Chris Hedges: Stop­ping Fas­cism — One dic­tio­nary defines fas­cism as, ​“A sys­tem of gov­ern­ment that exer­cis­es a dic­ta­tor­ship of the extreme right, typ­i­cal­ly through the merg­ing of state and busi­ness lead­er­ship, togeth­er with bel­liger­ent nation­al­ism.” The first fas­cist par­ty was found­ed by Mus­soli­ni in Italy in 1915. Its ety­mol­o­gy is traced to the Latin word mean­ing a bun­dle of rods tied around an axe, an ancient Roman sym­bol of author­i­ty. Today, the term, for many, imme­di­ate­ly con­jures up hor­rif­ic images of storm troop­ers. But con­tem­po­rary fas­cism has under­gone a major wardrobe change. Could it hap­pen here? Some see ele­ments of it now with what is called pop­ulism, Amer­i­ca First, cou­pled with a large­ly imag­ined past, Make Amer­i­ca Great Again. The media are denounced as ​“the ene­my of the peo­ple,” a phrase Stal­in used. Crit­ics of the Leader are bul­lied and insulted.