Walter In Denver

Red Meat!

RU Sirius asks several luminaries, “Do we live in a fascist state? Why, or why not?”

The responses range from preposterous to thought provoking. Interesting point to me is the difficulty of defining the term. The U.S. has flirted with various fascistic ideas of governance for generations now, and not just from conservative politicians. Part of the problem some have with defining fascism is its close association with socialism, which gives modern leftists some problems. Scott J. Thompson (in the same article) points out Mussolini's first fascist platform-

…it proposed women’s suffrage and the vote at 18, abolition of the upper house, convocation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for Italy (presumably without the monarchy), the eight-hour workday, worker participation in “the technical management of industry,” the “partial expropriation of all kinds of wealth” by a heavy and progressive tax on capital, the seizure of certain Church properties, and the confiscation of 85 percent of war profits.

A pretty good leftist platform. Thompson adds, "The problem is that particular examples of what is generically called “fascism,” such as Mussolini’s Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF) and Hitler’s NSDAP, continually redefined themselves: on the road to power, in power, and at war."

My view: If the American Right ever establishes a fully fascistic government (not likely, not impossible) it will be done using the governmental institutions created by the Left. That's one of the reasons distinctions of Left and Right mean little.

Posted by Walter at November 29, 2006 03:45 PM