tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post5126969030305079165..comments2024-03-29T05:05:01.273+11:00Comments on Thinking Out Aloud: The Passing of an IllusionLorenzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-33750913188632948972010-04-30T07:39:36.125+10:002010-04-30T07:39:36.125+10:00Enslave is putting it a bit strongly. But yes, the...<i>Enslave</i> is putting it a bit strongly. But yes, there is a lot of rhetorical hypocrisy out there.Lorenzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-21995581610746154812010-04-29T06:07:38.854+10:002010-04-29T06:07:38.854+10:00I'l like to hear how all the "GWB is a fa...I'l like to hear how all the "GWB is a fascist" crowd are differentiating BHO, now that he has adopted most of Bush's policies wholesale. Both are Statists, they just enslave us at slightly different speeds (BHO is the faster of the two) and to slightly different interest groups.ThomasSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-1005779345124295162009-06-05T07:45:18.749+10:002009-06-05T07:45:18.749+10:00I was mainly thinking of the linking of his foreig...I was mainly thinking of the linking of his foreign policy to Hitler's: invading countries to try and set up democratic regimes is debatable, but seems a long way from fascism, as was the rhetoric he used to justify his actions.<br /><br />The domestic matters you point to are a much greyer area. I am generally adverse to throwing around accusations of "fascist!" in US domestic politics because it is so unconnected with the actual historical phenomenon of fascism. I want methods, rhetoric and aims before I am prepared to label someone fascist. (David Duke seems to pass, for example.)<br /><br />Since Dubya was clearly not remotely racist, the comparison with Mussolini works better than with Hitler. In which case, he surely scores about was well as FDR (attempting to stack the Supreme Court, corporatism on a grander scale, interning the Japanese-Americans) or Woodrow Wilson (the "Red Scare" etc). At which point are we talking about fascism, or particularly noxious executive over-reach?<br /><br />I think we can oppose wrongful actions which grant too much power to government and too little respect for citizens without reaching for the rhetorical overkill of "fascism". Indeed, it is better that they are seen as wrong in their own terms than quarantined off in a box called "fascism".Lorenzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-91551970535524353032009-06-04T11:03:07.940+10:002009-06-04T11:03:07.940+10:00"A dynamic that still lives, with all the non..."A dynamic that still lives, with all the nonsense linkings of George W. Bush with Fascism and Hitler... and the attempts to deny George W. Bush democratic legitimacy."<br /><br />I'd like to see more details on this, perhaps in another post. As much as it pains me to observe, having once voted for GWB, I do think his presidency displayed some hallmarks of fascism. I'm not saying that he approaches Hitler on any reasonable scale, but the creeping surveillance state, the rejection of civil rights as codified in law, and the obscene last-gasp triumph of corporatism certainly get him on the scale. I don't think he was at all democratically illegitimate, but that seems tangential. As you note, Hitler got a plurality.Jesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14724970369226999619noreply@blogger.com