Every government does, in a way, yes. So you can easily dismiss Fascist America...
But then we have candidates like Robert Kennedy, who championed equality despite race or creed, and George McGovern, who was a rare voice of reason on foreign affairs. When you look at 68 and 72, and what we've done since then, the fascist example is strong. Reagan was a cult of personality, and wildly insular. Clinton was a southern populist. Bush is a xenophobic nightmare. We had our backlash Carter Presidency, which then we decided not to support at the local/Congressional level.
I'm not saying America is the Fourth Reich. I'm just saying that we took the "best" of fascism and put our uber-capitalist spin on it. The same way FDR was, essentially, a dictator. He was a benevolent dictator, and what we needed at the time. Our unique brand of fascism follows the very stripped down, basic definition, but is also something well outside of the definition because we continue to have elections and we do still buck against oppression and control. But, especially in the last eight years, we've been walking a tightrope. The Patriot Act and successor is a serious throw towards the fascist side of things.
So let's say fascism is used in America, like everything else, as more of an advertising tool. Slogans and signs, pandering nonsense and empty promises. But, overall, the larger machine is ticking away as it always has since we hyper-industrialized in the 1940's.
