I notice on these threads how many times I see the word 'fascism' used by our liberal brothers and sisters. They seem to enjoy using the word, so incorrectly, when referring to republicans and conservatives. I assume, that by it's misuse, it isn't very well understood. Possibly it's a word that's on their 'list of slur words', to be flung about when all else fails. When the government controls health care, the biggest auto companies in the country, education, energy production, religion and the housing market; either directly or through an agency such as the EPA that uses edict, regulation and mandates as a control mechanism. When the government is in collusion with labor unions...that, my liberal friends, is fascism. The left calls the right fascist because it sees the right as perpetrators of classic fascist philosophies. Yet, it's the left that strives for increased government control of almost every facet of society. How we educate, what we eat, what we earn, what our businesses can and can't do. The right prefers that we educate on a local level, Eat what we want, pay for our own health care, use our own resources, worship however we see fit, allow failed companies to fail and successful companies to continue being successful, end the undo control of the EPA and like government agencies, keep what we earn and quit supporting a 'super sized government'. So liberals, before you start with your inevitable epitaphs, give some thought as to who the fascists really are.
I'm sorry, but you call out one side of the problem is just redundant. How about you call out your so called "conservative leaders" that vote for this crap too?
I amend my statement. Conservative leaders should be included. However, I was addressing the misuse/misunderstanding by the liberal left in accusing the right of being fascist. I was once called a fascist by a liberal because I'm self employed and am somewhat successful. (?) god knows why..
The term Fascist is DEFINITELY something that ignorant people throw around, in order to gain some sort of foothold in an argument. Most people have no idea what it is, nor do they understand that EVERY nation is - on some level - fascist. The problem lies in degrees.
Fascism is NOT right-wing. Right-wingers, who typically want less government interference, cannot also be true fascists. Sheesh...
Fascism is difficult to define but I see it as an ideology that suppresses the individual for the sake of the masses. Fascism borrows elements from both left and right ideologies, which is why both sides feel justified in using it to label the other. Of course it's absurd no matter who does it.
Sorry, but not. We call fascist to fascist. At least personally I've never called fascist to Ron Paul, for example. However I dislike his ideology, I won't consider him as fascist. But, in his party, The Republican party the fascism is in the order of day. Many leaders and wannabe presidents of the Republican party, for example Santorum, fit perfectly in the definition of fascist. So, if I call fascist to someone is because this person showed the traditional features of fascism: authoritarism(all the right is authoritarian, but there are the liberals or neoliberals, aka Ron Paul that are the less authoritarian), discrimination against the different, whatever if he is homosexual, immigrant, woman, or whatever, it is racism, xenophoby, homophoby, "machismo" or whatever, aah and I was forgetting, fatwa envy. Well, when people show all this features are clearly fascists.
And the thing that they don't understand is that all the leaders of the Occidental world are in the right-authoritarian sector All of them. Ones will be more centrist, but always in the sector right-authoritarian and others will be much more authoritarian and rightist, for example George Bush, however Obama is close to him in authoritarism.
ron, not saying left leaners dont overuse the word, but everyday on this forum Obama gets compared to Hitler like 47 times. Every side is guilty of hyperbole in this context.
And you can have authoritarian left-wing. HELLO! See how easy that is? Naaaahhhhh... Obviously you can't.
Spain, 1936...Fascist Franco enters from Morocco to take over the country from the king. Franco wins. Fascism takes over controlling every aspect of the lives of Spaniards. The Facists then place all Loyalists in prison. The Lincoln Brigade went to help the king (from America). Who helped Franco? Hitler and Mussolini.
From the king? Please learn a bit of history. When Franco made the coup d'etat and later Civil War Spain was a Republic. There was no King. And he wanted to take over the country from the "Frente Popular", a coalition of leftist parties where even there was some Anarchists like Federica Montseny, being the first woman in the Occidental world to have a ministerial place. During that time, the Republic Spain was one of the most advanced countries of the world, in democracy, social rights and in education. But Franco changed all that, because Spain was going too fast for a traditionally catholic country.
Ah, another thing. Neither Great Britain neither USA or France helped the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The only ones that officially helped Spain was the URSS. And voluntary fighters from all the world came to Spain, and that was known as International brigades. And yes maybe came some from USA, but not officially. The country that more helped the Republic was Mexico where many Republicans emigrated when they lost the war in 1939 a bit before the Second World War. And the Spanish Civil War has been considered as a prelude of the SWW, a war of democracy against the fascism. Ah, and later when Franco won the war, he gained the support of USA and Great Britain. Mainly because he was viewed as anti-communist and was useful to fight against the URSS. Whoever he was a dictator it was not important. Your post is absolutely wrong and the worst thing is that even you don't know against who fought Franco, and was to take over the democratic republic that had Spain.
And your point? You're talking about two different things. Apparently you don't know that authoritarianism and fascism aren't the same thing.
Fascism is right authoritarism. Just he indicated that the right can be authoritarian and that leads to fascism. Ah, and in my list of fascism I forgot a condition that the American right accomplishes: Nationalism.
It's actually rightists that want to ban and/or personally dislike women's right to choose, gay marriage/unions, the right to form private unions, and public demonstrations of...anything that they don't personally like. They also support taxation to support a large Military and Police State which enforces these things. "Liberals", today, are more about limiting freedom to salvage security, but "right wingers" today, are about doing that, PLUS limiting freedom to salvage their personal tastes. Leftists don't tend to support "liberty". But don't act as though rightists DO tend to support "liberty", either.
That's just flat-out BS. In your twitty little mind, everything you think you don't like automatically becomes "right wing." Neither right, nor left, has a corner on the market of fascism. To think otherwise is to scream your ignorance at the top of your lungs.
Do you think that I am ignorant about that? Or you didn't like my argumentation. Deathstar gives you the answer, and you can't say that he is leftist or whatever. The right ultraconservatist or neoconservatist like Santorum show the reason why many people consider them fascist. I've silenced already a voice showing his ignorance about Franco and Spain. And when you give some other argument than ad-hominem I will defeat the yours with rational argumentation.
In the book I read "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg he shows how liberalism got its roots from progressive fascism. He goes on to show how the racist Woodrow Wilson began and Franklin Roosevelt amplified a fascist concentration of power in Washington. FDR boasted of his 'wholesome and proper' buildup of power because he was leading 'a people's government.' Goldberg shows how liberals came to believe that an authoritarian government is fine as long as representatives of 'the people'--themselves are in charge. For people here to somehow link Conservatism or Republicanism to fascism is just plain silly. Cons and Repubs are for a smaller more limited government in nearly all aspects of our society, where the power is given to the individual--just the opposite of the fascist power a czar-run power hungry centralized government run administration of obama and his fascist henchmen. Kudos to Ronmatt for exposing these liberal fascists for the danger they have always been and are currently posing as in our current body politic.