As usual, fantastic insight from Dr. Sowell.
Via Townhall.
…One of the reasons why both pro-Obama and anti-Obama observers may be reluctant to see him as fascist is that both tend to accept the prevailing notion that fascism is on the political right, while it is obvious that Obama is on the political left.
Back in the 1920s, however, when fascism was a new political development, it was widely — and correctly — regarded as being on the political left. Jonah Goldberg’s great book “Liberal Fascism” cites overwhelming evidence of the fascists’ consistent pursuit of the goals of the left, and of the left’s embrace of the fascists as one of their own during the 1920s.
Mussolini, the originator of fascism, was lionized by the left, both in Europe and in America, during the 1920s. Even Hitler, who adopted fascist ideas in the 1920s, was seen by some, including W.E.B. Du Bois, as a man of the left.
It was in the 1930s, when ugly internal and international actions by Hitler and Mussolini repelled the world, that the left distanced themselves from fascism and its Nazi offshoot — and verbally transferred these totalitarian dictatorships to the right, saddling their opponents with these pariahs.
What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people — like themselves — need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat…
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In economic fascism, the government doesn’t technically own the businesses as it does under socialism or communism, but it does create a framework that amounts to pretty much the same thing. Corporate interests cozy up to the government, tailoring their operations to government priorities rather than customer service, and are rewarded with competitive advantages or monopoly status and a guaranteed profit. Look at Obamacare: The insurance companies are theoretically private, but they sell what the government orders them to sell, and the people buy what the government orders them to buy, and anybody that doesn’t play along becomes a criminal. Likewise, anything that is “too big to fail” becomes a vassal of the government. The government protects GM and GM builds what the government tells it to. Tesla builds expensive toys for rich yuppies, but Tesla is heavily subsidized by the rest of us. It goes on and on, but the bottom line is that the businesses serve the government and the people serve the government, which is the polar opposite of the way America is supposed to work.
One of Germany’s core problems is that it takes as faith that Nazi Party was on the extreme Right instead of on the extreme Left. Can’t handle the truth.
Old joke; What’s the difference between Socialism and Communism? A few letters.