FDR Was Under The Influence Of Fascism

I found an interesting FDR quote while perusing NewsRealBlog. From Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.Excerpted from the chapter on FDR:

“But the New Deal was a product of the impulses and ideas of its era. And those ideas and impulses are impossible to separate from the fascist moment in Western civilization. According to Harold Ickes, FDR’s interior secretary and one of the most important architects of the New Deal, Roosevelt himself privately acknowledged that “what we were doing in this country were some of the things that were being done in Russia and even some of the things that were being done under Hitler in Germany. But were were doing them in an orderly way.”"

I liked that. Because it is in line with what was actually done.

The quote is an excerpt from an argument with a leftist. Go read it for the humor value.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Some One Else At The Controls

From the comments at Washington Rebel. Emphasis mine.

Well, there's no such thing as "conservatism", and hasn't been for a while. The clue is in the snarky references to marijuana.

Marijuana and cocaine are bad for you, and that's a fact; I don't want either, and I'm not promoting the use of the weed. I'm no libertarian, either; Government is both necessary and inevitable, and it's impossible to tell which is cause and which effect.

But if you're anxious to put together a gang of goons effective enough to put a stop to it on the grounds that it's bad for you, you're just a Progressive with a slightly different agenda. The same goon-gang has the power to stop you from getting a greasy hamburger, because that's bad for you too. All the whup-ass comes from the same can, and the spoons used to dig it out are interchangeable.

And if you're too self-satisfied to admit that a "police force" (or an "army") is a gang of goons with snappy clothes and a cool-sounding Mission Statement, you need to go register Democrat and join the O-fellators, because you're contributing to the problem rather than finding a solution. The whole thing starts with "my goals are Good and theirs are Bad, therefore I'm entitled to beat up on Them." Then you wake up one morning and discover yourself Them, and you resent it. F* you. You built the Machine; you got nothin' when somebody else takes the controls.

Regards,
Ric

Posted by: Ric Locke | 08/01/2010 at 03:27 PM

Themes I have been harping on for quite some time. I look forward to the day when we have conservatives untainted by Progressive Dreams - "With enough power we can FORCE people to do the right thing." As my friend above says: F* You to that.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Fascism

I think a good way to start off a look at fascism is to look at the root: fasces.

Fasces are a bundle of wooden sticks with an axe blade emerging from the center, which is an image that traditionally symbolizes summary power and jurisdiction, and/or "strength through unity".

In other words the root of fascism is government power. The power to make people behave the "right" way. In the modern sense it is the exaltation of government power. The idea that government force is the answer to most questions.

We have two sets of fascists in America. A division of labor from the Progressive (among the people who brought you alcohol prohibition) idea that one party should stand for both economic and personal morality (as they defined it). Today we have the economic fascists party and the moral fascist party. And both of those groups believe they are opposed to each other. Too funny.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Can You Guess?

Jonah Goldberg wants to play a guessing game.

I’m thinking of a military leader who seized power in his country by stirring up populist rage against foreigners and foreign powers and promising a sweeping program of national-socialism. He claims that he is the true expression of the will of his people and is using every trick to make himself dictator for life. He is currently harassing the Jewish population, a quarter of which has already fled the country.

Give up? The answer is _{Hugo Chavez}, world famous Buckleyite Conservative and devotee of Milton Friedman.

You can find more of the discussion series at this link. Jonah also suggests this book: German big Business & the rise of Hitler

Or you can buy the book Jonah was discussing when the above "can you guess?" came up: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Ron Paul Agrees With Michael Moore

Both are against corpratism (the old word for corpratism used to be fascism). The union of government and large corporations. On some other things they are not entirely in agreement. This is a nice discussion of the problems with medical care in America.

H/T Below The Beltway

Obamageddon Is Fascism

Gerald Celente wrote a book.

Trends 2000: How to Prepare for and Profit from the Changes of the 21st Century

He has a web site Trends Research

More Videos:

The coming tax revolt:



A series of clips in one video. Gerald says you have to produce your way out of problems:



My vote for the future Polywell Fusion:

You can learn more about Polywell and its potential at: Bussard's IEC Fusion Technology (Polywell Fusion) Explained

The American Thinker has a good article up with the basics.

WB-8 Contract Details

We Will Know In Two Years

Why hasn't Polywell Fusion been fully funded by the Obama administration?

H/T Purely Politics

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Shut Up

And what sort of political regime/philosophy tries to silence its citizens? A guy wrote a book about it:

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change

Cross Posted at Classical Values

It's The Regulations Stupid

Commenter ThomasD at Classical Values had this to say about the Advance Care Planning post.

I work in long term care, and have worked in hospice care (much of which is currently covered under Medicare.)

I also absolutely loathe Obamacare and it's backdoor attempt to create a single payer government controlled system of health care rationing.

That said, what you cited is typical government speak, similar mandates already exist within the nursing home and hospice regulatory schema. But the opacity of the verbiage certainly doesn't help to dispel a layman's concerns.

The real problem is that this is just the legislation and it wouldn't even matter if it sounded nice and benign. After enactment what follows is that some executive governmental body then takes that law and turns it into regulation - and that is where things go horribly awry.

Once government gets a power the citizens get screwed. We are in a headlong rush to Liberal Fascism.

Can it be stopped short of Civil War? Maybe.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Little Science Advice

John Holdren, Obama's Science Adviser has some advice for curing the ills of the globe and especially America.

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food;
• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
• People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
• A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force.

It is all laid out in John's 1977 book Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment.

But what's especially disturbing is not that Holdren has merely made these proposals -- wrenching babies from their mothers' arms and giving them away; compelling single mothers to prove in court that they would be good parents; and forcing women to have abortions, whether they wanted to or not -- but that he does so in such a dispassionate, bureaucratic way.

Ah shades of Margret Sanger and the Eugenics movement. She was somewhat popular in the USA but the place where they really took this kind of thinking to heart was Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Do we really want to go there? Is this President ∅'s plan? He hasn't said. I guess we will have to watch and wait.

Here is an article about Sanger that is really disturbing.

...Dr. Harry Laughlin, another Sanger associate and board member for her group, spoke of purifying America's human "breeding stock" and purging America's "bad strains." These "strains" included the "shiftless, ignorant, and worthless class of antisocial whites of the South."

Not to be outdone by her followers, Margaret Sanger spoke of sterilizing those she designated as "unfit," a plan she said would be the "salvation of American civilization.: And she also spike of those who were "irresponsible and reckless," among whom she included those "whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers." She further contended that "there is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped." That many Americans of African origin constituted a segment of Sanger considered "unfit" cannot be easily refuted.

It might be a very good idea to keep an eye on these folks. They may not exactly have our best interests at heart.

H/T crosspatch at Watts Up With That

Cross Posted at Classical Values

State Run Utopia

Here is the book Klavan mentions: Democracy in America

and a more modern look at the phenomenon:

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change

H/T Video suggested by Brendan Wright on Facebook

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Fasces

There are rather few conservatives who are consistent about their policy choices. They think that putting government guns to people's heads can fix a lot of things. Maybe not economics, but certainly culture. And then you have their counterparts who think putting government guns to people's heads can fix economics certainly, but not culture. The folks favoring government guns to solve problems are called in polite company statists. Worshipers of force. As the Romans used to say: fasces. Or as Il Duce preferred: fascism.

Me? I'm against socialism in economics and culture. It may or may not be wise policy. It is consistent.

A Policy Of Fascism

Here is an interesting article from about 6 months ago about wind power in Germany. It discusses what the German government was paying individuals for solar and wind power installations. And then it gets into politics.

Now I have nothing against wind power or solar power. I do have problems with articles that gush and fawn over something without clearly explaining the cost tradeoffs. In fact I wonder if the CSM article had the numbers right, a commenter to the article points out that Germany pays something more like $0.66 a kwh to PV power generators. The commenter also says the German power rates are something like $0.29 per kwh. What is even more disturbing is when the commenter says, “Each Renewable Energy source has different rates of support (Wind, Geo-thermal, Wave, Ocean Current, Bio-fuels, organic farming, Eco-friendly material production, etc).” Boy, you can see the handouts were more designed to increase the size of the bureaucracy than do any sensible energy policy. The tragedy of this German policy is that the government, about the most technically incompetent bunch of people you can find anywhere, is picking winner and losers. Oh, I am sure they can point to mountains of paper studies that supposedly lead to the various hand-out rates for the different energy sources, but the real deal is like with politicians everywhere, each industry put their brown envelopes under the table, or reminded the commissar about that “incident” at a party back in college twenty years ago, or just schmoozed an laughed at jokes until they got their handout allocation.

This is not energy policy, this is fascism. Having a strong central government working “in partnership” with big business is not democracy and it is never good, look at the two trillion dollars that our government is shoveling to Halliburton and its cronies. If you want to subsidize alternative energy you should set a fixed handout- 20, 30, 40, cents a kwh and let us technical types figure out the best way to get there. This is just a modern-day version of the farm handouts and dairy handouts and wheat handouts and a host of other subsidies that governments use to concentrate benefits (and brown envelopes) while diffusing costs. You are not doing anything sane if you tax the entire population and hand out incentives for people that want to put windmills up. The government is distorting the market and they are wasting the resources. But politicians always prefer to have the money sent to them and then doled out to their deadbeat relatives and favorite cronies.

The question is - why subsidize power generation at all? Put the money into research so the costs of alternative energy can come in below the costs of current sources. Of course research is not very expensive and it doesn't allow the government much leeway to hand out billions (is it now trillions?) to their favored cronies with the size of the packets in the brown envelopes making the difference as to who the politician's "real" friends are.

The author of the article goes on to equate the current craze for alternative energy with Mao's Great Leap Forward.

I find it amusing that the same people who love centralized government demand decentralized business. They want a huge government that takes all our money and then hands it out in small dollops to make us behave the way the ruling elite wishes. In Red China Mao loved to see little steel mills in everybody’s back yard. The new advocates of big government now want us all to have wind generators and solar panels in our back yard. I agree with people that say we have to take away subsidies for big oil, but lets not then go on to hand them out to the folk-energy people. Either one is a betrayal of the public’s trust.

Well our new Great Leader will surely do the right thing by us. Just ask him.

Why Is Mike Huckabee A Republican?

The relevant bit is about 9 minutes into the video.

You can see the rest of the videos at Jonah

Cross Posted at Power and Control

Why Did Social Conservatives Ally With Progressives?

Why Did Social Conservative Ally With Progressives?

Please discuss in the comments.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Jonah

Part 2
Part 3A
Part 3B
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Transcript of all six parts.

Read the book: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

H/T Ted Belman

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Fascism In Peoria

Peoria Pundit has a post up on fascism in Peoria.

I read this, and I thought the Journal Star was getting its information from some raving, paranoid lunatic. But it’s apparently true: The Peoria Police Department is going around telling used book stores that they have to start keeping detailed records of all book transactions, which includes making photocopies of the drivers’ licenses of the people who sell them books.

I have now seen it all. I might as well just shut this blog down. It is impossible to parody Peoria any more. This city is a parody of itself.

Apparently, this law has been on the books for years in Peoria. Now all of the sudden, someone in city government — the police, the story says — decided to start enforcing it.

You really have to wonder what is going on in America these days. Didn't it used to be the Land of the Free?

There Is No Problem

There is no problem that a little fascism can't fix.
Now before you get all over me about fascism I'm using it in the common sense of tyranny. I'm not using it in the sense of Mussolini's actual political program although the difference is only in detail, not in kind.

With that out of the way let me quote some historians:

"Concentration of wealth is a natural result of concentration of ability, and recurs in history. The rate of concentration varies (other factors being equal) with the economic freedom permitted by morals and the law... democracy, allowing the most liberty, accelerates it. -- Will and Ariel Durant

What brings all this to mind you ask? A discussion on the Netscape blog about how the middle class is getting screwed.

Every one on the board has an different idea of what is to be done. One fellow thinks there is too much corporate profit. I have a few things to say about Profit. Here is what I said at Netscape:

Without profits there is no money for investment.

The higher the investment per worker the higher the wages.

What do you think the corporations are going to do with their record profits? Hide them in a mattress?

Even Marx said that if you want to build up capital, capitalism is the way to go.

Next up says we shouldn't be satisfied with the scraps the rich throw us. We should just take what we want. Through government agency of course. Other wise it would be robbery. Can't have that. We need proper laws and they must be adhered to. Corporate profits must be fair and CEO salaries reasonable.

I replied:

Of course we should't be satisfied with scraps.

The government should confiscate all wealth and use it for the common good.

Say hasn't that been tried before? The USSR I believe. I hear it is not working out so well for them. You don't hear much from those guys lately. I wonder why?

I add:

Every place this redistributionist crap has been tried overall economic performance declines.

This is all pure envy. One of the deadly sins.

If I'm doing OK I do not give a damn if the rich are doing 100,000 times better.

The reason for the high CEO bonuses is that really good managers are hard to find. Tell you what though. If it so easy apply for the job. I'm sure the companies would be really glad to pay 1/2 as much for better talent.

Me? I don't like to manage groups of more than about 10.

No way I want the CEO's job. Too much grief. However, if you think you can do it, apply.

The complainers are usually ignorant of how difficult it is to do well in such a job.

Next guy up says that profits must be fair (whatever that is) and the President of Dell makes too much money (227 million is claimed).

I go after that:

Even unfair profits get invested.

Really high profits attract vendors into a business. Which ultimately lowers prices. The higher the initial profits the faster the decline.

The high profits encourage risk taking. The more risk taking the faster technology advances.

Envy makes people want to kill the golden goose. Stupidity does the rest.

So if the Dell guy is making too much buy an HP or a Gateway. Or do what I did. Get a free working computer off the street. [I gave it to my daughter who uses it for school work. My readers helped me get a nice Gateway with their generous Donations.]

Who cares what the Dell guy makes? The question is: does he sell you merchandise you want to buy at a price you are willing to pay? If so, to the corporation he is worth every penny. Computers are a very hard business these days. Just brutal. It takes two years to develop a new model. Sales of that model last from 3 to 6 months. If you come in around 3 months of sales regularly you go broke. If you regularly get 6 mos. of sales from a model you get rich. Not much margin for error. The guy is worth every nickel.

Next up says that heath care ought to be mandatory with a job. If a business can't offer health care it ought not be in business.

Response:

You can have a choice. If the business you work at will not offer health care it is better if you don't have a job.

Man, there is a LOT of ignorance out there.

Then we have the middle class is sliding into poverty and corporations do not pay enough taxes.

Median family income is $46K a year and rising.

Some slide into poverty.

Corporations don't pay taxes. It is included in the price they charge you. Unless they go broke. In that case they still don't pay taxes.

Corporate taxes are a hidden tax on you.

In addition high corporate taxes drive jobs offshore. Pretty good idea, no?

Heck even Socialist Spain has lowered corporate taxes. Maybe they have real economists running the country? Perhaps they want to attract American Corporations?

We should lower all taxes as much as possible to attract rich people to America. Better if they spend their money here. Provides jobs for people

Think people. Think. I know it hurts, but try.

Another guy complains that you can't get ahead. And, a bunch of Wall Street guys are getting rich just trading paper.

The reality is if you want to get ahead invest in yourself. Get more educated. Start a business. To do that you have to turn off the TV and quit spending your time bitching on forums like this. However, I will grant that bitching is easier. [It can also be quite profitable given the size of the market, if you can find a way to sell it.]

The people who get ahead are risk takers.

Unwilling to take a risk? Then be satisfied.

Envy will make even the richest person unhappy.

Which reminds me of Ouspensky who said "Some people get all their pleasures from negative emotions." A sorry way to live. You can't deny some people enjoy it.

Then we get the fanfare for the common man who is the real creator of all the wealth, so salaries should be capped.

It is the risk takers that create wealth.

The labor theory of value is unsound.

On top of that some people's labor is worth more than others.

When you are looking for a brain surgeon do you shop based on price? You cap the brain surgeon's income and he will fix fewer brains and raise prices accordingly. Is that a desirable outcome?

Then we get back to why CEOs are paid so much while the "real worker" on the production line is short changed.

Brain work is harder than manual labor.

Don't believe me? Then study an advanced economic text and get back to me.

Hey study a simple one. Milton and Rose Friedman's "Free To Choose" is a good place to start.

Don't like to read?

Watch the video: Free To Choose video. Its free.

Management is very difficult. If it was easy they would get paid less than the factory workers. Their price is strictly dependent on their scarcity. It is why gold is worth more than iron.

Another guy wants restricions on how many homes a person can own and the elimination of the house rental market. To eliminate speculation in housing. Another fellow says you need to design the rules with special leeway for special cases. It is only fair. (man it sounds like these folks have a career waiting for them in the legislature)

The best leeway is no restriction.

When polititians control what is bought and sold the first thing bought and sold is polititians

So I guess you want to corrupt politics. This would be a very good move in that direction.

I add in a little later:

If we just had enough of the right laws we could create a perfect world, except for corruption and law violators.

The Soviets had a lot of those kinds of problems. Perfect laws. Rampant corruption.

Seems like they go hand in hand.

Well the thread goes on and on like these threads do.

Here is a classic. I'm not paid enough and things cost too much. No doubt government needs to fix this.

Every one should not try to get as much as they can for their work and people should stop shopping for the lowest prices

Where is the New Socialist Man when you need him?

OTOH maybe people should strike bargains - i.e. buyer and seller should buy and sell by mutual agreement.

Then government wouldn't need so many watchers and there would be fewer opportunities for corruption.

Well you know who is wrecking it for everyone? The greed heads.

Buyers are greedy for a low price. Sellers are greedy for a high price.

You work them against each other. It checks and balances out.

If the commenter was not greedy for a low price when he buys he would have no bitch.

If he was not greedy for a higher price when he sells his labor he would have no bitch.

I see a lot of greed and envy on this thread. People not satisfied with what they are paid. People unhappy about the high prices of things they buy.

We can fix this by putting a gun (government) to people's heads.

Goods will cost less and salaries will be increased.

I think doubling salaries and halving the price of goods is about right.

Let's pass a law.

Then we come back to the general whine. Globalization is stealing our jobs.

I remember when we had the same worries about Japan and Taiwan and South Korea.

Evidently they don't teach David Riccardo's theory of comparative advantage in economics schools any more.

Every one's output is some one else's input. Lowering costs improves economic performance. Lower cost paper means cheaper books. Cheaper books lower the cost of education. More education raises earning power. So should the publisher get his paper cheaper from China? Or the more expensive paper from America?

If you are a paper maker the answer is obvious. However, every one else in the chain of buyers and sellers is hurt.

The best thing to do is to buy from the lowest cost producer of adequate quality. This also improves our export position.

The publisher can sell more books around the world if he uses Chinese paper. Since the profit is higher on the books than on the paper we have a double net gain

Let me repeat. Every one's output is some one else's input.

Well it goes on. I believe I have said more than enough on the subject for now.

Let me leave you with a final quote: John Wayne said, "Life is tough, and it's tougher when you're stupid."

Update: 09 Jan '07 1314z

Flopping Aces has a bit on what the Democrats are up to on the economic front.

Captain's Quarters talks about Arnie's new tax initiatives in California.

Cross Posted at Classical Values