Squooze my fascist, baby!

…there’s a good chance we’re both onto something:

In fact, Senator McCain has indicated that not only would he like to unleash the U.S. military on substantial portions of the rest of the world, as president, he would work to militarize American society. In a 2001 article in the Washington Monthly, after lamenting that it was “not currently politically practical to revive the draft,” McCain went on to praise and argue for the expansion of the National Civilian Community Corps, a federally-administered program where volunteers “wear uniforms, work in teams, learn public speaking skills, and gather together for daily calisthenics, often in highly public places such as in front of city hall.”

McCain glowed at the fact that the participants “not only wear uniforms and work in teams…but actually live together in barracks on former military bases.”

Then he gets snarky:

There is already a place where young people wear federal uniforms, live in military barracks, and gather for calisthenics in front of government buildings: It’s called North Korea.

I know people bandy around the word fascist, but the subjugation of individual identity to government authority and symbolism is, erm…. kinda fascist. Not to mention really creepy.

Just like with Little Lord Pontchartrain, if McCain is president, many in the chattering class are going to wake up and proclaim that this John McCain isn’t what they expected based on his campaign, even though it was all in plain sight once again. I loves me the power of self-projection:

But give Senator McCain credit: he isn’t falsely marketing a “humble” foreign policy on the campaign trail. To the contrary, when voters go to the polls, there will be plenty of information available to indicate that a vote for McCain is a vote for perpetual war and occupation. Voters may even obtain that information–if the media could stop fawning over the deliciously “mavericky” Senator McCain and just reveal his platform for what it really is.

Probably not going to happen.