Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
by Jonah Goldberg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jonah GoldbergEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-01-08
ISBN: 0385511841
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Book Review: An Unbalanced "Objectivist" thesis
Summary: 2 Stars
Goldberg claims that "Fascists," "Brownshirts," and "jackbooted stormtroopers" are insults typically hurled at right-wingers, and that Republican/Thatcherite politics are falsely equated with Nazism by their liberal opponents.
Jonah Goldberg proffers an old thesis that it is actually the Left who represent modern fascism: which he calls 'Liberal Fascism.' This is hardly a startling 'new perspective' or insight into what defines fascist politics. The Ominous Parallels by Leonard Peikoff, a prominent American Objectivist (essentially a libertarian) whose views I'm sure Goldberg shares, promoted this theory some 25 years ago.
Here are some blatant weaknesses in the thesis:
The pagan/heathen American left is indeed against America's ostensible `Star-Spangled God' concept but to equate this with Nazi neo-paganism is misleading and simplistic. Mostly, the Nazi promotion of Wotanism and the Gods of Old Europe was to use mythology to empower Germanic white identity. In Franco's Spain, Fascism consisted of Royalists and good Catholics who both opposed godless / heathen Republican communism.
Goldberg as a right-winger is naturally against homosexuality and opposes its vociferous advocates on the liberal left. He thus needs to present the ludicrous case that there was no systematic Nazi 'genocide' against homosexuals nor had an anti-homosexual agenda. They only apparently destroyed homosexuals! This is a type of holocaust denial, at the very least it is a pathetic attempt to hold his theory together where it is actually crumbling badly.
Fascists absolutely hated 'degenerate [modern] art': we all know about that. Whereas, the art beloved of the left clearly would have found itself in a Nazi bonfire.
In addition, the Nazis were intensely militaristic. Contrarily the American left, epitomised by the Jane Fondas & Shirley MacLaines who oppose ALL the military actions of their own countries. Hardly bedfellows with the Nazi War Machine and its "Prussian fighting spirit" that torched Europe.
The most defining characteristic of Hitlerism was its Teutonic racism. And this pro-white agenda is entirely absent from the American heathen left's manifesto. Goldberg cites the racial quotas demanded for minorities in American universities, as apparently the Nazi's demanded places for whites! Is this meant to be a similarity? The Nazi's wanted white students because they were racists. The lefties want racial quotas because they believe this is the way to combat racism. Never the twain shall meet.
There are too many clashes between reality and Goldberg's theorem. The only merit of Liberal Fascism is to remind Anti-Nazi League student types that right-wing laissez-faire politics and Thatcherite economics have little in common with either Communist or Fascist totalitarianism. However, it's dumb to equate the American heathen lefties with the National Socialists. Why, oh why, Mr Goldberg did the Reds and Brownshirts do battle on the streets of 1930's Germany if they held the same body of ideas. No we haven't all forgotten what fascism is, and yes you're guilty too of using anti-fascist hysteria for your political ends.
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