Paul: U.S. close to being fascist WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said Sunday he thinks the United States is dangerously close to having a fascist government. The Republican presidential hopeful said on CNN's "State of the Union" the combination of big government and big business has led to the U.S. officials operating as what he called "interventionists." And when interventionists exist, it serves the interests of the power of the special interests. And guess who they are, they are the big banks and the very wealthy corporations and they get these benefits," Paul said. But just think of this change in civil liberties that nobody wants to talk about, the arrest of American citizens by the military and held indefinitely without a trial and people aren't concerned about it? Paul said if the United States experienced "economic chaos" like Greece, he believes the government might "clamp down" on people, though he acknowledged the country is not yet at that point. At least we can come and visit and meet and we can have meetings like this and we can change the course because we actually changed that bill on online piracy acts. So people can still act out," Paul said.