Much has already been written on the subject of Jonah Goldberg's no-doubt-fantastic tome Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation from Something or Other to Something Entirely Unrelated to That Particular Something or whatever title it was that he finally settled on. Thus, I'd like to write on the subject of people writing on the subject of the subject in question. Don't try and stop me. I swear to God that I'll do it.
In writing Liberal Fascism, Goldberg has provided his ideological thinking buddies with something truly invaluable: a de facto day off. Instead of having to come up with their own columns on why it's hateful to hate people who hate other people who hate John McCain, or the gay agenda ("pick up milk and eggs, take the shitzu to the groom, obtain basic right of contract"), or something about George Soros having been reluctant to die in the Holocaust, our gentle Republic's movement conservative pundits all get to do one prefabricated column on Liberal Fascism, each making the following points:
- That H.G. Wells once said something about how we need "liberal fascism," and that we should ignore the fact that he used the qualifier "liberal" and thus didn't consider fascism to be inherently liberal in and of itself, and that instead we should think about how the Nazis were really big on health
- That the Nazis were really big on health, unlike today's conservatives, who presumably spend their days drinking gasoline and cutting off their own fingers
- That the Nazis were similarly big on regulating the health of others, unlike today's conservatives, all of whom presumably want to decriminalize marijuana yesterday
- Look at me, I'm a conservative columnist, yippity skippity
... which is to say that all of these columns are pretty much interchangeable. Except for this one by Thomas Sowell, in which he makes point #1:
Famed British novelist and prominent Fabian socialist H.G. Wells called for "Liberal Fascism," saying "the world is sick of parliamentary politics."
As mentioned above, point #1 is ubiquitous among the various pro-Liberal Fascism columns that have come out in the past few weeks. What sets this particular incarnation apart, then, is its author, who himself was quite "sick of parliamentary politics" not too long ago, when he wrote the following:
When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.
As you may have noticed, that column appeared in National Review, your official source for keen insight into how liberals are akin to fascists - and, coincidentally enough, the only mainstream political opinion outlet of which I am aware that has printed material in favor of a military takeover of the United States of America. Giggle giggle.