Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change
 | Broadway, 2009, Paperback Customer Rating: 373 reviews Recommend |
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“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.
Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.
Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.
Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.
These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.
Title: Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change
Sales Rank: 183761 in Books
Author: Jonah Goldberg
Publisher: Broadway, 2009-05-12, Paperback, 512 pages, ISBN: 0767917189
- A "Must Read"
- This is a must read. Buy copies for your parents and for your kids. READ IT and spread the word. A … More reviews
- Finally
- As a conservative, I have always heard that the far right was like Hitlars Germany. In my own ignroance, I never bothered to dispute the notion as it was the accepted norm.
However as I became more interested in Politics, it began to really concern me as to why the supposed link to Fascism was there. As I read more and more about Fascism, I could see not a single link… More reviews
- You Have to Read It to Believe It
- Contrary to popular liberal belief, this is not an Ann Coulter-esque "junk food for the conservative soul," as the prolific and excellent reviewer David McCune labeled Coulter's "Godless." Nor is it really a polemic, or a salvo of any kind. Its tone is overwhelmingly deferential and cautious, with small moments of academic triumphalism.
The book is not really filled with "startling" new… More reviews
- Horrible Book
- This book tries to present biased political attacks as historic fact. His presentation fails to consider how fascist ideas have influenced the entire history of thought beyond the liberalist thread. Finally, his attack on Hillary Clinton betrays any feigned attempt at maintaining a position of academic neutrality.… More reviews
- A Very Well Argued Book
- Jonah Goldberg makes his case very well. Connections between progressive thought in America and fascism in Europe are shown on several levels, to include (but not limited to) the following: state welfare programs, wars on smoking, radical environmentalism, attacks on the family, and attempts to subvert traditional Christianity. As an alternative to fascism, Goldberg suggest a return to what he terms "classical liberalism"… More reviews
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