Local lefties and fascism

Lefties are still trying to promote the myth that fascism is a branch of rightist ideology.  In this specific case, lefties are trying to dump the label on the “Tea Party.”  Here’s the link a local lefty leader points to.

Before I proceed, it’s important to understand that when I use the term “right,” I refer to the right as we generally understand it today in the United States.  This is an important distinction because the definition of “the right” differs among countries and across time.  For example, Europe’s mythical middle is to the left of the U.S. mythical middle.  Therefore, some of what we read about Europe’s “right” fits the U.S. left better than the U.S. right.

We regularly hear fascism (and Nazism, dictatorships, etc.) used to describe “the right,” “right wingers,” et cetera.  These terms bring a lot of baggage and their use by leftists is intended to demonize an opponent and thus marginalize his positions.  Of course the key question is, are the principles of fascism, Nazism, and dictatorships on the left or right?

When I challenged the “fascism equals the right” mythology on the Beaver County Times website several years ago, lefties tried unsuccessfully to defend themselves.  One poor soul thought he was helping himself when he wrote, “Fascism is defined as a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator …, stringent socioeconomic controls …, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship …, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”  Other “defenders of the faith” simply used outdated terminology (some from the 1700s!) and/or assigned incorrect – some leftist – principles to the right to support the fascist, Nazi, et cetera claims.

One of the modern day U.S. right’s principles is limited government.  “Centralization of authority” – with or without a dictator – and “stringent socioeconomic controls” don’t represent limited government and thus are not hallmarks of the right, but do represent the positions of the modern day U.S. left (excluding the dictator, though many U.S. leftists seem to love Cuba’s Castro brothers and Hugo Chavez).  For example, the left constantly attempts to push local responsibilities (funding for education and roads are two instances) to state or federal government and state responsibility to the feds.  This is “centralization of authority.”  Encyclopedia Britannica defines fascism as “the desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: ‘people’s community’), in which individual interests would be subordinated to the good of the nation.”  Again, this is a leftist position, not one of the right.  Most on the right recognize “the good of the nation” comes from maximizing effective individual liberty.

One thing that makes the left’s attempt to equate the right with fascism, et cetera humorous is the left also routinely claims the right is anti-government.  Though both representations are untrue, isn’t it pretty difficult to be both anti-government and totalitarian at the same time?

When it comes to “stringent socioeconomic controls,” the left constantly pushes for more regulation, business taxes, central economic planning (“targeted” economic development, grants, investments, tax abatements, et cetera), and so on.  Clearly, these are not positions of the right.  For example, only six Republicans (three each in the House and Senate) voted for the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) and all six reside on the left edge of the Republican Party.

Regarding the “suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship” comment, I have a couple of questions.  First, as a group who were the primary supporters of the McCain/Feingold campaign finance “reform” bill that infringes on free speech during elections?  Here’s a hint; 78% of Republican senators voted against the bill while 96% of Democrat senators voted in favor.  In the House, 79% of Republicans voted against the bill while 94% of Democrats were in favor.  You may also recall former-VP Al Gore and U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) oppose the press publishing articles questioning manmade global warming.

Second, who are the primary supporters of reinstating the misnamed Fairness Doctrine and regulating the Internet (net “neutrality”)?

Regarding the racism comment, I don’t know how anyone can claim bigotry is either a conservative or leftist principle.  That said, a hallmark of the left is to form grievance/victim groups based on things like ethnicity, sex, skin color, et cetera and then expect everyone in the group to think, behave, and vote alike.

The aforementioned defender of the left also noted “Germany under Adolf Hitler” was a fascist state.  True, but it was also socialist.  Nazis were members of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party), the party of Adolf Hitler.  A piece of “evidence” lefties claim proves fascism and Nazism are on the right was the fighting between communists and fascists/Nazis.  The fascist/Nazi opposition to communists was simply left on left, totalitarianism on totalitarianism opposition.  The ultimate effects of fascism/Nazism and communism are the same and the means they use to get there differ little.  The fighting was only about which totalitarians would get the power.  If you can show me where fascist/Nazi principles included individual liberty, limited government, free markets, et cetera, we can talk about putting fascism/Nazism on the right.

I suspect lefties threw Hitler (and fascism) under the bus instead of Mao or Stalin only because Hitler was dead and his fascist country defeated.  I believe the main reasons lefties today cling so tightly to the myth Hitler was on the right are 1) historical ignorance and 2) they can’t figure out how to explain away the fact all mass murdering governments of the 20th century were leftist.  Then again, it could be as simple as lefties recognizing Jews are a bigger voting population than voters of Chinese and Soviet heritage.  (Yes, that was a very cynical hypothesis.)

Don’t interpret the above to mean I believe all U.S. leftists support the more violent principles of fascism and Nazism.

The bottom line is, fascism is no more a branch of rightist ideology than is communism or the other branches of leftism.  At some point I half expect lefties to tell us someone like Lenin, Mao, Marx, Stalin, et al was really a righty, just as today a local lefty leader claims “[President] Obama’s never been a lefty.”  If lefties want to argue among themselves about which branches of leftism are less leftist, I guess that’s fine as an academic exercise.  Outside of academia, however, it’s irrelevant and a waste of time.

In summary, when a leftist resorts to the “fascism, Nazism, et cetera equals the right” myth, he exposes his ignorance and/or admits he can’t successfully debate an issue using facts, history, and logic.  It’s the adult equivalent of a grade school kid engaging in playground name-calling.

In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity.