Quote:
Originally Posted by n david
I believe facist is the right wing extreme ... commie/socialist is the left wing extreme.
The Google says it's right wing authoritarian extremism and includes nationalism. Could be wrong though.
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It’s the common mistake. To say that fascism is "right wing" fails on several levels.
First of all, Fascism rejects the ides of "Liberalism". To an American that appears to indicate the American left/progressive political movement.
Yet the term Liberalism in its historical context is the political philosophy that asserts both Individual rights and equality of opportunity. Freedom of thought/expression is keys while limitations on government are also sought.
Both John Locke and Adam Smith were classical liberals and both are heroes of Modern American Conservatives.
It isn’t so simple to suggest that fascism is a "conservative" extreme while Communism is a "liberal" extreme.
We understand clearly that a communist believes that the Central Authority (federal government) should take over all business and direct all aspects of the lives of the individual.
But consider these aspects of Fascism
Economically Fascists reject both Capitalism as too free and communism as too restrictive. They seek to create complete government control over both Business and labor. Business becomes a "private/public partnership" while at the same time the government binds itself to labor and in much the same way as with business blurring the lines between Government and labor organizations.
Then there is a third area where Fascism garners consideration. Fascists always have great control of media and while not co-opting media into the government, they use it to great benefit. Style over substance to keep the masses appeased…
Does that sound like the guy infesting the White House?
Clearly there are other aspects of fascism that more closely align with the extreme political right in America however that is where the confusion in my own mind picks up. Is Obama a Marxist? Or is he showing some signs of being a fascist?
Also consider this. Marxist thought is based on the idea of Class warfare. The struggle in Marxism always stems from the underclass asserting itself to overthrow the power of the upper class.
Now on the surface that sounds very much like Obama and the current leadership of the democrats.
But think about this. Fascism seeks cooperation between the classes and smoothing the lines and relations between them. There is no attempt to get rid of the power class. Only to keep everyone appeased.
On the surface Obama plays the class warfare game. But dig a bit and you find that he and his party really don’t want to discard the ruling class. They simply seek to maintain power by keeping the masses in line.
Again, is that Marxism or Fascism or some hybrid?
Either way it is a pretty nasty bit of reality.
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