Interesting piece from a conservative (well, he was a conservative before the loonies appropriated conservatism) I respect, Tom Nichols:
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Behind a paywall. What are the main points?
Really? I had no problem, and I donât subscribe. Main points are that MAGA is close to fascist (âsemi-fascistâ) but more a collection of the deluded, bored, and stupid, that Trump is anything but a strongman, and that we need to be somewhat wary of referring to them as fascist because theyâre just oafs who will end up in prison while smarter, real fascists have seen the guardrails teetering and will move.
No problem for me eitherâŠ
We are in a prefascist interlude, but Trump himself is too incompetent, too lazy and selfish, to lead an actual fascist movement. But avoiding the word wonât prevent it from happening. What should really scare us is realizing that smarter and tougher American fascist leaders are out there, waiting. Trump has paved the way for them by corroding the guardrails of the American system, normalizing the kinds of rhetoric and attacks on opponents used by actual fascists, and convincing ordinary American voters that mass violence is an alternative to the ballot box.
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I agree with a lot of that.
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I have a greater fear of socialism, as it is slowly being accepted by the left and some on the right.
No. You first have to understand what socialism actually is. It means that the government owns the means of production, i. e., private business. I donât think anyoneâs going to successfully consolidate Ford, Chevrolet, and Chrysler into US Auto anymore than they could merge Apple and Microsoft into US Technology or NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc. into US Broadcasting.
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Only if youâre worried about real socialism. But that âspooky languageâ socialism that sources love to pump into older folks⊠itâs coming.
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It does not happen in one step its incremental to fool the UIâs
Would be next to impossible for the United States, the most capitalistic advanced nation in the world, to ever embrace socialism. Your fears are seriously misplaced.
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Letâs not forget this whole âgradual socialismâ at best is written out in a college paper. Has never actually happened anywhere, virtually all major socialist countries the forget-me-not canât to power via force. No one got tricked into it, they either wanted it or had it imposed upon them.
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Good article, @SamHouston1
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Socialists and fascists are just the opposite side of the same coin. They both find democracy abhorrent because neither trusts the common man to make decisions for themselves. From the left it is the feeling that there is an intellectual elite that should be in charge because simple people canât make good decisions for themselves. From the right it is the feeling that there needs to be a strong man that brings law and order and proper thinking that is missing in the messy democracy.
They are both a plague.
The founding fathers were very smart guys and understood power and the government. All governments trend towards despotism. Whether it comes from the left or from the right, it always trends toward despotism. That is why they were so distrustful of a large central government and they put in so many checks and balances. What people dislike about democracy is how messy and inefficient it is. That messiness and inefficiency is what the founding fathers wanted. They didnât want a government that could move quickly.
Right now Washington is too large and we have an imperial presidency.
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simple people canât make good decisions for themselves
Iâm curious where you stand on this now. From reading many of your
posts , you seem to express this very sentiment. So is it fair to say only the
left have this view ?
Just to be clear in terms here- âleftâ does not equal a socialist ; and ârightâ does not
equal a fascist.
I absolutely believe simple people can make good decisions FOR THEMSELVES. I absolutely am against them making decisions FOR EVERYONE ELSE including me. The same applies to the leftist elites that are convinced they have the one true right answer and that is more government and more government regulations and intrusions into our lives.
My hatred of Trump and the Magas doesnât mean I like the leftist elites. Trump and the Magas want to destroy democracy because they are convinced they are right and have the one true answer. Thank you, no. They are just the opposite side of leftist elites who are convinced they have the one true right answer. Thank you, no.
My question to both sides of the spectrum is if you are so convinced that you are right, why arenât we paying for all this good right and left leaning government? Why are we always pushing the expense of all of our good governance to future generations? The answer is if we actually had to pay for it we might start asking why do we have it?
Little minds. Little thoughts. Texas GOP CPAC welcomes Hungarian authoritarian fascist PM to its stage.
Let me know when the evil, godless communist dems have a communist or socialist foreign leader appearing with them.
Man. Woman. Person. Camera. TV.
You can do it.
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Why are we always pushing the expense of all of our good governance to future generations?
Simple answer is we(left and right) arenât. We donât have runaway inflation.
Debt and deficits donât really matter.
Simple answer is we(left and right) are, only if we have runaway inflation.
Then debt and deficits matter.
The US has never had runaway or hyper inflation since BLS started tracking it around 1917.Pulling out a few of our worst inflationary periods for consideration below, each high event can be tied to a war, pandemic, opec, etc. So nothing to worry about unless we get into double digit inflation. And that is why the Fed is THE inflation fighting machine; even if it has to manufacture a recession to do so.
| 1917 | 12.8 | 17.8% |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 15.0 | 17.3% |
| 1919 | 17.3 | 15.2% |
| 1920 | 20.0 | 15.6% |
| 1941 | 14.7 | 5.1% |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | 16.3 | 10.9% |
| 1943 | 17.3 | 6.0% |
| 1946 | 19.5 | 8.5% |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 22.3 | 14.4% |
| 1948 | 24.0 | 7.7% |
| 1973 | 44.4 | 6.2% |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 49.3 | 11.1% |
| 1975 | 53.8 | 9.1% |
| 1979 | 72.6 | 11.3% |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 82.4 | 13.5% |
| 1981 | 90.9 | 10.3% |
| 2021 | 271.0 | 4.7% |
|---|---|---|
| 2022* | 294.4 | 8.6% |
No. You first have to understand what socialism actually is. It means that the government owns the means of production, i. e., private business. I donât think anyoneâs going to successfully consolidate Ford, Chevrolet, and Chrysler into US Auto anymore than they could merge Apple and Microsoft into US Technology or NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc. into US Broadcasting.
This is very true and needs to be repeated. The creeping socialist fears of some need to point
out one industry the US government has taken over.
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