Establishing Dictatorships: Lessons from History by Steven Jonas

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Writer, Dandelion Salad
crossposted on truth-out.org/buzzflash
March 11, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Admiral Miklos Horthy of Hungary is generally acknowledged to have been history’s first fascist dictator (that is an authoritarian ruler who was not royalty). Following the overthrow of a Hungarian Communist government by Romanian royalist forces in 1919, with the acquiescence of his own King he was appointed “Regent” (for the King) in 1920. He held that post until he himself was displaced by the Nazis in 1944.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 30th Installment: Appendix V: On Poverty, Sin, Regulation, and Freedom

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution.

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
October 14, 2012

Image by mariopiperni via Flickr

This is the thirtieth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022.  Herein you will find Appendix V.  This Appendix, purportedly written by the 20^th century political analyst, (the fictional) “Dino Lewis” presents a discussion of the contrasting views of the right and the left on the correct role for government in regulating personal behavior, economic activity, and environmental health, safety and preservation, the relationship, if there is one, between poverty and “sin,” and the whole religious concept of “sin.” It is certainly fully relevant to the United States and what we might face in a future governed fully by the Republican Religious Right.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 29th Installment: Appendix IV: “On Morality and the Uses of the Law,” Dino Louis 1992

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
September 22, 2012

Image by dietmut via Flickr

This is the twenty-ninth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022.  Herein you will find Appendix IV.  This Appendix, purportedly written by the 20th century political analyst, (the fictional) “Dino Lewis” presents a comparison of the Religious Fundamentalist and he Jeffersonian/civil-libertarian positions on the subject: “Morality and the Uses of the Law. It is certainly fully relevant to the United States and what we might face in a future governed fully by the Republican Religious Right.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 28th Installment: Appendix III: The Gradual Assault on Democratic Institutions

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
September 2, 2012

This is the twenty-eighth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022.  Herein you will find Appendix III.  This Appendix, purportedly written by the 20^th century political analyst, (the fictional) “Dino Lewis” presents a description of the Republican Religious Right’s “gradual assault on democratic institutions.”  It is certainly fully relevant to the United States right now and what we might face in a future governed fully by the Republican Religious Right.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 27th Installment: Appendix II: The Nature of Fascism and Its Precursors, Dino Louis, 1998

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
August 4, 2012

This is the twenty-seventh installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Herein you will find Appendix II. This Appendix, purportedly written by the 20^th century political analyst, (the fictional) “Dino Louis” presents a fairly lengthy definition and then discussion of the nature of fascism. It is certainly fully relevant to the United States at present and what we might face in a future governed fully by the Republican Religious Right. This Appendix begins with a Commentary on the Dino Louis text by The 15% Solution’s (fictional) author, Jonathan Westminster.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 26th Installment: Appendix I, the Constitution of the “Old United States and the New American Republics”

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
July 1, 2012

This is the twenty-sixth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022.  Herein you will find Appendix I, the Constitution of the “Old United States and the New American Republics,” as amended through the (fictional) year 2010.  This Appendix demonstrates how the Republican Religious Right used the procedures embedded in the original U.S. Constitution to amend it into a document that in effect resembled nothing like the original, except in form.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 25th Installment: Chapter Twenty 2048: A Truly Democratic Presidential Speech, Part 5

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
May 20, 2012

This is the twenty-fifth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022.  Herein you will find “Part 5” of Chapter 20.  (This chapter is very long, and so it will be presented in five parts.) From the perspective of the 25^th Anniversary of the Restoration of U.S. Constitutional Democracy in 2048, this chapter discusses “what might have been done” to prevent the fall of the old United States into fascism. 

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 24th Installment: Chapter Twenty 2048: Progressive Attack Politics, Part 4

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
April 22, 2012

This is the twenty-fourth installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Herein you will find “Part 4” of Chapter 20. (This chapter is very long, and so it will be presented in five parts.) From the perspective of the 25th Anniversary of the Restoration of U.S. Constitutional Democracy in 2048, this chapter discusses “what might have been done” to prevent the fall of the old United States into fascism.

Ending the War on Drug Users by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
April 17, 2012

Image by iVoryTowerz via Flickr

On April 8, 2012, our esteemed Editor/Publisher at BuzzFlash@Truthout, my good friend Mark Karlin, published a column entitled “The US War on Drug Cartels in Mexico Is a Deadly Failure” (1). In his column he noted that: “Approximately 50,000 or more Mexicans have been killed since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a so-called war on drug cartels. (In a recent appearance in Toronto, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta claimed 150,000 people have died in the drug war in Mexico, but the timeline Panetta was referring to was unclear, as was the origin of the figure he cited.).” Mark went on to say:

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 23rd Installment: Chapter Twenty 2048: The Dual-Track Approach to Opposition Development, Part 3

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Twenty can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
March 26, 2012

This is the twenty-third installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Herein you will find “Part 3” of Chapter 20. (This chapter is very long, and so it will be presented in five parts.) From the perspective of the 25^th Anniversary of the Restoration of U.S. Constitutional Democracy in 2048, this chapter discusses “what might have been done” to prevent the fall of the old United States into fascism. If present readers find that the warnings from that far-off time have relevance for today’s, that is precisely the intent.

Netanyahu’s Real Goal is Not Bombing Iran; It’s Defeating Obama by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on Buzzflash.com
March 19, 2012

The sage Israeli commentator and activist Uri Avnery recently published an excellent analysis of the Israel/Iran situation on The Planetary Movement (1). Mr. Avnery presents the full list of strategic reasons why it is highly unlikely that Netanyahu will launch such an attack. It would result in: the immediate closing of the Strait of Hormuz and thus cut off the flow of about 40% of the world’s oil; an immediate all-out Iranian missile assault on the Israeli cities with some missiles getting through and wreaking much destruction no matter how good the Israel/US “missile shield” is; unknown to most US citizens (including an unknown number of their political leaders, especially on the Right) anyway, Iran is very large country, “larger than Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined,” Mr. Avnery tells us;

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 22nd Installment: Chapter Twenty 2048: The Self-Destructiveness of the Society of the Old U.S., Part 2

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Nineteen can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
February 22, 2012

This is the twenty-second installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Herein you will find “Part 2” of Chapter 20. (This chapter is very long, and so it will be presented in four parts.) From the perspective of the 25^th Anniversary of the Restoration of U.S. Constitutional Democracy in 2048, this chapter discusses “what might have been done” to prevent the fall of the old United States into fascism. If present readers find that the warnings from that far-off time have relevance for today’s, that is precisely the intent.

“The 15% Solution,” Serialization, 21st Installment: Chapter Twenty, 2048: What Might Have Been Done, Part 1

Note: The Preface and Chapters One through Nineteen can be found here: The 15% Solution

by Jonathan Westminster, Ph.D. aka Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted on TPJmagazine.us
January 22, 2012

This is the twenty-first installment of the serialization of a book entitled The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022. Herein you will find “Part 1” of Chapter 20. (This chapter is very long, and so it will be presented in four parts.) From the perspective of the 25^th Anniversary of the Restoration of U.S. Constitutional Democracy in 2048, this chapter discusses “what might have been done” to prevent the fall of the old United States into fascism. If present readers find that the warnings from that far-off time have relevance for today’s, that is precisely the intent. For it was the Republicans of the 1990s and what they told us back then they would do if they ever got full power (e.g., see “Gingrich” and “Armey” on p. 3), with the complicity/acquiescence/meek “opposition” of the “center-right” Democratic Party of the time, that got the nation to where it eventually got to.

Occupy Wall Street: The Agent Provocateur’s Guide by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Dec. 8, 2011

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

You’ve heard of Wikileaks? Well, this document comes from an old Richard Nixon playbook called “Trickileaks.” I received it by a route that I cannot reveal, and indeed I cannot attest fully to its veracity. But it sure sounds like it might be genuine, don’t you think? On the other hand, it is awfully conversational in a way, which does make one doubt its provenance. Maybe it’s just an agent provocateur from the Left making up something about agents provocateurs from the Right. But be that as it may ….

The Triumph of Cheneyism: His Pernicious Legacy by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH

by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Nov. 3, 2011

I have just finished a book by John Grisham entitled The Broker, published in 2005.  “The Broker” in question is not a real estate or stock-broker, but rather one of an ilk that when I was a boy many years ago was called an “influence peddler.”  They now go by the more polite name of “lobbyist.”  Anyway, this larger-than-life Jack Abramoff-type had been caught dabbling in some very highly sensitive security-stuff (which Abramoff himself was apparently smart enough never to have done).