At first blush the title would seem to greatly overreach the present political status in the United States. It may be a bit but when you look at the definition of fascism certain parts are an undeniable part America’s political makeup today. (Fascism: A philosophy or governmental system marked by stringent socioeconomic control, a strong central government usu. headed by a dictator, and often a belligerently nationalistic policy; Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, 1988, Houghton Mifflin Co., p. 466). With slight modifications of that definition, we can arrive at the far right, and controlling, portion of the Republican Party today. From 2017 to 2020, in Donald Trump, we had a man who acted like a dictator, and, who like true fascists of the 20th Century, tried to invalidate a national election when it did not go his way. Fortunately, men and women of good conscience did not sign on to his rhetoric.

Right now, with a decidedly very conservative U.S. Supreme Court, activist judges are attempting to push their religious views upon the entire population of America. This thinly veiled chicanery has the conservative majority in the USSJC taking the almost unprecedented view of reversing precedent after precedent held in that very court with regard to Roe v. Wade. I, as someone who actually opposes abortion, find that overturning Roe is contrary to the interests of the American population at large. And what is the legal precedent for not overturning Roe? The second part of the First Amendment which states that the government shall make no law with regard to religion. This is a moral issue founded in our religious beliefs and not one based in historical law.

Fascism, at its core, tries to limit and/or restrict individual rights to self-expression and access to good medical care. Roe, quite simply, ordered that the right of a woman to medical care according to her conscience could not be infringed upon. This is the part that the SJC seems to be ignoring in favor of its own religious beliefs which, in the case of the two of the most recent appointees to the SJC are rooted in Roman Catholicism. It might also find its roots in the basic beliefs of Justice Samuel Alito as well, the writer of the likely SJC decision.

From a purely public view, only 35% of Americans are in favor of overturning Roe! And yet, because of this minority’s activism, almost half of all states will make abortion illegal with some making laws to criminalize a citizen of its state from getting an abortion in another state!

Next in line, most certainly, will be birth control, contraception. The line between the legalization of birth control and Roe is a mere 5 years! When I was attending Boston University in 1967, Bill Baird, a birth control activist, started to give a talk at Boston University about birth control. City of Boston police arrested him for just talking about it! That was where we were! Are we now heading back to that? Again, fascism, at its root, restricts free speech. Worse, it also dictates morality, and this is at the heart of what is going on right now in America.

I am someone who is against abortion, even though what I have just written might belie that. But, as a male, it is not a decision I have to make. What I view as morally wrong is not enough for me to visit my views upon those who see it differently. That is why I have always supported a woman’s right to choose. I have never been in favor of legislating morality, and this is most certainly what is happening in America today. It is a sad day for America if this minority opinion is forced upon the majority. It is what makes fascism work!