We are all susceptible to liberal fascism

Liberal Fascism, as we saw from yesterday's post, is an attempt by governmental leaders to perfect society in name of doing what the "will of the people" calls for by tinkering with the government; by creating social programs, a type of totalitarian government with regulations, laws, tax hikes and the like to create an ideal state (utopia, a perfect society).

"Today's liberals," writes Jonah Goldberg in his book, "Liberal Fascism", "(don't) seek to conquer the world by force of arms," like the Nazi movement or Italian Fascism. "It is not a nationalist and genocidal project. To the contrary, it is an ideology of good intentions. But we all know where even the best of intentions can take us. I have not written a book about how all liberals are Nazis or fascist. Rather, I have tried to write a book warning that even the best of us are susceptible to the totalitarian temptation."

This type of fascism in the United States started actually in the late 1800s with the progressive movement where the call of that time was to make changes in the U.S. that were the desires of the people. Some of the changes that were made, according to Goldberg, and are still viewed as good are the eight-hour workday, cleaning up the food supply, and ending child labor. However, the movement was also famous for its attempt to purify society by authoring "Prohibition, the Palmer Raids, eugenics, loyal oaths, and, in its modern incarnation, what many call 'state capitalism.'"

While Communism was declared evil by liberals and conservatives alike, many liberals are often seen embracing communist dictators such as we have seen with Jimmy Carter or Barrack Obama supporting Fidel Castro. While they do not support communism per se, they do support the fascist ideals that are present in a communist society, such as a true welfare state, government run health care and shared wealth.

Liberalism, which is actually modern progressiveism, strongly supports such movements as the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on smoking, the "obsession" with animal rights, the "sanctification" of organic foods

These attempts at perfection are not far behind the Nazi's attempt at creating a perfect society by doing experiments on people, by discussing "the need to move the entire nation to vegetarianism as a response to the unhealthiness promoted by capitalism... In profound ways, the Nazi anti smoking and public health drives foreshadowed today's crusades against junk food, trans fat, and the like.." Only these modern crusades are friendlier, kinder than the Nazi versions.

Goldberg writes that "the Nazi's fixation on organic foods and personal health neatly fit their larger understanding of how the world works. Many Nazi's were convinced that Christianity, which held that men were intended to conquer nature rather than live in harmony with it, and capitalism, which alienated men from their natural state, conspired to undermine German health... Organic food was inextricably linked to what the Nazis then describe -- as the left does today -- as 'social justice' issues."

He writes that not every one who supports health, nutrition and the environment are fascist, but individuals who believe that "the individual has no right not to be healthy; and the state therefore has the obligation to force us to be healthy for our own good," definitely reek of fascism because they resort to "using the power of the state" to meet their desired agenda.

The environmentalist movement where people are forced in one way or another to conform to the idea that man is the reason for global warming is a form of fascism. Environmentalists who believe in global warming who want to force businesses to be more earth friendly by using governmental regulations is a form of fascism.

They believe by using the government is the only way to "force" the individual hand in being environmentally friendly. And this is why liberals reject conservative calls for tax incentives to encourage industries to voluntarily resort to more environmentally friendly means. And, thus, conservatives are made to be anti-environmentalists by fascist liberals, even though this is usually not true.

The welfare state, where people are forced to share their wealth with the unfortunate, is a form of fascism. The idea that the government should make laws banning people from using iPods, cell phones and to wear helmets and seat belts and to force parents to put their kids in booster seats are all fascist.

Conservatives will note that liberals are forcing their views on people, but these liberal fascists know that creating the perfect world cannot be done without forcing some people to accept some values of which they do not normally approve. Liberal fascists will do this in a "humane and decent" way, but they will still resort to "a kind of benign tyranny where some people get to impose their ideas of goodness and happiness on those who may not share them."

A perfect example of this is judicial activism; making laws from the bench. However this may be unconstitutional per se, it is for the better of the people because it is what the people in general want to be the law. While gay marriage, for example, may not be supported by a majority of Americans, it is supported by a majority of people worldwide. Thus, gay marriage is a fascist movement.

Liberals often claim that conservatives are the fascist because of free market economics, because of their attempt to obtain peace through war, "and therefore their own economic theories should be seen as the more virtuous, even though the truth is almost entirely the reverse."

Conservatives are not innocent of fascist ideals either, as they have made attempts to invade the bedroom in an attempt enforce certain laws that were "anti homosexual." Compassionate Conservatism is a form of progressivism, and George W. Bush's attempt to use government to obtain some of his goals is one of the reasons why conservatives are unhappy with him and one reason for his low approval ratings.

Bush's No-Child-Left-Behind act is a "totalitarian act" that seeks to solve the problems of all children in society. However, some people do not support this act, but they are thought to be "oppressive" by the totalitarian act.