123
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
new article
''It Can't Happen Here'' was a [[1935]] novel by American writer [[Sinclair Lewis]]. It deals with a fictional [[U.S. President]], Buzz Windrip, elected in [[1936]]. Windrip turned the United States into a [[facist]] dictatorship, by playing upon citizens' fear of an imaginary [[Communist]] threat. Lewis demonstrates how easily a tyrant could grab and hold power in America:
*Condemning [[liberals]] and other opponents for their lack of [[patriotism]]
*Arresting suspected [[insurgent]]s and placing them in [[concentration camps]]
*Outlawing [[habeas corpus]] for anyone the government suspects of being an enemy combantant, and allowing forms of [[torture]]
*Declaring [[martial law]], and keeping citizens in line with a gang of thugs known as the [[Minute Men]]
*Crushing of [[civil rights]], especially those of minorities
*Condemning the public schools, colleges, scientists, and the medical community for their opposition
*Promising to lower taxes and hand out large tax rebates
*Threatening war with [[Mexico]] by creating an imagined threat posed by immigrants
Windrip's dictatorship eventually fails; not due to people's revolution, but betrayal by his own [[Secretary of State]].
==References==
Lewis, Sinclair. ''It Can't Happen Here.'' New York: Penguin Books, 1935.
Meisel, Perry. ''It Can't Happen Here: Introduction.'' Ibid.
*Condemning [[liberals]] and other opponents for their lack of [[patriotism]]
*Arresting suspected [[insurgent]]s and placing them in [[concentration camps]]
*Outlawing [[habeas corpus]] for anyone the government suspects of being an enemy combantant, and allowing forms of [[torture]]
*Declaring [[martial law]], and keeping citizens in line with a gang of thugs known as the [[Minute Men]]
*Crushing of [[civil rights]], especially those of minorities
*Condemning the public schools, colleges, scientists, and the medical community for their opposition
*Promising to lower taxes and hand out large tax rebates
*Threatening war with [[Mexico]] by creating an imagined threat posed by immigrants
Windrip's dictatorship eventually fails; not due to people's revolution, but betrayal by his own [[Secretary of State]].
==References==
Lewis, Sinclair. ''It Can't Happen Here.'' New York: Penguin Books, 1935.
Meisel, Perry. ''It Can't Happen Here: Introduction.'' Ibid.