“Semi-Fascists” Vs. Not-Semi-At-All Authoritarian, Part I

Last week, President Brandon accused Republicans of being “Semi-Fascists”.

To be fair, it sort of sounded like one of his “is he senile, or just not very bright” moments:

I could go either way, to be honest.

But it got me thinking about a couple of things.

What’s In A Word

The left has been devaluing the term “fascist” since I was in high school, and long before, if I recall.

If you want to be pedantic about it, in the 1910s Benito Mussolini – at the time a prominent Italian socialist – figured that while a command economy, a welfare state and state ownership of the mean of production might go over just fine, Internationalism – the concept near and dear to socialism that eventually all borders will be rendered moot by the unification of workers around the world – was not going to fly with Italy, which was had been a nation for about fifty years, and had a lot of nationalist energy about it.

And, presto change-o, Mussolini did some tinkering; in founding the Italian “Fascist” Party, he chucked the “internationalism”, and replaced it with a heaping helping of nationalism. The command economy, nationalization of assets and welfare state, of course, he kept – to Italy’s chagrin in World War 2, as the command economy lagged the rest of Europe so badly that the Italian war machine was positively handicapped.

Most “Fascist” movements – the Nazis, Franco’s Falange and so on – repeat that pattern, keeping the small-l socialism, substituting nationalist dogma for internationalist chanting.

Of course, the left’s version of “fascism” is more nearly described as “saying or doing anything I don’t agree with”.

These days, references to “fascism” almost invariably seek to “other” those your crowd wants to erase from the public square;

And we’ve been seeing an awful lot of that, lately.

How much?

More tomorrow.

Drop The F

So as we close in on President Brandon’s “speech about America’s Soul” on Friday near the Liberty Bell, let’s talk about some of the attributes of…

…well, not ‘fascism’, per se. Or at least not only fascism.

Let’s talk, instead, about authoritarianism, by whatever name you want to call it.

About government that:

  • Ignores, subverts and/or perverts the rule of law in favor of the rule of men
  • legitimizes itself in comparison to some boogeyman, without or within – a boogieman that personifies all evil in the eyes of the state, and who must be subjugated for “good” to prevail.
  • Sublimates everything to a more or less utopian vision of what the world could be, if they had the means

More tomorrow.

40 thoughts on ““Semi-Fascists” Vs. Not-Semi-At-All Authoritarian, Part I

  1. Biden’s speech is on Thursday, not Friday.
    Perhaps he will explain how populism is a threat to democracy, because I’ve been scratching my head over that one.

  2. Emery,

    The only thing in plain sight I can’t seem to find is the point of your comment.

    Do elabotate.

    TYVM.

  3. And if I understand your, er, remark correctly, I’m going to go out on a short, sturdy limb and guess you, like most Democrats, are the one missing something in plain sight.

    #shrug

  4. Trump and congressional Republicans make a sorry mockery of political discourse. They threaten, make wild unsubstantiated claims, recklessly make unfounded charges — then demand that the Democrats adhere to rules that they themselves have just trampled.

    Republicans attack the Justice Department, attack the FBI and attack IRS special agents
    And when they didn’t win an election, they ignore the Judicial review of the election and plot a violent insurrection against Democracy and the will of the people. Clearly Republicans have zero respect for authority and the rule of law.

    It feels now like the 2022 midterms are going to be a referendum on Trump. Republican candidates across the nation have ensured this by taking the side of a career criminal who stole state secrets over federal law enforcement, which they’re now demanding be defunded/disbanded.

  5. Has Lindsey Graham walked back his “rioting in the streets if Trump is prosecuted” comments?

  6. Once again, we’d be remiss in failing to ignore the fact that with the exception of Italy, which failed as a consequence of losing a war, Fascism has worked very well everywhere it has been implemented, particularly well in Chile, although favorably in Spain and Portugal as well.

    The only group that suffers under Fascism are Communists and their fellow travelers.

    Not sure what it means to be “semi-Fascist”, although it seems most likely an epithet hurled by a feckless buffoon too cowardly to confront his enemy in the eye.

  7. Lol, Emery seems to starting his holiday weekend early. It’s always five o’clock somewhere, right, Emery?

  8. UMMP, as a consequence of not living among a population of mental deranged pedophiles and degenerate leftists, I haven’t had the opportunity to personally mis-gender a eunuch in a sundress, or a woman who has been dismasted, barbered and topped off with testosterone.

    But I do so at every opportunity that comes my way in written commentary.

  9. “failing to observe”

    An edit function would be wonderful, but falls to unimportance when measured against moderation run amok.

  10. Just a reminder — Democrats started a fund to bail out people arrested for rioting in summer of 2020. It’s donors and public endorsers included such Democrat luminaries as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Vice president Kamala Harris.
    Democrats ain’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to condemning rioting. Rioting is mob violence, and mob violence has been a calling card of the Democrats since the 1960s.

  11. Emery,

    Lets say for a moment that everything “you” say about Trump is true.

    Why is it you want his opponents to be even worse?

  12. “Has Lindsey Graham walked back…”

    rAT is the only one I know of that’s looking for an update when “light in the loafers’ Lindsay is walking backwards…

    tia rAT!

  13. Regarding Blade’s comments about fascism “working pretty well”, I seem to remember some pictures of Germany in 1945, as well as some trials that occurred in north central Bavaria dealing with some unfortunate consequences of that region’s flirtation with facism.

    Yes, fascism tends to work a little better economically because it leaves ownership and the profit motive in the hands of the entrepreneurial class, but let’s not forget that a different system produced the planes and pilots of the U.S. Army Air Force Urban Renewal Project of 1941-1945.

    Let’s hold to that system, and let’s not give guys like Biden ammunition for reckless rhetoric by glossing over atrocities here.

  14. Yeah, Blade, who the f*ck cares what Graham has to say? What “special expertise” does Graham bring to the topic of what Trump supporters will or will not do if Trump is indicted?
    Uh . . . none. Trump himself has no idea what his supporters will do if he is indicted.
    Democrats should be worried about their president, who thinks that half the country, maybe more, are people who should have no voice in politics. That is f*cked up.

  15. What did Joe Biden do to heal the divide in this country?
    -Cancel XL pipeline
    -Issue and executive order that ALL government departments must embrace racism.
    -Open the borders.
    -Cancel all oil lease auctions.
    -Issue a vax mandate, later rejected by the Supreme Court.
    -Direct the federal government to support abortion up to the moment of birth.
    -Surrender Afghanistan, and start a new war in Ukraine.
    And now tomorrow night Biden will go on network TV to denounce 63,000,000 American voters as fascists.
    The media has always pushed this idea of Biden the centrist, Biden, the guy who brings people together. This has always been a lie. Conservatives have known this for decades. The real Joe Biden is the Joe Biden we are seeing now: partisan, nasty, short tempered, angry, stupid, and bigoted.
    There is a reason that Biden was measured and rejected when he ran for prez before 2019.
    It is going to get interesting.

  16. Delenda, Germany has never had a Fascist government.

    They’ve been Monarchists, National Socialists and finally, Democratic Socialists.

    Italy, Portugal, Chile and Spain had Fascist governments, and all prospered.

    Capitalist, Democratic Republic worked pretty well in the US for a couple hundred years; not a bad run. But it’s collapsing under it’s own weight.

  17. Delenda, Germany has never had a Fascist government.

    They’ve been Monarchists, National Soci@lists and finally, Democratic Soci@lists.

    Italy, Portugal, Chile and Spain had Fascist governments, and all prospered.

    Capitalist, Democratic Republic worked pretty well in the US for a couple hundred years; not a bad run. But it’s collapsing under it’s own weight.

  18. Capitalist Bank of America announces zero down and zero closing cost mortgages for black and brown first time home buyers.

    Because 2008 was Democracy’s finest hour…

  19. Socrates was the preeminent philosopher of his time, and was Plato’s mentor.

    In Plato’s Republic, Socrates was featured preeminently, but scholars largely agree the views expressed therein were those of Socrates himself.

    The Republic delivers a withering critique of democracy, foreseeing it conclude mass ignorance, hysteria, and ultimately tyranny.

    Replacing the family Bible with Plato’s Republic might have saved the United States, but it’s too late for that now.

    In the current year, those looking to keep their genetic lineage alive have cleared their bookshelves of everything but Handbook of Cartridge Reloading and The Firefox books.

  20. In 1950, reading Socratic dialogues regarding Democracy would have been likened to reading passages from Mien Kampf, or the Communist Manifesto atop a soapbox in front of city hall.

    Wew lads.

  21. We could turn the tide, if Presidential election debates consisted of:

    1. Solve a quadratic equation, without a calculator

    2. Perform 30 chin-ups in 60 seconds

    3. Submit a handwritten, 5000 word essay, contrasting and comparing Napoleon at Waterloo with Lee at Gettysburg.

    4. Change a car tire in 2 minutes.

    5. Recite original haiku. Topic;immigration

    6. Arm wrestling

  22. Oops.

    7. Take turns picking up the dinner tab at Delmonico’s with money you earned. Tips are monitored and reported.

  23. Applying those requirements, with slightly lowered levels of difficulty (ie: find the hypotenuse (Z) of a triangle with with sides X,Y), to voting would make America the sole superpower on Earth within a generation.

  24. MBerg wrote: “Why is it you want his opponents to be even worse?”

    I would suggest Biden is not angling for voters in the Republican party but for those independents in the middle maybe. As that’s where the election is likely to be won and lost not a terrible idea.

    Sometimes you’ve just got to make a stand for what is right. Maybe the SiTD Board should’ve taken a more serious look at the Trumpist wing of the Republican party and gone, nah, evangelic Christian authoritarian nationalism isn’t for me. Being on the side of right not the “right side”.

  25. Biden’s low approval ratings.

    Barely better than Trump’s at the same stage of the Presidency despite the full support of a degenerate, leftist media that hectored Trump at every turn and despite the fact Biden’s only problems to bungle, are ones of his own handlers making.

    FTFY, nitwit.

  26. Sometimes you’ve just got to make a stand for what is right.

    “What is right” translation: Buttseks, pedophilia and genital mutilation of children as young as 8.

    Speaking of buttseks, am I the only one that noticed Monkeypox showed up during “celebrate degenerate sex” month?

  27. Speaking of buttseks, am I the only one that noticed Monkeypox showed up during “celebrate degenerate sex” month?
    Nope, you aren’t alone.
    They know the truth and can’t speak it.

  28. Um, Swiftee, you’re seriously arguing that Germany never had a fascist government? Whatever you’re smoking, it must be pretty “interesting”. Maybe narcan is in your future.

  29. Bikebubba, it gets complicated.
    Hitler was a believer in eternal race war. He chose fascism (or National Socialism, if you prefer) as governing philosophy because he thought it was best form of government for uniting the German people and focusing all of the assets of Germany on supporting his race war (this is all in Mein Kampf).
    Other fascists. like Mussolini, believed that empire, monarchy, and democracy were unsuitable forms of self governance for the reasons he gave in his essay, “The Doctrine of Fascism.”
    It was said that during WW2, the safest place in Europe for a Jew to be was Italy (until the Germans took it over).

  30. Only 80 IQ leftist droogs and brainwashed boomers hang onto the idea that National Socialism = Fascism. NS was born of Fascism, it is true, and so it shares a few trivial traits, but differs wildly where the rubber meets the road.

    Race is the cornerstone of National Socialism; race rises even above the interest of the state; hence (for instance) the German army’s subservient status to Hitler’s SS. “Blut und Boden” is something you’d never hear in a Fascist society.

    Since private capital is also an important component in a Fascist society, divergent interest groups were present in political and social life. Their opinions were and given a position of importance in government decisions. No such divergence would ever be tolerated National Socialist Germany.

    Finally, and most importantly, to the National Socialist, improvement in efficiencies represented a neglecting their cultural heritage. Only improvements that highlighted the historical cultural supremacy of the race were allowed breathing room. The Fascist embraces improvements as a way to move the nation forward.

    But don’t get your dauber down, Delenda.

    You may be an informed hayseed when it comes to history, but I’m sure you can cite all the statistics of all the prominent players since the Vikings were founded with authority, and no one at the bar would ever counter your observations. Skoal!

  31. Only 80 IQ leftist mouth breathers and brainwashed boomers hang onto the idea that National Soci@lism = Fascism. NS was born of Fascism, it is true, and so it shares a few trivial traits, but differs wildly where the rubber meets the road (contempt of Communists withstanding).

    Race is the cornerstone of National Soci@lism; race rises even above the interest of the state; hence (for instance) the German army’s subservient status to Hitler’s SS. “Blut und Boden” is something you’d never hear in a Fascist society.

    Since private capital is also an important component in a Fascist society, divergent interest groups were present in political and social life. Their opinions were and given a position of importance in government decisions. No such divergence would ever be tolerated National Soci@list Germany.

    Finally, and most importantly, to the National Soci@list, improvement in efficiencies represented a neglecting their cultural heritage. Only improvements that highlighted the historical cultural supremacy of the race were allowed breathing room. The Fascist embraces improvements as a way to move the nation forward.

    But don’t get your dauber down, Delenda.

    You may be an informed hayseed when it comes to history, but I’m sure you can cite all the statistics of all the prominent players since the Vikings were founded with authority, and no one at the bar would ever counter your observations. Skoal!

  32. Swift wrote: “Barely better than Trump’s at the same stage of the Presidency…”

    Why don’t opinion polls show Trump at 70%?
    After all, it was only electoral fraud that made him lose the popular vote twice.

  33. Why don’t opinion polls show Pedo Joe at 70%?
    After all, it was only RuSsHIn inTeRFerENce that kept his glorious victory down to a measly 81 million adoring voters.

  34. ^^more blather from the blathermeister. It doesn’t even qualify as snark.
    Demonstrating that Emery’s 1:20 is blather:
    “Why don’t opinion polls show Biden at 70%? After all, he got more votes than any presidential candidate in American history!”
    That is an meaningless statement, paired well with Emery’s meaningless 1:20 statement.

  35. ^^ You could engage with specific points or theatrically exclaim like a Victorian maiden aunt, clasp an embroidered handkerchief to your face, and increase the velocity and frequency with which you fan yourself.

    I see you’ve gone for the latter.

  36. ^^ You could engage with specific points or theatrically exclaim like a Victorian maiden aunt, clasp an embroidered quilt over your head, increase the velocity with which you expel and the frequency with which you inhale your own intestinal gas.

    I see you’ve gone for the latter.

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