Posted on 06/10/2016 4:17:16 PM PDT by gasport
Carlyle the Proto-Fascist
The originator of the great man theory of history is British philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), one of the most revered thinkers of his day. He also coined the expression “dismal science” to describe the economics of his time. The economists of the day, against whom he constantly inveighed, were almost universally champions of the free market, free trade, and human rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at fee.org ...
“The continuum from Carlyle to Mussolini to Franco to Donald Trump”
I’m going to have to do quick searches from now on to see if on-line essays sneak gems like this near the end.
To an “anti-fascist” anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a fascist.
What astonishes me is that the article takes as a given that Trump is a Fascist. It must be obvious to any enlightened reader, I guess, but I wish he would deign to explain it to dim folks like me.
Tucker’s an AnCap, but knows that stating Prog epithets is fashionable. And probably sides with Progs on ‘social issues’.
Fascist is akin to racist to the idiots on the left. They throw it out and see if it will stick. They don’t even know the meaning of the word. A fascist is a leftist. Idiots.
Malthus deserves as much credit for the fascist and socialist movements due to his beliefs that population growth would eventually outstrip society’s ability to provide resources.
Indeed. The underlying assumptions about the place and ability of ordinary men to do for themselves are the same.
The “right” and “left” which we are talking about in the 19th century emerged in a bubble entirely separate to classical liberalism, though in no small measure as a rejection of it. To even use their definition of the political spectrum as if it included all, as if what they mutually rejected was somehow between them rather than somewhere else entirely, is to deny the truth that both are an “other” to the likes of Smith and even different articles of the old order of things (though not all, like Machiavelli).
He realized that you couldn't turn back the clock to restore absolute monarchy, the power of the nobility, or the Church, so he supported what he thought was the next best thing: an age of military and political "heroes."The same was also true for early Fascists and proto-Fascists.
Those who make the claim that Fascism is a leftwing ideology miss the crucial point that the inspiration for Fascist ideology came from those who (like Carlyle) reject laissez-faire and classical liberalism from a reactionary rather than a radical perspective.
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“Carlyle the Proto-Fascist...”
Stopped right there.
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