Chomsky on Tea Party: Dark Clouds of Fascism Gathering

Noam Chomsky is a truly towering intellect who insists what is referred to as the common American man and woman are the driving force behind virtually all social progress.

Appearing in Madison, Wisconsin last week, Chomsky, who frequently observes of America that there is a permanent mass base for fascism, warned about the appeal of the Tea Party, though he shares many of their negative sentiments on the U.S. government.

"I'm just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler's speeches on the radio," he said, "and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering" here at home.

Chomsky was speaking to more than 1,000 people at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, where he received the University of Wisconsin's A.E. Havens Center's award for lifetime contribution to critical scholarship.

"The level of anger and fear is like nothing I can compare in my lifetime," he said.
- [Matt Rothschild, The Progressive; April 12, 2010]

Below is a video of Chomsky's address that takes Democrats and Republicans to task for kowtowing to corporate power. Chomsky's address includes analysis of the Vietnam War, intellectual history in the United States, the American academy and the political culture.