{"id":543,"date":"2008-01-18T16:26:57","date_gmt":"2008-01-18T20:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=543"},"modified":"2008-01-19T10:39:13","modified_gmt":"2008-01-19T14:39:13","slug":"dux-nobis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=543","title":{"rendered":"Dux nobis"},"content":{"rendered":"

If a prize were given for sophistry, Jonah Goldberg would win, not because he's good at it, but because he earnestly believes his own nonsense.  The entire thesis of his recent book, Liberal Fascism<\/em>, rests (judging by his frequent descriptions of it) on the following hodgepodge of fallacies: the formal fallacy of the undistributed middle; equivocation on the word "socialist"; ignorance of the origins and meaning of the term "fascist"; and various straw persons of "progressive positions" (to name the most obvious).  By the way, if you haven't seen his interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, go see it.  It's hilarious.<\/p>\n

Just for fun, and because it bears repeating how this fellow has no business writing books on fascism or any subject for that matter, take the following explanation of why Mussolini is called a fascist<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

To sort of start the story, the reason why we see fascism as a thing of the right is because fascism was originally a form of right-wing socialism. Mussolini was born a socialist, he died a socialist, he never abandoned his love of socialism, he was one of the most important socialist intellectuals in Europe and was one of the most important socialist activists in Italy, and the only reason he got dubbed a fascist and therefore a right-winger is because he supported World War I<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not so much.  Maybe it's because Mussolini founded the doctrine of fascism<\/a>.  Here's a taste of Mussolini's own description of his view:  <\/p>\n

\n

In the Fascist <\/strong>conception of history, man is man only by virtue of the spiritual process to which he contributes <\/span>as <\/span>a member of the family, the social group, the nation, <\/span>and in function of history to which all nations bring their <\/span>contribution. <\/span>Hence the great value of tradition in records, <\/span>in language, in customs, in the rules of social life <\/span>(8)<\/a>. Outside history man is a nonentity. <\/span>Fascism <\/span>i<\/span>s<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>therefore opposed to all individualistic abstractions based on eighteenth century materialism; and it is opposed to all <\/span>Jacobinistic<\/span> utopias <\/strong><\/span>and innovations. It does not believe in the possibility of <\/span>"<\/span>happiness<\/span>" on earth as conceived by the <\/span>economistic<\/span> literature of the <\/span>XVIIIth<\/span> century, and it therefore rejects the t<\/span>h<\/span>eological notion that at some future time the human <\/span>family will secure a final settlement of all its difficulties. <\/span>This notion runs counter to experience which teaches that <\/span>life is in continual flux and in process of evolution. <\/span>In <\/span>politics Fascism aims at realism; in practice it desires to deal only with those problems which are the spontaneous product of historic conditions and which find or suggest <\/span>their own solutions <\/span>(9)<\/a>. Only by entering in to the <\/span>process of reality and taking possession of the forces at work <\/span>within it, can man act on man and on nature (10)<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And he continues:<\/p>\n

\n

Anti-individualistic<\/strong>, the Fascist conception of life stresses <\/span>the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience and the universal, will of man as a historic entity (11)<\/a>. <\/span>It is opposed to classical liberalism which arose as a reaction to absolutism and exhausted <\/span>its historical function when the State became the expression of the conscience and will of the people. Liberalism denied <\/span>the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts<\/strong> The rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the <\/strong><\/span>individual<\/strong> <\/span>(12)<\/a>. And if liberty is to he the attribute of living <\/span>men and not of abstract dummies invented by individualistic <\/span>liberalism, then Fascism stands for liberty, and for the only liberty worth having, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State (13)<\/a>. The Fascist conception of the <\/span>State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. <\/span>Thus understood, <\/span>Fascism, is totalitarian<\/strong>, and the <\/span> Fascist<\/span> <\/span> State<\/span> <\/span>– a synthesis <\/span>and a unit inclusive of all values <\/span>– interprets, develops, and potentates the whole life of a people <\/span>(14)<\/a>.  No individuals or groups (political parties, cultural associations, economic unions, social classes) outside the State (15)<\/a>. Fascism is therefore opposed to Socialism to which unity <\/span>within the State (which amalgamates classes into a single <\/span>economic and ethical reality) is unknown, and which sees <\/strong>in history nothing but the class struggle.<\/strong> Fascism is likewise <\/span>opposed to trade<\/span> <\/span>unionism as a class weapon. <\/span>But when <\/span>brought within the orbit of the State, Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade<\/span> <\/span>unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State (16)<\/a>.<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yet, despite these well known documents, that Mussolini never thought himself a fascist and that he was really a socialist is somehow the basis of this silly book. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a prize were given for sophistry, Jonah Goldberg would win, not because he's good at it, but because he earnestly believes his own nonsense.  The entire thesis of his recent book, Liberal Fascism, rests (judging by his frequent descriptions of it) on the following hodgepodge of fallacies: the formal fallacy of the undistributed middle; … Continue reading Dux nobis<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,44,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-goldberg","category-things-that-are-false"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}