Fashionable Fascism

 

 

It may surprise you to learn that during the time the Nazis were in power there were over 3,600 German newspapers, over twice as many as there are currently in the US.  One of them, ‘Der Angriff’ (‘The Assault’), founded by Goebbels in 1927, had as its slogan: ‘For the Oppressed against the Oppressors’. Make that the name of your newspaper in any American campus or most major cities and you would have the Liberal intelligentsia clamoring to write for you. I mean, everyone who opposed your paper would be for the oppressors and against the oppressed. Oppose that and you would be classified as a class enemy and possibly a filthy Republican.

You may also be surprised to learn that elections for the German “Reichstag” (Parliament) were held in 1938, five years after Hitler took over, and that the Nazi ticket won with a 98% turnout and with 99% of the vote. Of course it helped that Hitler’s economic policies ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy. “Infrastructure” projects were undertaken including the construction of Autobahns (roads and bridges) and the German government supported new industries, leading to the creation of the Volkswagen.   Objectively, that meant that the Nazi economic policies were better than the Obama administration's and Hitler's ability to pick winners and losers was better than Obama's.  Perhaps if Obama had done as well as Hitler - economically -  he would have gotten a larger majority of the vote in 2012.  But in the end, both won. 

 

There was also a major directional change in German foreign policy. The new Reich threw off the shackles of the failed policies of the past and forged a new direction that had the enthusiastic support of the German press and much of the German people.   The policy was wildly successful for a while but ran into a few problems; there were some "adjustments" that were made in the 1940s. 

 

Sound familiar?

 

Gail Collins - the Feminist columnist for the NY Times who’s conflicted about Filthy Filner because he’s a Democrat – decide to write about that part of the Republican party that is not wholly in love with America’s new direction. She is particularly upset with Rubio, Cruz and Paul.

 

And all three are currently in the news for their efforts to get Republicans to promise not to vote to fund the government this fall unless the president cancels Obamacare.

 

That fact that it’s not exactly true, they are simply against raising the debt ceiling without concessions from Obama, doesn’t stop Gail because she is working to illustrate a “higher truth;” that Republicans are nuts.

 

Rubio, Cruz and Paul weren’t the first senators to promote the shutdown idea. But they’re the ones with the national names, in a party that’s got a crush on crazy.

 

This is what passes for reasoned debate in what Rush Limbaugh refers to as the “State-Controlled Media.” In Nazi Germany those 3,600 newspapers were told how to slant the news but make no mistake, the editors of these papers were supporters of the regime. Goebbels was said to discuss that day’s story line to Berlin's editors and communicated it to others by telegram.  Gail Collins supports the regime and is on the NY Times payroll which - to no one's surprise - supports the regime.  They didn't have to be bullied because they are true believers. 

 

During in the Obama administration’s relations with the American press, influential members of the media created Journolist and communicated daily with top members of Obama’s staff to either promote Obama, to kill stories that were harmful to him or to attack his enemies. Today, if you write a column that’s disrespectful of the President, you get fired. The Obama staff is quick to pick up the phone and lay down the law with the “free” press, and the press salutes smartly and obeys.

 

I’m really not telling most people who are well read anything new. Jonah Goldberg wrote an entire book – Liberal Fascism – about the love affair between dictators and Liberals. As I mentioned above, the “State-Controlled Media” is a staple of the Rush Limbaugh program. Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) illustrates this regularly with his references to bad economic news always preceded by the word “unexpectedly.”

 

One other factor should be noted. The American culture with regard to religion has been turned upside-down in the last decade. A few years ago people who we admired could be described as a good husband, wife, worker, associate and even a good Christian. Today, we have people - like the commenter Silly Me on Slate - who would rather cut out their tongues than use the “N” word but have absolutely no problem telling anyone who is willing to listen that “Personally the MB [Muslim Brotherhood] gives me the creeps, but so does the religious right in the US.” While Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East, they are being mocked and ridiculed in the US. Use the “N” word and you get banned from many Internet sites, kick a Christian to the curb and you get a gold star and told how brave and daring you are. It’s so common, the press simply does not deign to notice … when it is not in agreement about the dangers to democracy from Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell and those damned Baptists.

 

Fashionable Fascism demand we have no other gods before the Almighty Government and Obama is his prophet. Anything else is idolatry ... or you're just nuts.