What is Fascism?
Recently, some people staged a protest against the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border to catch illegal aliens. The protesters held up signs, some of which said that what the Minutemen represented was "fascism". There have been other times when various people have been called "fascists" by protesters. But in my book, in order to be a fascist, at a minimum, a person must advocate two things: the abolition of democracy (competitive elections, freedom of speech) and the imposition of a military and/or labor draft. If a person does not advocate both of these things, then they cannot be characterized as a fascist. It would appear that for some people, a fascist is simply anyone who espouses a belief they disagree with.
posted by modlib at 1:55 PM
2 Comments:
I'll have to check my dictionary again but, last time I looked, fascism was referred to as an economic system where private property and business ownership was allowed but government pretty much controlled how the property was used and the business operated.
One could argue that this country is actually a fascism under that definition.
Some libertarians like to discuss only the economic aspects of fascism. Why? So that they can label the U.S. today as "fascist". The central control over the economy and culture
that fascism prescribes is not what most people object to about fascism. It is the dicatorship and the advocacy of military aggression that they object to.
Post a Comment
<< Home