Facing the Republican Anschluss

15 September 2004
By Jim Weller

Let’s shut off the spin cycle in public discourse and talk some turkey about socio-political reality in contemporary America.

Some pundits and apologists will dissemble every which way, but the plain truth is that supporters of the Republican agenda today are people I must identify as white supremacists. They fear and loathe everyone different from themselves, whether ethnically, religiously, culturally, attitudinally, by socioeconomic class, nationality, sexual orientation, sexual identity or sub-cultural identity – in other words, they are dangerous xenophobes.

What does it mean to be a white supremacist?

First, it means being white by psycho-social identification – which is not equivalent to being a person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. There are those of non-Anglo ancestry or appearance, who are yet definitively white. Some prominent examples are the Bush administration office holders Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Rod Paige, Alphonso Jackson, Alberto Gonzales, and Elaine Chao. In my lexicon, being white is mainly a matter of social class and psychological disposition, not race identity.

Second, it means being supremacist – in other words, an aggressive control freak, one whose ultimate concern is to wield and maintain coercive power, and who is indiscriminately willing to harm or destroy others in doing so. There have been other sorts of so-called supremacists in the world – Black supremacists, Jewish supremacists, Islamic supremacists, and so on. More properly speaking, most of these are separatists, that is, variously oppressed peoples seeking to defend themselves in confrontation with or against domination by other groups. Acting in their own cause, they sometimes become oppressors. However, the greatest oppressors of all are those Americans who now indeed dominate the earth, the white supremacists – and the Republican Party is their political confederacy.

There are all kinds of white supremacists.

Some are Protestant, some Catholic, some Jewish, and some Non-Denominational. Some are Conservatives, some Liberals, and some Centrists. Some are Democrats, who might as well be Republicans. Some are Independents, some Libertarians, some Free-Marketers, and some Protectionists. Some are Isolationists, some Internationalists, and some are Regionalists. Some are Militarists, and some are Missionaries. Some are GLBT, in which case, they are deeply conflicted. Some are Cosmopolites, some Urbanites, some Suburbanites, and some are Ruralites. Some are Highbrows, some Lowbrows, and some Middlebrows. Some are Establishmentarians, some Disestablishmentarians, and some Know-Nothings.

In all their social and political diversity, they are a small minority of the peoples of the earth, and even of America. What should the rest of us, the great majority, do about the white supremacist Republicans who are presently in power? We should shut them down politically, decisively and soon.

As I’ve always said (well, I would have if I’d thought of it) – the only good Republican is a disempowered one. When they’ve been disarmed and removed from power, they can fume and fulminate until hell freezes over, if they must. Those who are demonstrably criminal, including the Presidential Pretender George W. Bush, his War Cabinet, and their co-conspirators, should be stripped of their property and privilege, and incarcerated permanently. Their supporters and accessories, who have merely aided and abetted in the Republican crimes of this century, can remain free and be rehabilitated as they will. We are a tolerant people, but we cede our power to the avaricious and the intemperate among us only at our extreme peril.

I am very serious about this. At this moment in history, I believe we are in immediate danger of a fascist takeover in this country that could make the Nazi Anschluss look quaint by comparison. The political offensive being led by the Bushites is a white supremacist movement to its core, and the Republican Party is its global assault vehicle.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: On the first Tuesday in November 2004, vote as if your life depended on it. It does, and you just might not have another chance.