Through pages of bewilderment

comes this concise explanation of the undercurrent in US political philosophy. Please continue writing like this.  I hear so often that "socialism is communism" which is what was said in the 1930's and is still being said. 

Thank you for this article.  

by Margaret Bassett (31 articles, 1969 quicklinks, 30 diaries, 1284 comments) on Friday, October 3, 2008 at 10:25:32 AM
 

"Backdoor Socialism" is no Salvation from Virtual Fascism

I definitely agree with you, Deena, that the majority of Republicans - politicians and those who vote for them - do not appear to recognize (or maybe it is admit) that there is a great amount of corporate welfare/subsidies in many segments of the economy. And I give you credit, Deena, for not making the typical claim in so much written on the Web, including here at OEN, that what has been going on in the US economy is capitalism or the free-market.

You are also quite correct that two of the major dominant political philosophies in existence during the WWII were communism and fascism. In actuality the US had been demonstrating a strong streak of fascism since the 30s, though many who think FDR "rescued" the US from the Great Depression do not understand that his measures (those that survived Supreme Court overrule) actually lengthened and deepened what would have been a moderate recession, very likely completed by 1933 rather than 1940 with the US already gearing up to enter WWII - and thereby increasing government debt.

Deena, you correctly identify a major part of fascism - "Fascism was a partnership between big business and government", except that the verb should be "is" not "was". Fascism was never "defeated" no matter the fact that Italy was in WWII; the label just filed away in the political closet. Please consider the following written by John T Flynn in As We Go Marching By in 1944:

As we survey the whole scene in Italy, therefore, we may now name all the essential ingredients of fascism. It is a form of social organization

1. In which the government acknowledges no restraint upon its powers - totalitarianism
2. In which this unrestrained government is managed by a dictator - the leadership principle
3. In which the government is organized to operate the capitalist system and enable it to function ? under an immense bureaucracy
4. In which the economic society is organized on the syndicalist model, that is by producing groups formed into craft and professional categories under supervision of the state
5. In which the government and the syndicalist organizations operate the capitalist society on the planned, autarchical principle
6. In which the government holds itself responsible to provide the nation with adequate purchasing power by public spending and borrowing
7. In which militarism is used as a conscious mechanism of government spending, and
8. In which imperialism is included as a policy inevitably flowing from militarism as well as other elements of fascism.

Wherever you find a nation using all of these devices you will know that this is a fascist nation. In proportion as any nation uses most of them you may assume it is tending in the direction of fascism.

As I have written elsewhere here:

A review of the above in conjunction with the current economic and political situation in the US, will lead any reasoning reader to the conclusion that the US is very definitely "tending in the direction of fascism", and to a high degree of "tending". Similar conclusions, varying only in degree of "tending", will be reached from an objective study of many other countries, with the remainder tending more toward socialism - production owned by the State directly, with all citizens being employees.

With this latest action by Congress and legislation signed by Bush, the US moves from the "strongly tending", to being on the brink of "virtual" fascist state - the condition in most of the world that portends to have a "market economy" at all.

Deena, you use the plural pronoun, "we" throughout your article but I - and I know of plenty of others also - do not "want single-payer universal health care, such as they have in Canada, Europe, Japan and Singapore". To be accurate, please use "many", or even "majority" if you can provide a link to a reputable source that can demonstrate this. In regards to the use of the plural pronouns where the speaker/writer does not have the authority to speak for a group, I suggest reading "Collectivism in Language: Its Effects on Valid Reasoning".

As for "Republicans, brought up on blind faith in the free market", the problem is that like with a great many of USers who do and do not label themselves as Republicans, real understanding of a true free-market (laissez-faire capitalism) does not really exist.

In a free market - laissez-faire capitalism - people act in their own individual interests, either setting up and operating their own businesses by themselves or in voluntary association with others, or they sell their labor/skills/knowledge to those who own the companies; there is no government regulation of what and to/with/for whom and at what price any of this is done. One is self-responsible in a free-market - to succeed or fail - and interacts only with those whom one has chosen to do so. The company owner provides the tools, buildings and upfront cash (the capital - thus "capitalism") to get the business going and arrange for its continuance through management. S/he may do all this by hirself in addition to providing the service and/or products that s/he offers for sale to others - OR s/he may pay one or more others to do some of the tasks that are related to the numerous aspects of the business. The greater amount of service and/or product that the owner can produce that others are willing to purchase, the greater the likelihood that s/he will have employees, those who have decided to sell their labor (physical labor/skills/knowledge) to this particular business owner - and not some other, and instead of being self-employed. And also the more total value of exchange to mutual benefit will such a company generate, of which a part will become well-deserved profit for the owner......
The "crashes" with their extensive loss of money by some, directly (and many indirectly) - as well as enormous surges - are as a result of the distortions created by government manipulation both of money (modern value exchange) via federal/central banking (effectively an arm of modern governments by legalized monopoly, or a direct department of those governments) and of markets, by pump priming, debt encouragement, bail-outs, etc.

Further discussion.

Deena, I think you truly do want a better society, but your approach via socialism is without complete understanding of praxeology (the theory of human action - of which the economic part can be found fully detailed in Mises "Human Action" and a more complete basis for all optimal human action is described by the Theory of Social Meta-Needs). Unfortunately, neither of these are yet taught at the majority of US educational institutions, but rather the various faulty philosophic and economic theories which dominate government actions.

**Kitty Antonik Wakfer

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by Kitty Antonik Wakfer (22 articles, 4 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 124 comments) on Friday, October 3, 2008 at 7:43:46 PM
 

Either way

or in any case, clearly the Republicans have been lying for YEARS to their constituents. Especially those on the poor side.

by Zena Princess (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 55 comments) on Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 4:25:00 PM