Creeping fascism

The signs are there. Propaganda on a large scale. Pro-government media willing to excuse any atrocity. Doublespeak. Manipulated messages masquerading as information (see the "town hall meetings"). The equation of patriotism and fervent fundimentalist belief. But there is another, equally disturbing facet to our own particular brand of authoritarianism that I haven't seen much written about- fetishism of military hardware. We have entire networks devoted to the machinery of war. Pseudo-military vehicles prowl our streets (Humvees, Jeeps, SUV's). News reports tout our latest weaponry. The only thing lacking are full fledged military parades, and as soon as the images of the May Day parades in Red Square fade from our memory, I'm sure we'll have those too.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that fascism doesn't have to look exactly like Nazi Germany to be fascist. Totalitarianism doesn't have to follow "Animal Farm" word for word. We can design our own, American style state where the majority are placated while the minority and those not lucky enough to be citizens are ground under our church/state policy. Are we there now?