, and the state judicial system.

Texas was once a Great State and, as a native Texan, I mourn its passing!

Declines in education and jobs are of no concern to the current Governor --Rick Perry, called Governor Good Hair by Molly Ivins, a real Texan, a patriot and brilliant writer. During the Bushy - Hair era, Texas became a gulag state by beating out Mississippi for dead last in high school graduations. A matter of considerable concern among intelligent, thoughtful people but for the axis of Bush-Perry it means more fodder for the corporate owned and run state prison system. The word for this is fascism! There is, in Texas, a corporate gulag of GOP making. One fears that the Texas model will be replicated across America:
  1. subvert public education
  2. exploit the resulting rise in crime to elect more GOP candidates
  3. lock up the victims in corporate-owned prison hell-holes.
That is how Texas became the lab study, the 'fascist model' upon which a fascist state is built. This model is not new. Hitler tried it with concentration camps. The primary corporate beneficiaries were I.G. Farben and Thyssen/Krupp.

These basic fascist principles have inspired movies --good, bad, and ugly. The 'bad' summons up memories of a horrible movie: Judge Dredd, a fascist 'wet dream' in which so-called 'judges', having murdered 'due process of law' could pass sentences on the spot! Fascists, red necks, Bush, Perry were most surely inspired by a single line summing up so many GOP aspirations: “The justice system works swiftly in the future now that they've abolished all lawyers.”

The rise of Fascist-Goppism in Texas was signaled by the constant anti-trial lawyer drumbeat. Soon --trial lawyers will be out of a job and no one will be allowed to present a defense. No problem --Judge Dredd and Gov Perry will just fill up those corporate hell-holes with fresh meat!

Slavery is back! Perhaps it never left! Every fascist dictatorship is preceded with cries of : kill all the lawyers! Depriving them of a profession, a livlihood may be slower but just as effective.
Crimes rates --rising, falling, stagnate --never justify the death penalty. In fact, crime rates invariably increase in death penalty states. States without the death penalty have consistently lower murder rates.

The GOP in Texas might prefer you think they are stupid. Otherwise, you might conclude that because these facts may be easily obtained and verified that their heinous policies were chosen --not out of GOP incompetence --but deliberately for the purpose of filling up the prisons, thus enriching the corporations which own and run the prisons.
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The death penalty is medieval, barbaric and ineffective. Throughout history, the death penalty has failed to deter crimes of any sort. There is, therefore, no rationale for the state murder of anyone accused of any crime. Increasingly fewer cases are 'proven' beyond a 'shadow of a doubt'. A disproportionate number are arrested for the crimes of being black and/or poor.

States Without the Death Penalty Have Better Records on Homicide Rates
A new survey by the New York Times found that states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty. The Times reports that ten of the twelve states without the death penalty have homicide rates below the national average, whereas half of the states with the death penalty have homicide rates above. During the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48% - 101% higher than in states without the death penalty. "I think Michigan made a wise decision 150 years ago," said the state's governor, John Engler, a Republican, referring to the state's abolition of the death penalty in 1846. "We're pretty proud of the fact that we don't have the death penalty."

--New York Times, 9/22/00, Death Penalty Information Center
Texas, notably, has not occupied a position of prominence with regard to petroleum production since it was discovered that bombing Iraq and killing civilians there was much, much cheaper than is the secondary recovery of oil. Why spend millions exploring for oil when you can just steal fields that are already productive?  The cost of bombing the crap out of the oil's rightful owners?? Hell --the taxpayer is stuck with that tab!

Because of rapacious oil development, the neglect of education and the hubristic disregard for human rights and environment, so-called 'free enterprise' has robbed millions of children of a decent education and as many poor of justice in a state ruled by goddamned liars, elites and their ass kissers: the GOP!
  • Texas --Bush style --provides the residents of Texas with some of the nation's very worst crime and incarceration rates;
  • Texas subjects the residents of Texas to deteriorating air quality and wanton ecosystem destruction;
  • Texas can boast of the nation's very worst murder, crime and incarceration rates!
  • Texas --a state that now leads the nation in pollution, crime, and illiteracy --should be studied by any other state wishing to avoid a similar disastrous fate.
Fascism --now dominating the political and cultural life of Texas --spawns crime and creates the conditions in which it is nurtured and thrives and, worse, benefits the GOP and its corporate sponsors.
Still, most people are now ashamed to admit that punishment is based on vengeance and, for that reason, various excuses and apologies have been offered for the cruelty that goes with it. Some of the more humane, or “squeamish,” who still believe in punishment, contend that the object of this infliction is the reformation of the victim. This, of course, cannot be urged of the death penalty or even punishment for life, or for very long-term sentences. In these cases there is neither inducement to reform nor any object in the reformation. No matter how thorough the reform, the prisoner never goes back to society, or he returns after there is no longer a chance for him to be of use to the world or to enjoy life.
--Clarence Darrow, Crime: It's Cause and Treatment
Tea Baggers are Scumbaggers!

If there is a real and widespread desire among Texans to secede, then, by all means, secede. But in fact, I believe secession talk is just another right wing smokescreen with which it exploits its base and deceives otherwise good citizens of Texas!
Power may corrupt, and absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but in the comics Judge Dredd is basically Dirty Harry on Overdrive, an incorruptible lawman obsessed with The Law and Justice. The official plot synopsis of the 1995 movie swallows the official line too: “In the Third Millennium a powerful and efficient hybrid of the police and judicial system has given birth to group of new guardians of the law with the power to dispense instant justice and punishment. These judges are law enforcer, jury and executioner. One of these judges, Judge Joseph Dredd is a living legend - six feet of armored justice with no outside interests besides his devotion to enforcing the law.” Why anyone would however want to make a sequel or (bullshit Hollywood jargon coming up) “re-imagining” of Judge Dredd is a bit of a mystery. The original film disappointed at the box office and made a mere $113 million world-wide. Audiences who didn’t know the character beforehand were baffled. “Considering that the movie was adapted from comic books, the least we should expect is a juicy battle between good and evil,” Anthony Lane wrote in The New Yorker, “but the conflict is, in fact, a matter of fine distinctions between shades of Fascism.”
--FROM PAGE TO SCREEN: JUDGE DREDD (2012)


Fascist Bullshit: "I AM the law!"

8 comments:

Stephen Kriz said...

Len - such a shame about Texas. I see secessionists as traitors. Same with those cretins who continue to revere the Confederacy. If their loyalties are somewhere other than with the United States of America, they belong in a military brig awaiting execution or they should leave the country! It's real simple.

Unknown said...

Stephen Kriz said...

...If their loyalties are somewhere other than with the United States of America, they belong in a military brig

Indeed! I believe I have a right to question Bush's loyalties. The history of his family is very, very dodgy. Rick Perry, admittedly, has deeper roots but shallow, harmful values. I wonder when he sold out!

My own family may have been in TX before Stephen F. Austin, certainly, they precede the Railroad. My Great Uncle Loss Hart was the federal marshal who tracked down, outdrew, shot and killled the infamous outlaw ---Bill Dalton.

All of us have the right of free speech. But the 'carpetbagging' Bush family have NO right to question either my loyalties or pedigrees. 'Conservatives' for as long as I can remember have always tried to 'tar' their opposition as being, somehow, less American, less Texan, less patriotic. I say --FUCK 'EM! It's time they put up or shut up or get the fuck out!

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, Texas may be a glimpse of the fascist future. Humans are over abundant. Their value diminished by their numbers. Like mosquitoes whining in the hot summer night. ZZAP!!
Have a cold one and enjoy the show.

Marc McDonald said...

Hi Len, great piece. As always, you make a lot of good points.
One thing that disturbs me these days is that Perry is going around the country, claiming that under his watch, Texas has become an "economic success" story.

While I not surprised by a lying sack of sh*t like Perry distorting his record, I'm disappointed that the mainstream media doesn't challenge his lies.

Instead of believing Perry's BS, I hope the national media will come here and actually talk to us working-class Texans to find out how things are REALLY going in this state.

Incidentally, although Perry brags about his job creation record, the reality is that the vast majority of jobs created on his watch are minimum wage "jobs."

Perry loves to talk about "sacrifice" and "fiscal responsibility." But that only applies to poor kids, the elderly, and the working-class. Perry himself has no qualms about lavishing taxpayer funds on himself (Exhibit A: take a look at Perry's lavish $9,000/month rental estate). The bill for that alone would pay for a lot of prenatal care for low-income mothers. Perry, of course, has slashed such programs on his watch and, as a result, infant mortality has climbed sharply on his watch, as has child poverty in Texas.

Unknown said...

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, Texas may be a glimpse of the fascist future.

That's my take. I have followed the rise of corporate prisons in Texas. The 'business model' is similar to the deal Hitler cut with I.G. Farben, Thyseen, Krupp and several others who met with Der Fuhrer pesonally. The meeting is described in some detail by William Shirer in 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'.

The TX gulag system differs little from concentration camps but that they are more 'modern' looking from the outside. That's to be expected. But, like Hitler's string of concentration and death camps, it is private enterprise which benefits from the Faustian deals.

It was the Bush family that deliberately worked to establish that model ---first in Texas. Recall that Bush SR was ambassador to China under Nixon, that it was Nixon that took the U.S. off the gold standard; it was Nixon who went to China and cut the deals; it was Nixon (via Bush SR) who began the process, who sold-out the U.S. to China.

That Texas would eventually play a role in the grand scheme of things was inevitable. It was an oil producing state and, later, an OIL REFINING state.

More specifically, Bush SR's choice of Houston as his permanent residence was unfortunate for Houston. I recall once speaking with Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz (middle 70s)! Hofheinz said to me: "There is something rotten in Houston!" It was as much his tone as the sentence itself that sent chills down one's spine.

The mayor's comments came during an organized but shadowy campaign of rumor and villification against Hofheinz and followed quickly upon the heels of an infamous 'reception' for the Sr Bush at the venerable old Rice Hotel. It was all planned. It was envisioned, even then, that SR Bush would one day be President, and that JR would, likewise, occupy the White and --thus --in two generations effect a new world order.

The FASCIST PRISON that is, in fact, in place is proof that they have not yet failed in their mission.

zumbi said...

A real change came to Texas after Reagan was elected president. With Reagan came a whole slew of "law and order" republicans that set out to clean up Texas. I grew up in Brazoria County, the "Birthplace of Texas." Brazoria County got a new Republican High Sheriff who set out on a course of absolutely zero tolerance. He had so many arrested he had to build his own little mini prison in the county. He set the tone for some really obnoxiously over policing that seems to define Texas today. And to top it off, he is not County Judge, E.J. "Joe" King.

I think that Joe King is the rule rather than the exception, post Reagan.

Unknown said...

zumbi said...

A real change came to Texas after Reagan was elected president.

You are absolutely correct and you are also right about Brazoria county. But don't forget Ft. Bend Co. That was home to the cult of Tom DeLay who was, at the time, occupied with gerrymandering the state.

Brazoria County got a new Republican High Sheriff who set out on a course of absolutely zero tolerance. He had so many arrested he had to build his own little mini prison in the county

That's a very interesting story about which I would like to know more. The right wing inclined would rather build a prison at several times the cost than to educate a single child. The attitude that I encountered was this: "Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons? If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus." population."


But the Texas GOP has done Scrooge one better: they are MAKING a profit off both their deaths and their incarceration.

Thank you for bringing a valuable 'Texas' insiders view to this outrage

Unknown said...

Marc MacDonald wrote:

While I not surprised by a lying sack of sh*t like Perry distorting his record, I'm disappointed that the mainstream media doesn't challenge his lies.

Me too, Mark. I've given up on the media. But I cannot claim an exclusive on this story. The numbers speak for themselves if folk will just take the time to check out everything told them by liars like Bush, Perry and the rest of scumbags, baggers and GOPPS.

Incidentally, although Perry brags about his job creation record, the reality is that the vast majority of jobs created on his watch are minimum wage "jobs."


And I think that even that is a sop. Arguably, the last real 'boom' in TX was Spindletop. In any case, Middle Eastern oil replaced TX as an oil exporting state quite some time ago.

Perry loves to talk about "sacrifice" and "fiscal responsibility." But that only applies to poor kids, the elderly, and the working-class.

Indeed! These crooks and liars often identify with W. Churchill. That's insane! Churchill had, in fact, mastered the English language and, as he himself said, 'that is no mean thing!" Bush/Perry, by contrast, have proven themselves the ENEMIES of education.

I say: DOWN with Perry! END THE DISASTROUS GOP REIGN IN GERRYMANDERED TEXAS!

Thanks for the comments, Marc.