Let’s not bandy about terms. “Fascism” (aka, the militarized face of capitalism in its advanced stage of development) reveals the historical integration of political-structural-ideological factors, among others, pointed toward a totalitarian mindset of consensus on the values and policy of hegemonic expansion, the “Neo” component merely being the liberal patina to gloss an essentially traditional Rightist posture of class-rule and socio-cultural regimentation at home, commercial-financial penetration, the rigging of the international trade and monetary systems, alongside their corollaries, war, intervention, and regime change abroad. In sum, pretty much where we’re presently at. To say, therefore, as I do here, that the US inclines toward fascism, does not mean necessarily a permanent indictment, the inevitability of a one-way street toward the concentration camp and gas ovens, and in fact in its present guise there is no need for overt repression, at least of the Homeland, when the fictions of democracy, liberty, and market freedom ring the air. As for core-destructiveness, that can be, and IS, projected outward instead, as in incinerating whole countries (e.g.,Vietnam) and enabling dictators to forge systems of imprisonment for their own people whenever the respective national interests coincide (from Latin America to Asia and beyond), meanwhile, again for the Homeland, infusing the folk with self-righteous pride of achievement.
As bad as all that? Yes, gradually fewer exits, rest stops, u-turn opportunities for that one-way street as America knuckles down to the realization that its unilateral global domination following World War II is no longer feasible, is in fact breaking down, with the rise of new centers of power and a decentralization of the World System. Before, it had everything its own way, buying and selling “friends and allies” at will in sustained counterrevolutionary mode; no longer, for the natives are rising up, piercing the disguises and subterfuges of liberal humanitarianism, only angering Behemoth to raise the stakes, a more forcible world response accompanied by pressures for greater conformity at home. To all intents and purposes, America is a One-Party State when it comes to militarism, from defining the national budget to infusing society with a cultural spirit of superior destiny in fighting Evil—anything less being soft on a multitude of enemies waiting in the wings (many, of course, given birth and sustenance through our own actions in heightened Cold War fashion, i.e., the Taliban, conversely, death squads in Central America, the military dictators in Chile, having the effect of creating opposition to American policy heretofore neutral or even friendly).