Posted on 07/16/2022 4:03:26 AM PDT by MtnClimber
With the word ' fascist' tossed around promiscuously, it’s extremely important to understand the term and where fascism belongs on the political spectrum.
Anti-liberty leftists generally apply this pejorative to whatever the pro-freedom right is doing at the moment, whether it makes sense or not, as in these recent examples:
A ‘climate activist’ recently stated on MSNBC that the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling is ‘a judicial coup’ and ‘a clear descent into fascism’, never mind that the ruling was the exact opposite of that. Then there is the recent example of a woke Guardian US news reporter claiming that anyone who questions transgender ideology is a FASCIST.
As is the case with most of their weaponized words, their assertions are a kilometer wide and a tenth of a millimeter thick. It only works if you don’t look at it too closely and notice that it’s rife with contradictions, the prime indicator of a big lie. They have nothing beyond a few tired talking points, and as usual, they have to supplement their lack of facts with childish insults or mob techniques to shout down their opponents. Thus, you’ll find that their main tactic is to try to bluff their way through the subject with illogical intimidation.
We will prove our case with a two-prong approach. Starting with a mountain of evidence with the listing of the common elements between socialism and fascism. Then we will point out the major disparities between fascism and the pro-freedom right side of the political spectrum. But first, it’s important to establish a baseline in what exactly we’re talking about with the political spectrum.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
(Wickipedia) Fascism - Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by dictatorial power, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the good of the nation, and strong regimentation of society and the economy that rose to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. MOSTLY FALSE
“Rules for radicals” should be required reading for every conservative minded person on the planet. Understanding the typical tactics of an enemy is the key to stopping them in their tracks. Even better...using their own tactics to crush them like the bugs they want us to eat.
...eh, going back to the founders for your ideas on the “true” polarities of government is not a good idea. We’ve learned a LOT about government since they did their thing, and I haven’t kept up with it, but... I feel certain that it’s a lot more complicated than this.
On the other hand, calling people fascists or socialists is not “discourse” that sensible people listen to, anyway. IMHO. I’m wondering where “antidemocratic” falls into the whole mess...
A Hayek quote is in order here:
Although our modern socialists’ promise of greater freedom is genuine and sincere, in recent years observer after observer has been impressed by the unforeseen consequences of socialism, the extraordinary similarity in many respects of the conditions under “communism” and “fascism.” As the writer Peter Drucker expressed it in 1939, “the complete collapse of the belief in the attainability of freedom and equality through Marxism has forced Russia to travel the same road toward a totalitarian society of un-freedom and inequality which Germany has been following. Not that communism and fascism are essentially the same. Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion, and it has proved as much an illusion in Russia as in pre-Hitler Germany.”
No less significant is the intellectual outlook of the rank and file in the communist and fascist movements in Germany before 1933. The relative ease with which a young communist could be converted into a Nazi or vice versa was well known, best of all to the propagandists of the two parties. The communists and Nazis clashed more frequently with each other than with other parties simply because they competed for the same type of mind and reserved for each other the hatred of the heretic. Their practice showed how closely they are related. To both, the real enemy, the man with whom they had nothing in common, was the liberal of the old type. While to the Nazi the communist and to the communist the Nazi, and to both the socialist, are potential recruits made of the right timber, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom.
— F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
.
Both Fascism and Communism are different flavors of Statism, the belief that the State should have primacy.
To the Statist, people are the property of the state, which has the right to compel them to work to advance State goals.
The counterpart to that is the philosophy laid out in the Declaration of Independence, that people are free to pursue their own goals, and that the only legitimate purpose of the State is to provide a safe and orderly environment for people to live, work, raise their families, and persue their goals and dreams.
“Sure we’ll have Fascism here, but it will come as an anti-Fascism movement.”
- Huey Long
later
“The counterpart to that is the philosophy laid out in the Declaration of Independence, that people are free to pursue their own goals, and that the only legitimate purpose of the State is to provide a safe and orderly environment for people to live, work, raise their families, and persue their goals and dreams.”
Huh... so you think we should go back to life as the Founders imagined it? I don’t think we can, but let’s think about it for a minute. The Civil War stimulated an expansion of the Federal Government that none of the Founders would have recognized. Then FDR’s attempts to compensate for the failures of capitalism stimulated ANOTHER huge expansion in the Federal Government, known now as The Administrative State. I think the founders would have the seen the result, that is, what we have right now, as an abomination. It’s not at all clear to me that what we have right now differs in any significant respect from what the Chinese have right now. Do you think it does?
I think US society would benefit from somebody pruning about 90% of the current federal government.
I’ll go with that.
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