To a Kikuyu living in Nairobi, this article would make perfectly good sense.
Posted on 01/14/2008 3:43:32 PM PST by Candor7
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. It is totalitarian in Mussolini's original meaning of the term, of "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State." Fascism's message boils down to "Enough talk, more action!" Its lasting appeal is getting things done.
In contrast, conservatism calls for limited government, individualism, democratic debate, and capitalism. Its appeal is liberty and leaving citizens alone.
Goldberg's triumph is establishing the kinship between communism, fascism, and liberalism. All derive from the same tradition that goes back to the Jacobins of the French Revolution. His revised political spectrum would focus on the role of the state and go from libertarianism to conservatism to fascism in its many guises – American, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, Cuban, and so on.
As this listing suggests, fascism is flexible; different iterations differ in specifics but they share "emotional or instinctual impulses." Mussolini tweaked the socialist agenda to emphasize the state; Lenin made workers the vanguard party; Hitler added race. If the German version was militaristic, the American one (which Goldberg calls liberal fascism) is nearly pacifist. Goldberg quotes historian Richard Pipes on this point: "Bolshevism and Fascism were heresies of socialism." He proves this confluence in two ways.
Woodrow Wilson's Progressivism featured a "militaristic, fanatically nationalist, imperialist, racist" program, enabled by the exigencies of World War I. Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fascist New Deal" built on and extended Wilson's government. Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society established the modern welfare state, "the ultimate fruition" (so far) of this statist tradition. The youthful New Left revolutionaries of the 1960s brought about "an Americanized updating" of the European Old Right. Hillary Clinton hopes "to insert the state deep into family life," an essential step of the totalitarian project. To sum up a near-century of history, if the American political system traditionally encouraged the pursuit of happiness, "more and more of us want to stop chasing it and have it delivered."
Second, Goldberg dissects American liberal programs – racial, economic, environmental, even the "cult of the organic" – and shows their affinities to those of Mussolini and Hitler.
If this summary sounds mind-numbingly implausible, read Liberal Fascism in full for its colorful quotes and convincing documentation. The author, hitherto known as a smart, sharp-elbowed polemicist, has proven himself a major political thinker.
Beyond offering a radically different way to understand modern politics, in which fascist is no more a slander than socialist, Goldberg's extraordinary book provides conservatives with the tools to reply to their liberal tormentors and eventually go on the offensive. If liberals can eternally raise the specter of Joseph McCarthy, conservatives can counter with that of Benito Mussolini.
To a Kikuyu living in Nairobi, this article would make perfectly good sense.
Ping
I’ve always refered to WPA art deco (for example Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, and 30th Street Post Office) as “American Fascist architecture”. Sometimes it’s complete with fasces.
And Liberalism fosters Political Correctness in order to hide its visiousness.
Glenn Beck, on his daily radio show, gave a lot of attention to this book and author. It sounds as if there is a lot of good ammunition contained therein, to be used in a battle of wits with the libtards (if they could be said to have such).
Socialists.
.
Don’t you people realize that only Republicans and conservatives (not the same thing) can be called nazis and fascists? The Left says so! Jeez, people!!
( /sarc barely off)
'The youthful New Left revolutionaries of the 1960s brought about "an Americanized updating" of the European Old Right.
Hillary Clinton hopes "to insert the state deep into family life," an essential step of the totalitarian project.
To sum up a near-century of history, if the American political system traditionally encouraged the pursuit of happiness, "more and more of us want to stop chasing it and have it delivered." '
Good stuff!
I can’t recall where I heard this, but “liberalism [or perhaps socialism] is the velvet glove worn by the iron fist of fascism”.
Also reviewed by Bruce Thornton writing for Victor Davis Hanson’s website.
Posted here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952098/posts
In absolute defense of Mr. Wells, the terms liberal and progressive meant entirely different things then and would have been an incongruous juxtaposition for effect then.
Teddy Roosevelt was also termed a “progressive” and he would probably have had modern day "liberals" hanged.
Mr Wells believed in selective breeding to improve the human race, not todays buy everybody a puppy, everybody is totally equal, and if you don’t agree then you are a racist.
This was “progressive.”
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.To think that Wells or Roosevelt would fit the mold of today’s liberal trash is lunacy.
I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.
If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.
No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.
We can have no “50-50” allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.
The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer “Present” or “Not guilty.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
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Scratch a liberal and under his thin skin is a socialist. Dig a little deeper and you will soon find the Marxist nuclear fuel rod that drives everything he says and does.
Corollary: All Marxists lie.
It does so by exalting the state over the individual, expert knowledge over democracy, enforced consensus over debate, and socialism over capitalism. You can see this all over the environmental movement. On another thread I had a discussion with someone regarding the advisory role of "science" in policymaking vs. policy driven by science as an absolute = "expert knowledge" over democracy. The new NEPA regulations in the Federal Register elevate "community consensus groups" to the level of elected county government in influence regarding federal land management. It is long known that the Delphic process used by some land management agencies is structured to create a false consensus. Anyone who disagrees is commonly labeled as anti-government = consensus over debate. Conservatives know that government was created to prevent the general public from substantial injury to health amd safety from individual actions. Government was also structured to maximizes and protect individual liberty from majority will. Regulations now routinely impose the "community will" or exact benefits for the public interest - particularly undermining the integrity and value of private property rights = exalting the state over the individual, and promoting socialism over capitalism.
THAT -- right there -- is the kook left DNC Kontrol Kommittee in summary. It must be thwarted by any, and every means; exhausting all legal avenues first, but -- failing that -- employing means beyond the realm of law and order. If those people who would be free must riot in the streets with axes and pitchforks, then that is what must be done. If those who would be free must retake this Republic house-by-house, and block-by-block in armed strife, then that is what must be. Totalitarianism MUST NOT be allowed ascendancy in this Republic.
Now it is," Peace in our Slimes!"
or in the words of an Obama slughorn:
"Change we can believe in."
We don't know what that is, and the MSM doesn't seem to care. No ones even asking , what changes?
(The right to buy weapons is the right to be free)
That sounds like a statment from Robert Hedrock, founder of the “Weapon Shops”, according to VanVogt. Could be wrong about the name, haven’t seen the book in 25 years.
90% off the nations of the world could solve 90% of their problems, if their “leaders” would allow it. Even some one as simple as Gomer Pyle & Barney Fife can see this, if I did.
Our nation’s most serious threat is not islamofascism. It is Marxism! And,,,,The Marxist’s most important weapon against freedom are our nation’s schools.
Freedom will not survive if the Marxists succeed in indoctrinating the next generation of voters. We haven’t much time. In less than a generation our nation could look like Venezuela, Nicaragua, or Bolivia.
Yet,,,American people seem to be asleep!
My copy of “Liberal Fascism” arrived a few days ago and I’ve just started reading it. It’s a killer. Probably one of the most important conservative books in a decade. Highly, highly recommended. It overturns the phony history that liberals have been shoving down our throats for the past 100 years or so.
Feudalism: You have two cows. The lord of the manor takes some of the milk. And all the cream.
Pure Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one of your cows and gives it to your neighbor. You're both forced to join a cooperative where you have to teach your neighbor how to take care of his cow.
Bureaucratic Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and as many eggs as its regulations say you should need.
Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Pure Communism: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
Russian Communism: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.
Communism: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. You wait in line for you share of the milk, but it's so long that the milk is sour by the time you get it.
Dictatorship: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
Militarism: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
Pure Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
Representative Democracy: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
American Democracy: The government promises to give you two cows if you vote for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate." The cows are set free.
Democracy, Democrat-style: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being so successful. You vote politicians into office who tax your cows, which forces you to sell one to pay the tax. The politicians use the tax money to buy a cow for your neighbor. You feel good. Barbra Streisand sings for you.
Democracy, Republican-style: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You move to a better neighborhood.
Indian Democracy: You have two cows. You worship them.
British Democracy: You have two cows. You feed them sheep brains and they go mad. The government gives you compensation for your diseased cows, compensation for your lost income, and a grant not to use your fields for anything else. And tells the public not to worry.
Bureaucracy: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
Anarchy: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to kill you and take the cows.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You lay one off, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when she drops dead.
Singaporean Democracy: You have two cows. The government fines you for keeping two unlicensed farm animals in an apartment.
Hong Kong Capitalism (alias Enron Capitalism):
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly-listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute an debt/equity swap with associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping five cows.
The milk rights of six cows are transferred via a Panamanian intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company.
The annual report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because the Feng Shui is bad.
Environmentalism: You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or killing them.
Totalitarianism: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.
Foreign Policy, American-Style: You have two cows. The government taxes them and uses the money to buy a cow for a poor farmer a country ruled by a dictator. The farmer has no hay to feed the cow and his religion forbids him from eating it. The cow dies. The man dies. The dictator confiscates the dead man's farm and sells it, using the money to purchase US military equipment. The President declares the program a success and announces closer ties with our new ally.
Bureaucracy, American-Style: You have two cows but you have to kill one of them because the government will only give you a license for one of them. The license requires you to sell all your milk to the government, which uses it to make cheese. The government pays lots of money to store the cheese in refrigerated warehouses. When the cheese spoils, the government distributes it to the poor. The poor get sick from the cheese, go to the emergency room, and are turned away because they have no health insurance. The President declares the program a success and reminds us that we have the finest health care system in the world.
American Corporation: You have two cows. You sell one to a subsidiary company and lease it back to yourself so you can declare it as a tax loss. Your bosses give you a huge bonus. You inject the cows with drugs and they produce four times the normal amount of milk. Your bosses give you a huge bonus. When the drugs cause one of the cows to drop dead you announce to the press that you have down-sized, reducing expenses by 50 percent. The company stock goes up and your bosses give you a huge bonus. You lay off all your workers and move your production facilities to Mexico. You get a huge bonus. You contribute some of your profit to the President's re-election campaign. The President announces tax cuts for corporations in order to stimulate the economy.
Japanese Corporation: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You teach the cows to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Your cows always get higher test scores than cows in the U.S. or Europe, but they drink a lot of sake.
German Corporation: You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent milk, and run a hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year and are very expensive to repair.
Russian Corporation: You have two cows. You have some vodka. You count your cows and discover you really have five cows! You have more vodka. You count them again and discover you have 42 cows! You stop counting cows and have some more vodka. The Russian Mafia arrives and takes over all your cows. You have more vodka.
Italian Corporation: You have two cows but you can't find them. While searching for them you meet a beautiful woman, take her out to lunch and then make love to her. Life is good.
French Corporation: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want another cow, more vacation and shorter work weeks. The French government announces that it will never agree to your demands. You go to lunch and eat fabulous food and drink wonderful wine. While you are at lunch, the airline pilots and flight controllers join your strike, shutting down all air traffic. The truckers block all the roads and the dock workers block all the ports. By dinner time the French government announces it agrees with all your demands. Life is good.
Political Correctness: You are associated with (the concept of "ownership" is an outdated symbol of your decadent, warmongering, intolerant past) two differently-aged (but no less valuable to society) bovines of non-specified gender. They get married and adopt a calf.
Counterculturalism: Wow, dude, there's like . . . these two cows, man. You have got to have some of this milk.
Surrealism: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
Right you are.
btt
“Our nation’s most serious threat is not islamofascism. It is Marxism! And,,,,The Marxist’s most important weapon against freedom are our nation’s schools.
Freedom will not survive if the Marxists succeed in indoctrinating the next generation of voters. We haven’t much time. In less than a generation our nation could look like Venezuela, Nicaragua, or Bolivia.
Yet,,,American people seem to be asleep!”
I agree with you that conservatives need to take back America’s public schools and universities. Get involved! Young conservatives, old conservatives - become teachers! The more conservatives who become teachers, principals, and school board members - the more we can push out the kooks.
Vote conservatives on school boards and state legislatures! This is the only way, in the long run, that lasting change will be made.
Excellent read - thank you
Notice the C in the Change sign.
I blew it up and it sure looks like a crescent moon to me!
You sold me
I agree with you that conservatives need to take back America’s public schools and universities.
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Reformation of our government K-12 schools is impossible. They needed to be closed! A completely new system of private schools needs to be built.
As for our colleges and universities, they needed to be thoroughly reformed or closed. We should also be in the process of building new colleges and universities that will uphold and support freedom.
Meanwhile the MSM is conveniently "not mentioning " it, as if some one in the room had only farted!
We live in interesting times.
"Liberal fascism" is an oxymoron. The word "liberal" as applied to the contemporary Left is an Orwellian paradox; it is newspeak comparable to "love is hate", "war is peace", and "freedom is slavery". The contemporary Left is the opposite of liberal. It is very much fascist.
IMHO our political labeling is all Newspeak. Journalists are "objective," meaning nothing other than that they are wise, and disputing their perspective (which is actually predicated on nothing other than the self-interest of journalism) is foolish or evil - or, in Newspeak terms, "conservative." Those who accept the perspective of Big Journalism, OTOH, are "progressive" or "liberal" or "moderate" - whatever positive label they prefer.
Waiter! I’ll take Surrealism, please! With a twist of umbrella!
Yea. What is the thing with the C???
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