Posing.
Posted on 05/16/2013 8:29:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Many observers have pondered if the United States is following the same troubled path as Argentina. In the 1940s, Argentina’s Juan Domingo Perón used government agencies for political gain and created a popular form of fascism called Perónism. In the United States, the recent revelation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting political enemies is a bad omen. Are we on an Argentinean course?
The road to decay in my native country, Argentina, began with the implementation of one of the most powerful collectivist doctrines of the 20th century: fascism. The Labour Charter of 1927 – promulgated by Italy’s Grand Council of Fascism under Mussolini – is a guiding document of this doctrine and provides for government-based economic management. This same document recommends government provision of healthcare and unemployment insurance. Sound familiar?
Since adopting its own brand of fascism, “Justicialismo,” Argentina began to fall in world economic rankings.
* In 1930, Argentina’s gold reserves ranked 6th. After the “experts” took over the central bank, reserves fell to 9th in 1948 ($700 million), 16th during 1950-54 (with $530 million), and 28th during 1960-1964 (with $290 million).
* The Argentine central bank, created in 1935, was at first a private corporation. Its president lasted longer (seven years) than the president of the country, and it had strict limits for government debt purchases and even had foreign bankers on its board. It became a government entity in 1946.
When Perón assumed power shortly thereafter, he hastily expanded the role of government, relaxed central banking rules and used the bank to facilitate his statist policies. In just 10 years, the peso went from 4.05 per U.S. dollar to 18 in 1955 (and later peaked at 36 that same year). After Perón’s rule, Argentina further devalued its currency to 400 pesos per U.S. dollar by 1970.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Some major differences between cultures still exist, such as the “cult of the leader,” attacking mediating institutions (e.g., Catholic associations and the press), and appealing to the left as well as the right.
Regarding the latter, Peron achieved vast influence over most of the three main components of fascism: labor unions, business corporations, and government. It’s not likely that a U.S. leader will gain control of all three of these in the near future. During the beginning of the Obama administration it looked as though much of the business world was on board, but if there was ever a honeymoon, it didn’t last long. The Chamber of Commerce, for example, voiced its opposition during the middle of Obama’s first term, and continues to voice its criticism on several fronts.
Other differences, so far, are:
* The use of government funds for partisan efforts in Argentina is much worse than in the United States.
* The U.S. government is reluctant to directly attack capitalism. Interventions are positioned as “going against capitalism to save capitalism.”
* In the United States, there is greater understanding of the dangers of protectionist and nationalist economic policies.
* There is stronger support for the rule of law in the United States. The control of the judiciary by the Argentine government is reaching tyrannical levels.
A major source of hope in the United States is the strength and variety in governments among the 50 states and the richness of our civil society. Economic power is more diffused in the United Statesand some of it, as I noted in a recent column, is moving south to more conservative states. State spending and regulation has grown, but the federal government does not yet have the power to make the states follow all of its dictates and whims.
Obamacare was specifically designed to force us into an Argentina-like existence, not to give us better medical access.
Where has Michelle been lately?
Posing.
Good article. I’ve always believed Obama was more of a Fascist than a Socialist. He wants government to pick the “winners” (Solyndra, Fisker, etc) and “losers” (oil companies) but the free market keeps messing up his plans.
A distinction without a difference. They’re all totalitarians and only those pointyheads on campus would bother to parse a tyranny into vague and conflicting distinctions.
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