Liberal Fascism Explained

Campus Report ^ | January 16, 2008 | Amanda Busse

[Rick.Donaldson]

“I’m not saying today’s liberals are Hitler’s cousins,” Goldberg said at his first discussion of the book held at the Heritage Foundation. “They’re more like his grand-niece once removed.”

Sorry, the author is wrong.

They ARE Hitler's cousins. Unfortunately people have yet to realize this, and it will be to late once they start being people in the public square.

Liberals should be shut down in the polls and they should be shut down in their "freedom of speech". Why? Because they use NO RESPONSIBILITY in their speech. Once they learn to be responsible, fine... until then, their speech is seditious and they shouldn't be allowed to get up and preach Socialist values.

[Rick.Donaldson]

They ARE Hitler’s cousins. Unfortunately people have yet to realize this, and it will be to late once they start being people in the public square.

should read:

They ARE Hitler’s cousins. Unfortunately people have yet to realize this, and it will be to late once they start ‘beating’ people in the public square.

[KarlInOhio]

I had fun with a twerp liberal once. He was whining about how we all need to work together and other such collectivist nonsense, so I played along with him. I said "so, you're saying that each one of us is individually weak like a stick by itself. But if we are all tied together like sticks in a bundle we will be much stronger." He agreed completely. I then went for the kill. I told him that described the Roman fasces, from which the term fascism is derived. The stunned liberal looked at me, blinked a few times and said that wasn't what he meant and found something better to do than talk to me any longer.

It was a beautiful moment.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Nicely played, KIO.

When I was in college, a common theme was that Communists were so far left and Fascists so far right that they eventually met.

When I questioned the professor that fascism was a phenomenon of the left, he became unglued. No greater insult to that Commie, for sure.

In denial to the end.

[Misterioso]

This is the one dozenth thread on this, something we already knew about before the book was published.

Oh, oh--a Freeper with really long whiskers.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I understand that Goldberg dates "American fascism" to Woodrow Wilson (which is going to confuse a lot of "palaeocons" who think every conservative who doesn't hate Israel is a Wilson-worshiper), but I have a theory of my own: that had he lived long enough to see Mussolini, Theodore Roosevelt might very well have become an avowed fascist.

Think about it. TR advocated interventionism in both the economy and in foreign affairs. He glorified war. He was a "jingo." And while he supported radical policies domestically, he was a bitter opponent of radical organizations (much like Bismarck before him). Add to this our youngest president's preaching of "the strenuous life" sounds much like the vitalism and worship of "action" of early Italian fascism. Also, despite his progressivism, he had a belief in white supremacy not only endemic to his time but also influenced by Darwinian theory.

TR died just ten weeks before Mussolini organized the Fascisti in Milan. If he had lived to witness the new movement I believe it would have struck a chord with him.

[midwyf]

Gun control advocates love to use the word facist to anyone who supports gun rights. I love to remind them that it was Hitler who gathered up all of the guns from the populace.

[rellimpank]

---having read many a biography of TR, I agree wholeheartedly. He used every office he ever held to expand the reach of government as much as possible.

Even as an ex-president (while he wasn't as loathsome as Carter) he couldn't keep his mouth shut, as his predecessors had--and was a major force in getting the US into WW 1, IMHO, the mistake of the century---

[rightwingextremist1776]

I have been saying this for YEARS!

[BunkDetector]

Wow!
You are both vicious AND witty.
Any more heroic tales to tell about yourself?

[Nephi]

When liberals start calling a fascist or neocon, you can be reasonably assured that they have no clue what the definition is of either.

You do know the origin of neo-con is the Trotskyite, Irving Kristol, right?

[SoCalPol]

I have Jonah’s book, over 400 pages.
A must read
information with historical facts, and several
pages of notes in back of book

He was also on C-SPAN last weekend and backs up

[oblomov]

No, the origin of the term neoconservative is the socialist, Michael Harrington. He used the terms as a derogation of “splitters” such as Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz. Kristol and Podhoretz began to use the term as an ironic honorific, then later used the term in a more neutral sense.

[Nephi]

Interesting.
I didn’t realize that the label, “Neo-conservative” was a derisive term used by a student of the Trotskyite, Max Schactman to identify other former Trotskyites.

[KC Burke]

I got this book this weekend and I am very pleasantly surprised as to the size, character, good research etc.

Thread on my study soon.

[KC Burke]

The "progresivism" of TR as well as Wilson is acknowledged in Goldberg's book. He characterizes the centralization as Wilson's alone where in TR it surrounded his personality. To be fair, George Will, in Restoration cited quite clearly a decade ago how these two consecutive Presidencies politicized the office and weakened Congress. He was making the point, but for other reasons (term limits to strengthen the legitamacy of Congress).

[Zionist Conspirator]

The "progresivism" of TR as well as Wilson is acknowledged in Goldberg's book. He characterizes the centralization as Wilson's alone where in TR it surrounded his personality. To be fair, George Will, in Restoration cited quite clearly a decade ago how these two consecutive Presidencies politicized the office and weakened Congress. He was making the point, but for other reasons (term limits to strengthen the legitamacy of Congress).

This is all true, but my main point was that TR's peculiar youth, activism, social Darwinism, advocacy of "the strenuous life," of American jingoism, and statism (while simultaneously being strongly opposed to radical organizations) make him the closest thing to Mussolini in the America of that time period. Also check out TR's speaking style--the jutting jaw, the arm-waving, the moralism. And I am not saying that TR would have advocated a one party state (at least I don't think he would have), but if you boil fascism down to its essentials (vitalism, interventionism, militarism, and opposition to leftist organizations) TR is almost a fore-echo of Mussolini.

It would have been interesting if he had lived to see Mussolini's "experiment."

[KC Burke]

I will agree that the comparison is apt. The leadership attitudes that assembled into what became Fascism and later mutated to Nazism was originally fostered by the time and the reaction to the speed of economic change coupled with power shifts by democratization and the slow electorate.

This is the time when economic forces were powerful enough to be percieved as buying state legislatures to get Senators and then nimble enough to buy Senators, or their campaigns, with even greater efficiency after the change of the 17th amendment.

The proactive leaders used the traits you cite to try to get the advance on those forces the percieved as thwarting effective leadership and once it worked, bad actors saw the efficiency.

[bigjoesaddle]

Jonah Goldberg will be on Glen Beck the whole hour tonight.