AUSTIN, Texas -- Readin' the newspapers is eerily reminiscent of all those bad novels warning of the advent of fascism in America.
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis was a bad book, and the genre shades off into right-wing paranoia about black helicopters, including the memorably awful Turner Diaries. I don't use the F-word myself -- in fact, for years, I've made fun of liberals who hear the approach of jackbooted fascism around every corner.
But to quote a real authority on the subject, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." That was Benito Mussolini.
Paul Krugman recently quoted "the quite apolitical Web site Corporate Governance, which matter-of-factly remarks, 'Given the power of corporate lobbyists, government control often equates to de facto corporate control anyway.'" It's gettin' downright creepy out there.
The most hair-raising news du jour is about Total Information Awareness, a giant government computer system being set up to spy on Americans and run by none other than John Poindexter of Iran-contra fame.
Total Information Awareness will provide intelligence agencies and law enforcement with instant access to information from e-mail and telephone, credit card, banking and travel records, all without a search warrant. It will, said Mr. Poindexter, "break down the stovepipes" that separate commercial and government databases.
And can we trust the government to keep all this information solely for the task of tracking terrorists? Funny you should ask. The Wall Street Journal reports that shortly after Sept. 11, the FBI circulated the names of hundreds of people it wanted to question to scores of corporations around the country, sharing the list with car rental companies, banks, travel firms, casinos, truckers, chemical companies and power plants.
"A year later," The Journal says, "the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying -- and error-filled -- versions being passed around like bootleg music. Some companies fed a version of the list into their databases and now use it to screen job applicants and customers."
The list included people who were not suspects, just people the FBI wanted to talk to because they might have had information. But, The Journal reports, a Venezuelan bank's security officer sent the list, headed "suspected terrorists sent by the FBI," to a Web site.
The great writer on the subject of totalitarianism was George Orwell, and 1984 is always worth rereading. Damned if Dubya didn't pop up the other day to announce that we must fight a war "for the sake of peace." That's not vaguely Orwellian, it's a direct steal.
The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting hard, but I think we need a new coalition organization -- civil libertarians, libertarians and principled conservatives, real patriots who believe in the Constitution.
For those who relish irony, there's a comical extent to which liberals are the new conservatives, exactly where the old principled Republicans used to be -- reluctant to get involved in foreign wars, suspicious of foreign entanglements, harping on fiscal responsibility and worried about constitutional freedoms.
Personally, I still believe internationalism makes more sense than isolationism because our major problems in the future -- global warming, overpopulation and water shortage -- are going to have to be dealt with on a global basis. This is an environmental struggle, as well as a civil liberties struggle. I think it is inarguable that this is the most anti-environmental administration since before Teddy Roosevelt. The corporatists in this administration, particularly those from the oil "bidness," apparently have some grand imperialist schemes to keep us in cheap oil indefinitely.
As a matter of both foreign and environmental policy, it makes a lot more sense to lay rail, promote renewable energy and get serious about conserving oil. We subsidize the hell out of the oil "bidness" with innumerable tax breaks, loopholes and support programs. For heaven's sake, why not support renewable energy instead? Why should we ask our military to die for cheap oil when the rest of us aren't even being asked to get better mileage?
Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist.
Columnist Ellen Goodman is on vacation.