RE: Witch Doctors and Thugs
Sep 3rd, 2006 by Brian A. Thomas
I have long been a fan of the Cato Institute, but have been reading a lot more of it lately, especially since upgrading my copy of FeedDemon (still perhaps the best RSS reader for Windows).
Anyhow, the Daily Commentary for today is Witch Doctors and Thugs by Alan Reynolds, and it’s about Bush’s recent use of the word fascists (in regards to Islamic fascists), and what fascism is compared to communism. It is an excellent article and at one point notes what I have long argued, but in far better form:
Communist dictatorships are allegedly so entirely different from fascist dictatorships that our schoolchildren have long been indoctrinated to categorize communist gang leaders as being “the left” as opposed to fascist gang leaders on “the right.” But this left-right dichotomy describes only the rhetorical rationale for statism, not meaningful differences. Labels aside, it is about conquest and power.
Those claiming to be dictators on behalf of “The People” are called communist or socialist “leaders” — as in the “Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea” or the “Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.” Those claiming to be dictators on behalf of “The Nation” are called fascists. Yet Cuba, North Korea and Libya are as nationalistic and xenophobic as fascists.
If an authoritarian government gives orders to businessmen and workers, it is called fascism or a “planned economy” (socialism). Hitler thus boasted in 1935 of having established “a planned provision of labor, a planned regulation of the market, a planned control of prices and wages.” If an authoritarian government actually steals and runs most businesses, and is therefore everyone’s boss, it is called communism. “In a country where the sole employer is the state,” explained Leon Trotsky, “opposition means death by slow starvation.”
There are so many other super excellent points in the article that you really need to read it. While you are at it, set your RSS reader for the Cato Institute’s feeds, they are essential reading.
(If you don’t know about RSS readers, read the aside “Stay Up To Date With This Site” down the left hand side under Other News on the main page, and I give a quick bit about using RSS feeds such as the one from this site and those from the millions of others that are providing RSS feeds.)
