The quote by Mussolini does not provide a full accounting of what fascism is, still it is instructive.
That said, one part of fascism that I think has not been focused on enough is the healthcare aspects of the doctrine. It appears that Obamacare is simply expanded Mussolini healthcare.
From My Autobiography by Mussolini:
I have wanted the Fascist government, above all, to give great care to social legislation...I think that Italy is advanced beyond all European nations; in fact, it has ratified laws...for obligatory insurance against tuberculosis...All this shows how, in every detail in the field of labor, I stand by the working labor...from insurance against accidents to the indemnity against illness.-RW
Every tyrant seems to have (and may indeed have) the welfare of his people foremost in his plans. The popular version has Hitler in some bunker saying: "Heh heh I vill kill ALL ze choos!!! hahahah".
ReplyDeleteWell, that ain't the way it works. He was mostly concerned with the welfare of Das Volk. in his own twisted way.
A favorite Ron Paul quote: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." (Sinclair Lewis).
It already has.
ReplyDelete... and it certainly is "wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross", though it is neither truly patriotic, nor truly Christian. I suspect Sinclair Lewis knew that would be the case.
DeletePaul Volcker Invests in Foreign Banks as He Lectures on U.S. Bank Reform
ReplyDeleteVolcker’s views on financial reform must be seen against the backdrop of Volcker’s myriad conflicts and ties with the global ruling elite.
His non-profit organization, The Volcker Alliance, has multiplied its income by a factor of 30 in one year.
From 2012 to 2013, The Volcker Alliance went from $500,000 in contributions to over $15 million. It fails to list its donors on its public IRS 990 tax form. And then there is the matter of Volcker’s personal investments in unseemly foreign bank deals alongside global banks that are serially charged with breaking the law.
Reports from the myriad books and reports in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and New York Times, each divulging a few more names of those entities that invested alongside Paul Volcker in the Shinsei deal, suggests a coziness not heretofore understood between Volcker and the Wall Street elite. Investors included David Rockefeller, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Grupo Santander, GE Capital, Mellon Bank, ABNAmro, Gap’s controlling Fisher family, and AIG.
Volcker is also affiliated with organizations perceived by the public to represent the interests of the global elite. Volcker serves on the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission, founded by David Rockefeller. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Group of 30, a body of international bankers and central bankers. Volcker also serves as a Global Counselor at the Conference Board, a group representing 1200 businesses around the globe, among numerous other affiliations.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2015/04/paul-volcker-invests-in-foreign-banks-as-he-lectures-on-u-s-bank-reform/
Coincidentally, I just posted this on the Tom Woods Show website where he recently had Paul Gottfried as a guest discussing Fascism. FWIW:
ReplyDeleteDespite Tom's repeated efforts to get Gottfried to define Fascism, he never did. (It seems like after several attempts, Tom gave up on pressing him since he wasn’t going to provide one.) That’s also true of his article in The American Conservative. He talked a lot ABOUT Fascism, without ever defining what it IS. He is also incorrect about Fascism and Nazism being right-wing.
Defining Fascism is not difficult – it is government control without government ownership. The end. Memorize five words and you’ve got it. Ownership vs control of capital is the bottom line and is usually overlooked in these discussions. In the monopolistic, state controlled economies (Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism), all capital is controlled by the state, while the amount of ownership varies. In Fascism, the state owns none of the capital but controls all of it.
Fascism is the government saying we don’t want to own your business, but we’re going to tell you what to produce, how much to produce, who to hire, who to fire, where to get your raw materials, what to pay your workers, what to charge for your product….. the rest is up to you. Sound familiar? Mussolini did it, and a modern day example is Obamacare. It’s creepy, because in one sense it’s the most efficient form of totalitarianism because the business owners still sweep the walks or shovel the snow in front of their businesses, keep fresh paint on the walls, worry about employee relations, work hard, etc., because they think they are running the show.
Since Fascism is a form of Totalitarianism, which is left wing, Fascism is on the extreme left, not the right (that’s Anarchy – zero government). Nazism is also on the extreme left, being another form of Totalitarianism. Nazism is short for National Socialism (Nationalsozialist or Nationalsozialismus). Socialism has always been on the left, so how is Nazism on the right? Nazism is simply NATIONAL Socialism, while Communism is INTERNATIONAL Socialism. Communism, Socialism, Nazism, and Fascism are all at the left end of the political spectrum. While there are some alleged philosophical and tactical differences, total government is total government, and in all cases, while capital may be owned by the state or privately, it is always controlled by the state.
We err making the political spectrum more complicated (and therefore useless) than a simple line with 100% government (Totalitarianism) on the left and 0% government (Anarchy) on the right. All governments lie somewhere in between. That’s why the neocons are leftists, not rightists. Easy peasy.