A journey down the River Stix: The flirtatious dances of fascism
By Michael Moriarty
web posted August 8, 2005
Benito Mussolini is still viewed as an appendage to Hitler. His own personal dreams and ambitions are vaguely described in seldom-read histories. I recently made a new acquaintance – a Slavic adventurer who documents war areas in Africa with his camera… loves all the near-death experiences… speaks an eloquent British… yeah, a real star type. At any rate, I tried to pin down his politics and eventually he said that if pushed, he'd be a fascist.
Gee…that's interesting, right? What is a fascist? Well, it's symbolized by a Roman emblem of wheat, I guess, or straw, tied together. Unity. Italian unity. Searching for that, Mussolini made Catholicism the state religion. Unfortunately, Pope Pius XII fell for the bribe of increased power and had to keep up his side of the bargain, which of course was to never excommunicate Nazis or Fascists for murdering Jews.
So, what is Fascism but Hitler as a better careerist and opportunist? Mussolini saved the Fuhrer's bloody paintbrush with that deal in Rome. The Pope, if he'd had any courage, could have quickly ended the Third Reich with a little excommunication. Pius XII and the Archbishop of Canterbury could still save Ireland a lot of death by doing the same thing: "You are not a Christian and hardly a Catholic if you bomb your Irish brothers. You're out of heaven now, if you do! Certainly not allowed at the Holy Communion rail."
Heavy hangs the head that wears the divine crowns and sits in the cathedral. You want the job, you'd better pay the price. St. Peter did. So have a few other Christians since then. Not these days, though.
Fascism. Unity through backroom deals and terrorism. Brown shirts. Gestapo police. Add consent to genocide and you have Benito Mussolini.
The following is taken from an Enter Stage Right article about Rudolph Giuliani:
"Brooks says that a courageous politician shies away from social questions, but that's hogwash. John McCain is anti-abortion and supports the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And Giuliani doesn't shy away from such questions either. He is enthusiastically opposed to respecting American citizens' Second Amendment rights, and supports gay rights, women's right to abortion, and the rights of illegal immigrants."
The author of this basically pro-Giuliani profile, Nicholas Stix, never lived under Giuliani's shining years as mayor. If he did, then he never read Bob Herbert of The New York Times. When the New York Police Department so quickly begins to turn into the Los Angeles Police Department and horror stories of summary executions in Spanish Harlem are listed and the whole series culminates in the torture of a Haitian immigrant in the basement toilet of an NYPD precinct house, well, you have a policy not entirely ordered by the Police Commissioner. You have a Mussolini somewhere in there. Since
motive is the first question about crime, who benefited from the miraculous drop in crime? Mayor Giuliani did.
The only plus side was the revelation of New York liberal hypocrisy at its worst. There were no protests about the evolving tyranny until the cops beat up a young Orthodox Jewish man. Only then was a parade organized, with Al Sharpton at the head and the rabbis right behind him.
Liberal ladies, so enamored of the Mayor, shouted at the police, insulted them. Later, at a Puerto Rican Day parade, the police just let the local Spanish men fondle and "feel up" these so conveniently angry ladies. The cops didn't lift a finger to help.
Well, they'd gone to Giuliani for a pay raise to be compensated for becoming criminals with badges and lowering the crime rate and Giuliani basically said, "What? And raise the budget? That's my re-election war chest. You're just lucky my judges and court kept you out of jail."
Gee, thanks, Mayor Rudy.
As for Stix's opinion of Giuliani's mayoralty: Well, if beating a Haitian, pushing a nightstick up his rectum and then down his throat is "pro-illegal alien," I'm a bit confused. So there's the lie to that. As for his pro-abortion views and desire to keep guns out of the hands of citizens, I have no doubt this little Mussolini is all for it. How Stix could label Giuliani as "Mr. Courage" after his shameless exploitation of the 9/11 tragedy is way beyond me.
It's a real Latin American appetite that ends up giving the world Mussolinis on both sides of the political aisle: witness Cuba's Fidel Castro and Chile's Augusto Pinochet. Congratulations, sir. Your name doesn't sound the least bit Mediterranean and perhaps that's the reason why you really don't know the price for dreaming of Mr. Strongman.
So, the Giuliani glances toward the Oval Office are the classic Flirtatious Dances of Fascism. This philosophy never really hits center stage. However, with Bill Clinton expected to sign on as Secretary General of the United Nations, his fascist sidekick as President of the United States might just fill in the missing pieces to this ever-flowering Fourth Reich, this veritable Great Abortion Wall of China, this Dam Against the Waters of Life Itself. 
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who has appeared in the landmark television series Law and Order, the mini-series Taken, the TV-movie The 4400 and Hitler Meets Christ, a surreal tragicomedy based on the actor's controversial New York stage play.
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