Posted on 01/08/2008 7:00:31 AM PST by IrishMike
Liberal fascism sounds like an oxymoron – or a term for conservatives to insult liberals. Actually, it was coined by a socialist writer, none other than the respected and influential left-winger H.G. Wells, who in 1931 called on fellow progressives to become "liberal fascists" and "enlightened Nazis." Really. His words, indeed, fit a much larger pattern of fusing socialism with fascism: Mussolini was a leading socialist figure who, during World War I, turned away from internationalism in favor of Italian nationalism and called the blend Fascism. Likewise, Hitler headed the National Socialist German Workers Party.
These facts jar because they contradict the political spectrum that has shaped our worldview since the late 1930s, which places communism at the far left, followed by socialism, liberalism in the center, conservatism, and then fascism on the far right. But this spectrum, Jonah Goldberg points out in his brilliant, profound, and original new book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning (Doubleday), reflects Stalin's use of fascist as an epithet to discredit anyone he wished – Trotsky, Churchill, Russian peasants – and distorts reality. Already in 1946, George Orwell noted that fascism had degenerated to signify "something not desirable."
To understand fascism in its full expression requires putting aside Stalin's misrepresentation of the term and also look beyond the Holocaust, and instead return to the period Goldberg terms the "fascist moment," roughly 1910-35. A statist ideology, fascism uses politics as the tool to transform society from atomized individuals into an organic whole. It does so by exalting the state over the individual, expert knowledge over democracy, enforced consensus over debate, and socialism over capitalism.
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In contrast, conservatism calls for limited government, individualism, democratic debate, and capitalism. Its appeal is liberty and leaving citizens alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
Good grief!
Where ya’all been all your lives?
Facism IS Liberalism (i.e. Socialism)
NAZI is the German abbreviation for National Socialist.
It is my personal theory that some time in every person’s early teen years, they finalize how they will relate to the outside world: if the facts, laws and reality of that world is the superior constraint on their own thinking, or if they refuse to allow any external aspect to constrain their thinking.
To put it another way: where is “reality”? Inside the head, or outside? Can a person live their life as much as possible in the perfect world inside their head, only aligning their behavior when external forces require it, where only ever-changing intentions are the standard of behavior. Or does a person have to recognize higher authority and external moral law as the supreme standard of how they allow themselves to think and evaluate situations?
It is clear beyond a doubt to me that liberals process information differently than do conservatives. Liberals relate to each other differently. They have different ways of expressing it: with liberals, ideas “resonate”; with conservatives ideas convince.
Fascism, along with communal-ism and social-ism are all attempts to construct a utopian society based on moral relevance, especially where economics are concerned. As we often see, these societies all finally fail economically because their ‘business model’ is not sustainable.
All this ‘isms’ are mental disorders because they are mass attempts at denial of timeless truths about morality and economics.
Global Warming = Global FASCISM
Modern liberalism is all about power-hungry little nerds and losers trying to control other people!
Been that way ever since Marx, Engels, Gramsci and the other vermin who invented it.
Leftist love to label conservatives fascists because it generates association with Hitler and the Nazis who even leftists consider evil. If one looks at the political spectrum as a function of govermental control vs. individual freedom you would see communism on the far left and anarchy on the far right. Socialism, fascism, globalism, and liberalism would fall on the left as they all desire to hand control of the individual and private sector over to the goverment or a dictator. Conservatives, capitalists, and libertarians would fall on the right as they tend to support handing control of society over to the individuals and the private sector.
Socialism and Fascism are jealous siblings of the same dysfunctional family. The core foundation of both is Philosophical Materialism that gives credence to subjective morality (Nietzsche in particular). Once morality and reality are accepted as subjective, one will believe they have a moral obligation to impose their will on others (Nietzsche’s “Will to Power”?).
Marx and Engels were late comers. Charles Fourier, Henri Saint-Simon, and even Rousseau had more to do with founding the socialist philosophy.
And you are only referring to the secular version of socialism anyway. Socialism is the secularization of Christian left wing post millennialism, which dates back at least to the 11th century. A sizable number of the heresies the Catholic church suppressed over the centuries were communist. Marx was well versed in Christian heretical doctrines and counted Thomas Müntzer amoung his heroes.
No dictator is on the right side of politics.
Excellent expansion.
Nice post.
I look at fascism as what I call “right wing socialism.” Its salient features are corporate subsidies and a huge criminal justice bureaucracy that has as many evils as does the “left wing socialism” of the welfare bureaucracy. It has done as much to “solve” the criminal problem in this country as the welfare system has solved the poverty problem. Instead, we have armies of cops, probation officers, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and “service providers,” none of whom really want to see crime disappear. And all of them are on the government payroll.
The real problem with crime is the same as poverty. The socialists, whether on the left or right, have destroyed all of the mores, culture, spiritual beliefs and institutions that once held this society together and made it productive. Those things have been replaced with...nothing. Nothing but a huge all-encompassing inhuman government.
Thanks for posting this!
That's hard nihilism. But there is no moral obligation to impose will. Soft nihilism is just going along with the strongest current of created values.
Facism was an Italian Socialist party. The point however, is the what is often called “Fascist” is left wing.
Really, what is “fascist” about strict constructionist conservatives (the radical right)?
Facism was an Italian Socialist party. The point however, is the what is often called “Fascist” is left wing.The ideology is almost exactly the same. Using an idealized past(the roman empire/the founding of the republic) and fetishizing symbols of that era(the fasces/the constitution) among other things.
Really, what is “fascist” about strict constructionist conservatives (the radical right)?
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