RevolutionNews.US ~ In his book Friendly Fascism, author Bertram Gross argues that when fascism comes to America it will be "friendly" and lack the overt brutality of the classic varieties of German and Italian fascism. Richard Nixon once said that average American is like a child in the family. Nixon was merely expressing the dominant opinion of the ruling elite who consider us contemptible children in need of adult supervision. Hitler, too, considered the German people children in need of adult supervision. For the elite, a political activist is the worst sort of unruly child, one that directly challenges the authority of the father who represents the state. In order to modify the behavior of a rebellious child the state must instill fear. It must intimidate but — as Gross noted — it must do this with a friendly face. It must uphold the pretense of "democracy." A frog must be boiled slowly. "No truly sophisticated proponent of repression would be stupid enough to shatter the facade of democratic institutions," wrote Murray B. Levin. In the once great United States, circa 2010, the state, the father authoritarian figure, does not generally send Gestapo thugs in leather trench coats at three o'clock in the morning to the doorstep of those bold enough to challenge the authority of the state. It may send a SWAT team of trained killers after a suspected drug dealer, but this is the exception and not the rule. Naked brutality is reserved for al-Qaeda patsies, Iraqi children ...