I know that this seems like an overly harsh statement, but it’s not. Everything about what fascism was historically is exactly the same as what big government is about today. If you don’t believe me, then read on so you can understand my point of view – don’t even think of running away in fear. So, let’s discuss what fascism was historically so that we can see the similarities to today’s big-government proponents.
Historical Fascism
When we think of fascism historically, there are three examples that come to mind. There’s Italy in the 1930’s under Mussolini, who is actually the one who coined the term “fascism,” but we’ll talk more about that later. There was Germany, also in the 1930’s, under the control of the Nazi party and its leader, Adolph Hitler. Then there was imperialist Japan, once again in the 1930’s. So, what were some of the things that made fascism in the past exactly like big government is today? Let me go down the list of how it’s the same.
Earmarks of Fascism
A. Fascism hated classical liberal values, which they saw as antiquated and outdated, and were staunchly opposed to, just like big-government advocates are opposed to those same values today.
And what are classical liberal values? They are values such as individual freedoms and liberties, free-market economics and capitalism, limited constitutional government and constitutional law, peace between nations, property rights, equality under the law, acceptance of the inequality of income and wealth based on the reality of human uniqueness, and tolerance of different viewpoints which allow for intellectual and political freedom and social stability, all ideas which, collectively, are known as classical liberal values.
But these all sound like great values to me. In my opinion, a better world would be one where every nation held those values, and fought off any push to squash those values. So, why were fascists so opposed to what would be considered by many to be great values that defend basic human rights, and the ability for oneself to work towards their own prosperity? Because they were power-hungry, and wanted complete control of everything. They didn’t like it when individuals or organizations had autonomy and freedom to determine their own choices – they wanted to control everything (remember…enslavement?).
B. Fascism had a staunch hatred of anything capitalistic, including privately-owned businesses, free-market economics, and the profit motive, which they saw as the exact opposite of what they claimed were their “values.”
One of the main features of fascism was its fierce hatred of anything that represented capitalism, which, along with other classical liberal values, they saw as their polar opposite.
In fact, they launched relentless propaganda campaigns against classical liberal values, especially capitalism, in order to try to manipulate and brainwash people into hating those things, just like big-government advocates do today.
C. They wanted complete control and power over all industry and commerce. (…basically the same as B above, but from a different angle)
They worked to nationalize, and bring under state control, all major industries that they could in their countries. And, although they worked to nationalize major industries, and didn’t like private ownership of businesses, they were at times okay with letting private businesses survive, as long as they were under the complete direction and control of the state. They would many times give government subsidies to private businesses that were left intact, always with stipulations and strings attached.
Today we might refer to this way of doing things as crony capitalism or corporate fascism (Yes, from this standpoint, both the political right and left are guilty of this, although it happens more from the left.) In other words, fascist governments in the past wanted to have complete control of all businesses, and use their power and control for their own selfish purposes, just like big-government politicians want to do today; they are opposed to the idea that businesses should be free to determine their own direction, and should be free to cater to their customers and the market the best they can.
Fausto Pitigliani was an Italian fascist who worked as an apologist for fascism. He said: “The function of private enterprise is assessed from the standpoint of public interest, and hence an owner or director of a business undertaking is responsible before the State for his production policy.” Sounds like big government and “crony capitalism” to me.
In fascist Italy, Mussolini’s regime created government regulatory agencies, like we are doing today, that controlled and made orders to every business, industry, and even the labor unions, all in the name of governmental “coordination.” They achieved one of the basic aims of what today would be called a type of socialism, that is, government control of the means of production, all while leaving the corporate managers in place. Of course, more government control meant higher “bills” for the taxpayers.
D. They wanted to have complete control of individuals, which they saw as “servants of the state.”
Mussolini said, “The maxim that society exists only for the well-being and freedom of the individuals composing it does not seem to be in conformity with nature’s plans, which care only for the species and seem ready to sacrifice the individual.”
Mussolini wrote a book entitled Fascism: Doctrine and Institutions. In this book, Mussolini wrote: “The Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State…It is opposed to classical liberalism… [which] denied the State in the name of the individual.”
E. They wanted to have complete control of all media, education, and speech, in an attempt to make sure only pro-fascist propaganda was pushed, and to put a stop to any sources opposed to their political setup.
For example, they took complete control of all education in order to make sure that all children were indoctrinated into supporting the fascist way of thinking. From this standpoint, schools were “indoctrination academies” meant to brainwash the children to their ideology. Because homeschooling, private schools, and religious schools were suspected of not indoctrinating these children to their ideology, all private and religious schools were banned, as well as homeschooling. The state needed complete control of what the children were taught, and would not allow any education to continue that did not promote their ideology. Compare that to big-government advocates on today’s left that are increasingly using schools to indoctrinate children to their ideologies, and are opposed to homeschooling and private and religious schools precisely because they have no control over them, and thereby can’t indoctrinate children to their ideologies in those settings.
Same goes for the media. The media in fascist regimes was put under strict and complete government control to make sure they didn’t spread “known lies” about fascism. Compare that to how big-government advocates on the political left today are always trying to silence those media channels opposed to them from spreading “known lies” about big government, the political left, and socialism today. These days, they try to label any media channel opposed to their ideologies as practicing “hate speech” or “bigotry” in an attempt to silence them.
For example, if you’ll remember before the Biden-Trump election in November 2020, the media, controlled by the left, put a complete ban on any information about Biden’s ties to his son’s business dealings in the Ukraine, with the aim of making sure the media was working in Biden’s favor. Even more recently is several platforms and businesses, all controlled by leftists, completely shutting down Parler. These two things epitomize fascism, whether they admit it or not.
F. In order to get people on their side, and drum up more support, fascist regimes had to create a common enemy that they could spew all their hate and vitriol upon – that way, they could have someone to blame for all of the supposed injustices in society, many of which were caused by themselves, not the people they blamed, and persuade people that they would be the “saviors” that fought against that common enemy.
In Nazi Germany, the Holocaust got its start when the Nazis, in their hatred of capitalism, singled out the Jews as the villains, the common enemy, that personified the hated and despised capitalist system that the Nazis were trying to destroy. That eventually evolved so that Jews were looked at as the end-all-be-all reason for all of their problems. Compare that to big-government politicians on the left today who do the same thing, except this time it’s a different group of people they vilify to try to drum up more support and votes – conservatives, Christians and white people, especially white conservatives who are Christians, who are singled out as the villains that personify the hated and despised capitalist system, and other things, that they want to destroy.
Take notice that this vilification on today’s left is evolving, just like it did in Nazi Germany – many people on the left are starting to see white conservative Christians as the end-all-be-all reason for all of society’s problems. (There are several strategies they seem to be using to accomplish this goal: first, they are blaming white people in general for all the historic injustices and evils perpetrated on black people throughout our history, even though it was the Democratic party that did those things, not white people in general; secondly, they are giving the LGBTQ belief system a status in society that likens it to an official state religion and then vilifying Christians for not dogmatically accepting their assertions, as if that gives them the right to treat Christians like heretics; thirdly, they are vilifying us because, like the Jews in 1930’s Germany, we represent the hated and despised capitalist system. Sound familiar?)
Question: Should I, as a white conservative Christian, be worried about this hate-filled rhetoric coming from the left? As the political left becomes increasingly hostile, increasingly bigoted, and increasingly full of hate towards us, in the same way that Germans in the late 1930’s became increasingly hostile, increasingly bigoted, and increasingly full of hate towards the Jews, and for many of the same reasons, should I be concerned? Or should I just be like a lot of white people on the political left who pander to that false rhetoric and “apologize for being white”?
Oh man…I do hope our country opens its eyes before we go down the same path of tyranny and hatred and evil and destruction that these other countries went through many decades ago.
G. Fascism was just another name, back then, to describe a form of socialism, just like socialism today is just a politically-correct word for the type of government that was previously labeled as fascism.
Like I said earlier, “fascism” was a term coined by Mussolini. The term was meant to replace the earlier term used to describe that style of government. And what was that term? National socialism. In other words, fascism is just another term for national socialism.
The NAZI party in Germany, which is the epitome of fascism to many people today, is an abbreviated name for what in English would be translated as the National Socialist German Workers Party. It was a political party that represented national socialism.
All of the earliest theorists for what became known as fascism came from some type of socialist background, either international socialism, known as communism, or national socialism, known as fascism, or some other form of socialism. Of course, all of this should tell you how similar fascism, socialism, and communism, are to each other. It’s also why the list of things wanted by fascists is so similar to the list of wanted things found within the Communist Manifesto.
A lot of the prominent people who took charge of the Nazi party in the early 1930’s came out of international socialist, that is, communist, backgrounds. Benito Mussolini, the fascist ideologue who was leader of Italy in the 1930’s, was a propagandist that pushed socialist ideas for years before taking leadership of the country, and he did it by crusading against the principles of classical liberalism and capitalism, and crusading for a big government that had lots of control of everyone’s lives, to lay the ideological groundwork for his type of socialism, which he branded as fascism.
From this standpoint, Fascism politically derives from the left, and their desire to increase the size of government and have more control of our lives. There’s nothing about it that actually comes from the political right, the conservatives, given that the right stands for less government, less control, and more individual freedom.
In Summary
What’s amazing to me is these days, here in the United States, the political left, that is, the people pushing for more government and more control, and pushing for all the elements that historically would be described as fascism, are the same people that call the political right, the conservatives, the Republicans, fascist, even though they’re the ones that want less government, less control of our lives, and less taxes, and are the ones that endorse classical liberal values and free-market capitalism – all the things that are historically the antithesis and opposite of fascism.
It’s like they throw that label around without actually knowing what it truly represents. In reality, it’s the political left that are pushing a fascist agenda, although they try to hide it under the label of socialism – as it was called before it was called fascism.
