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Defending Democracy against Fascism Legislatively

In “Defending Democracy against Fascism” in this issue of WIP, I wrote about general trends in the rise of fascism, trends that we must resist. In contrast, this opinion piece is about two specific Congressional battles that will need your attention in the coming months.

Designating Nonprofits as Terrorist-Supporting Organizations

One threat to democracy was included in the bill HR 9495 in the US House of Representatives. In December this bill was narrowly defeated, but it will undoubtedly be proposed again, especially now that both the Senate and House of Representatives are dominated by Republicans. This bill would give the Treasury Department the power to designate any nonprofit organization a “terrorist-supporting organization” and to strip it of its tax-exempt status. No standards for making the decision were included in the bill, nor ways to appeal the decision.

We can imagine the direct effects on any nonprofit designated as “terrorist-supporting.” Taking away a nonprofit’s ability to raise money is one of the quickest ways to kill it. Additionally, once the Trump administration has designated a nonprofit this way – what targeting of its members and staff will come next?

It is also not hard to imagine the mischief that this bill could cause. What anti-war groups will get this designation? What LBGTQ+ groups? What groups supporting immigrants? What groups opposing multi-national corporation takeover? What environmental groups trying to protect our planet’s trashing? What Black Lives Matter groups? What nonprofit newspapers and magazines? In fact, with Republicans controlling all three branches of the US government—the presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress – citizen activists and the mainstream press (sadly compromised by corporate monopoly) might be the only defenders of democracy left!

Presidential Control of the States’ National Guard Units

Each state’s National Guard is designed for local state-wide protection and is under the control of the state governor. Governors activate their National Guard in emergencies like natural disasters, but also for civil unrest, such as riots—and protests, sometimes even peaceful ones. State governors have had this control since the Constitution was written.

However, during the last Congress MAGA Republicans placed a provision in the defense authorization bill that would take this control from state governors and place it under the US Space Command, part of the Department of Defense (and not to be confused with NASA).

While HR 9495’s provision only focused on the flight units of each state’s National Guard, this would set a terrible precedent for taking away state rights and control. For this reason, the National Governors Association, including Republican governors, have spoken out against it. This provision was removed from the last defense appropriation bill, but it could certainly be introduced again in some other form.

It would be very hard for Trump to use the regular military against protesting Americans because 1) the military is busy doing other things; and 2) high-up military brass understand this would be a violation of the Constitution. However, if this provision passes Congress, as commander of the National Guard the president would have control of a military body in each state that could be called out to suppress protestors. Even if his control were restricted to the National Guard’s flight units, we can imagine helicopters and light planes being used to harass protestors—or worse. Therefore, this proposal is a dangerous incursion against the right to much-needed peaceable protest.

In the coming months, we must be alert to the re-appearance of these two ideas in Congress and be ready to take action against them – and other proposals that would undermine our democracy. I will be writing other articles about the rise of fascism. However, we all must examine the events of the day through the lens of what this dangerous movement toward fascism is doing to our democracy—and we must be willing to defend it.

Lynn Fitz-Hugh founded and works with Restoring Earth Connection. For over 16 years, she has worked in various capacities fighting climate change.

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