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 Ich
bastele immer noch an meinem neuen
CMS Blog. Ziemlich
aufwendig, dauert noch einige Tage bevor ich online gehen kann.
Deshalb hier eine einkopierte Buchvorstellung. Vorgestellt auf
Daniel Pipes Webseite:
Liberal Fascism
The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the
Politics of Meaning
Written by
Jonah Goldberg
Political Science - Political Ideologies - Fascism & Totalitarianism |
Doubleday | Hardcover | January 2008 | $27.95 |
978-0-385-51184-1 (0-385-51184-1)
“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.
About the Author
JONAH
GOLDBERG
is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and contributing
editor to National Review. A USA Today contributor and former
columnist for the Times of London, he has also written for The New
Yorker, Commentary, the Wall Street Journal, and many other
publications. He lives in Washington, D.C. |
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