Blog #16 - Descent into Fascism in the United States?

Could something like Japan, Germany and Italy's descent into fascism happen in America today?

If you remember the circumstances when these three countries fell under fascism's spell, the following was happening in these 3 countries:

1. A major economic depression put amazing stress upon these three countries' economic systems, causing massive unemployment, inflation, and extreme stress upon their banking systems;

2. Weak democracies were unable to meet the demands upon its organization;

3. Strong nationalist feelings helped make the people in their country ready for a leader (Hitler, Mussolini) who would exploit the country for his own personal sake;

4. In each country, a strong military presence - either with generals taking over the gov't. in Japan or the rebuilding of Germany's industry through an increase in military forces - allowed each country to channel their aggression and spread their imperialist demands;

(I may think of some more things between now and Thursday, but let's go with these four for now).

Your questions:
Could these things occur in America? Are these things already occuring in America right now? Why or why not?

150 words minimum. Due Thursday, March 4

Author Sinclair Lewis wrote about this exact scenario in his novel in It Can't Happen Here in 1935. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html Here's a link to the novel online.