Obama, Neo-Fascist

Is Obama a socialist? Yes, in some ways, but Michael Ledeen contends he's really more of a fascist. Not "Nazi." Fascist. There's a huge difference, and without getting into a long lesson in economic theory or modern history, suffice it to say that fascism and socialism both are economic systems. Like capitalism, there are many variations possible with each. Like socialism (and its more serious sibling communism), fascism can be mixed with genocidal tendencies, but neither genocide nor fascism nor socialism/communism are mutually dependent. Non-murderous socialist states and non-murderous fascist states are entirely possible.

If classical liberalism spells individualism, Fascism spells government.
Benito Mussolini

Unfortunately, we've seen the horrors when fascism and socialism are carried to extremes, as with Hilter's Third Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union. Socialist Stalin, by the way, imprisoned and killed far more people than did fascist Hitler. Some numbers: 61,911,000 Murdered: The Soviet Gulag State 35,236,000 Murdered: The Communist Chinese 20,946,000 Murdered: The Nazi Genocide State (Soucre; also see here)

I am a Socialist, and a very different kind of Socialist from your rich friend, Count Reventlow. ... What you understand by Socialism is nothing more than Marxism. Adolf Hitler, spoken to Otto Strasser, Berlin, May 21, 1930

No, we're not calling any Democrats "Nazis." Ledeen explains himself at Pajamas Media. There, on Feb. 12, he wrote "We Are All Fascists Now" (his response to Newsweeks' "We Are All Socialists Now"). Here is an excerpt from Ledeen's column: What is happening now–and Newsweek is honest enough to say so down in the body of the article–is an expansion of the state’s role, an increase in public/private joint ventures and partnerships, and much more state regulation of business. Yes, it’s very “European,” and some of the Europeans even call it “social democracy,” but it isn’t. It’s fascism. Nobody calls it by its proper name, for two basic reasons: first, because “fascism” has long since lost its actual, historical, content; it’s been a pure epithet for many decades. Lots of the people writing about current events like what Obama et. al. are doing, and wouldn’t want to stigmatize it with that “f” epithet. One of the great ironies of modern political "debate" is the unthinking, knee-jerk tendency of "liberals" to throw the word "fascist" at their opponents. If they knew what they were saying, if they understood history and economic theory, those liberals would not call their pro-market, pro-individualism, pro-self reliance opponents "fascists." If they knew better, they would understand that it's like the pot calling the china black. RELATED: Nationalism has its roots in socialism as well as fascism Fascism and Communism/Socialism: Ayn Rand Lexicon The Socialism and Fascism of the New Deal We’ve got fascism, not socialism: Times Argus Online Fascism's Legacy: Liberalism - Daniel Pipes It's Ayn Rand's World, We Just Live In It The Future Did Not Work - 00.03 USSR--Genocide and Mass Murder Roots of fascism CNB RSS Feed