CNN - asking the right questions

[z9wahqvh]

a more reasonable right-wing definition of fascism is one offered by the
guy who invented it, Benito Mussolini (actually mostly by his court
philosopher Giovanni Gentile). Here's just one important part (more here:
http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/mussolini-fascism.asp):

For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the
> nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign
> of decadence. Peoples which are rising, or rising again after a period of
> decadence, are always imperialist; and renunciation is a sign of decay and
> of death. Fascism is the doctrine best adapted to represent the tendencies
> and the aspirations of a people, like the people of Italy, who are rising
> again after many centuries of abasement and foreign servitude. But empire
> demands discipline, the coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense
> of duty and sacrifice: this fact explains many aspects of the practical
> working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the
> necessarily severe measures which must be taken against those who would
> oppose this spontaneous and inevitable movement of Italy in the twentieth
> century, and would oppose it by recalling the outworn ideology of the
> nineteenth century - repudiated wheresoever there has been the courage to
> undertake great experiments of social and political transformation; for
> never before has the nation stood more in need of authority, of direction
> and order. If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a
> thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our
> time. For if a doctrine must be a living thing, this is proved by the fact
> that Fascism has created a living faith; and that this faith is very
> powerful in the minds of men is demonstrated by those who have suffered and
> died for it.
>

notice all that emphasis on "decadence," on the expansion of Empire, on the
"strength" of "the nation," on militarism? it's pretty hard to make that
work with the creation of social security and welfare programs (aka The New
Deal), or FDR's patent lack of interest in the kind of militaristic
nationalism that -- oh, he eventually went to war against, but only after
being dragged kicking and screaming, mostly through the US being attacked
directly.

but what did Mussolini know about fascism (despite being the leader of the
actual movement that gave us the word)?


On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 8:26 PM, z9wahqvh <z9wahqvh at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 2:37 PM, juan <juan.g71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>         I wonder what an 'updated' new deal is considering that the
>>         Original New Deal was chemically pure fascism...
>>
>>
> in which Juan-who-swears-he's-not-an-authoritarian-right-winger
> demonstrates that he gets his analysis of fundamental political categories
> from authoritarian right wingers (the only people--especially Hayek himself
> and National Review editor Jonah Goldberg--who describe the New Deal as
> having anything whatsoever to do with fascism, which it did not).
>
>
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