Progressivism And The Thirst For “War”

Early progressives (i.e. statists), like fascists in the first half of the 1900s, saw great value in war. It wasn’t the fighting that they craved, but the singular focus on mobilizing the nation’s population towards a common goal dictated by the state. Peacetime obstacles like liberty and individual rights, eroded or evaporated under nationalistic fervors whipped up in time of war greatly simplifying the state’s power expansion.

Example Of A WWII Poster Used To Mobilize American Support For The War Effort

Example Of A WWII Poster Used To Mobilize American Support For The War Effort

America saw this in WWII where citizens willingly sacrificed giving up sugar, or butter to support the war effort. Children enthusiastically scoured their neighborhoods for metal and rubber drives. Consumer product factories were happily converted to supply the military with equipment, and Americans did with less, or did without. Slogans like “Do with less-so they’ll have enough” were shown all over the country. Total war was responsible for total civil mobilization.

Progressives continued to crave this war state power, and modern progressives came up with a strategy to get it free from the ravages of a hot war.

They invented global catastrophism (creating Mountains out of Mole Hills) as a rallying cry, to not only mobilize our nation, but all nations in common. Liberal Fascism states:

“the left has looked to everything from environmentalism and global warming to public health and diversity as war equivalents to cajole the public into expert-driven unity.”

They were wildly successful in the effort! What remains to be seen is “catastrophism’s” lasting effect. Will people wise up when the prognostications of doom don’t materialize, or will progressives get away with changing their narrative as they have in the past (ex. “Global Warming” vs “Global Climate Change”).

Fascism vs Progressivism

Fascism

The American left loves to slander President Trump, and by extension any Trump supporter, as fascists. Progressive democrats project their actual history onto republicans and conservatives. They rely upon the fallacy that both fascism and Nazism are right wing ideologies as the foundation for their charges. Marxist organizations like ANTIFA even have the gall to claim that they stand against it, and are the judges of who is and isn’t a fascist.

Take for instance the below “Googledictionary” definition of fascism, which as we will see, is totally biased and inaccurate as it to labels fascism “a far right movement”:

“Noun/faSHizem/

An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization,

An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization
(in general use) Extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice”6

The evolution of fascism is the key to understanding where on the ideological spectrum it truly falls. Fascism sprang from Marxism and socialism, where fascists then competed against communists for followers from the same pool of radicals. Fascists evolved from Marxists and radical socialists who concluded that Marxism was a failed philosophy. They

Saw fascism as the way to save socialism. Marx was wrong, workers were not rising up on their own (workers in Germany and England were doing well, and seemed happy), they needed to be organized and pushed into revolution.”5

Fascists were the organizers who stirred revolution in contests with communists. As part of that struggle, communists claimed that fascism was right wing in order to discredit it, but the truth is that fascism is a totalitarian, authoritarian, left wing radical ideology, and the antithesis of anything right wing.

NOTE: Saul Alinsky’s teachings, foundational to the progressive movement, follow the same plan. Alinsky coined the term “Community Organizer” to describe those who stir revolution.

Definitions of Fascism:

1. “Fascism is a religion of the state.”
– It assumes the organic unity of the body politic
– It longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people
– It is totalitarian in that it views everything as political
— Any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good
— It takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including:
—- Citizens health
—- Citizens well-being
—- Seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action (by force or through regulation
and social pressure)
– Everything, including the economy and religion must be aligned with its objectives
Any rival identity is part of the “problem” and therefore defined as the enemy”1

2. State-run Capitalism.2

3a. “A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
3b. “A tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control”6
Tree of Statism: Common Roots Drive Common Goals
Tree of Statism: Common Roots Drive Common Goals

Fascism’s Ideological Evolution:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778): “The Father of Modern Fascism” Conceived of the “Theory of the general will” which formed the intellectual foundation for all modern totalitarianisms.

“Individuals who live in accordance with the general will are “free” and “virtuous” while those who defy it are criminals, fools, or heretics.” He “Sanctified the sovereign will of the masses while dismissing the mechanisms of democracy as corrupting and profane.”1

Maximilian Robespierre (6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794): A student of Rousseau, and a leading figure in the French Revolution (which became a template for totalitarianism).

The French Revolution was:

  1. “A nationalist-populist uprising
  2. Led and manipulated by an intellectual vanguard
  3. Determined to replace Christianity with a political religion that glorified “the people”
  4. That anointed the revolutionary vanguard as their priests
  5. And abridged the rights of individuals.”1

Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, Italy's Fascist Dictator; Born: July 29, 1883, Predappio, Italy Died: April 28, 1945, Giulino, Italy
Benito Mussolini, Italy's Fascist Dictator; Born: July 29, 1883, Predappio, Italy Died: April 28, 1945, Giulino, Italy

Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945): Ideological contributions (Key elements from his 7 volumes of Marxist/socialist theory).

  1. “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
  2. Believed “totalitarian” as a positive term, actually coined it: “the state took care of everything and looked after everyone.”
  3. Sought an Italy where state maintained complete control over all aspects of the lives of Italians.
  4. “Everything was “fair game” if it furthered the ends of the state.”
  5. “Demanded that party members (Italian Socialism) renounce religious marriage, baptism, and all other Christian rituals.”

6. Tapped into the “religious fervor” of the French Revolutionary model, the state is the religion, and Mussolini was the Italian state.

7. Fascism is definitely and absolutely opposed to the doctrines of liberalism (Classic Liberalism i.e. Conservatism) both in the political and economic sphere.”4

There were countless other political philosophers, strategists, writers, agitators, organizers, etc. who contributed to building fascism, yet they all had one thing in common:

“All of the leading figures in the founding of fascism were men of the Left.”3

Italian Philosopher Giovani Gentile

Giovani Gentile: "The Karl Marx of Fascism"
Giovani Gentile: "The Karl Marx of Fascism"

Giovanni Gentile (30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944): “The Karl Marx of Fascism”. His main philosophical contributions.3

  1. “Man is naturally at home in community, in society.” He was a communitarian.
  2. He despised classical liberal democracy (i.e. capitalist democracy; the democracy of America’s founding); Promoted “true democracy” in which individuals willingly subordinate themselves to society and to the state.”

A slogan from Obama’s 2012 Democratic Convention:Governments the only thing that we all belong to.” fits perfectly with Gentile’s teachings.

3. Leaders and organizers are needed to direct and channel the will of the people, who are too slothful and inert by themselves.

4. Society and the state are one and the same. As such the state is unaccountable (above) to the citizens. “Morality and religion…must be subordinated to the laws of the State.

5. The government should teach, through the schools to advance it’s values and priorities. Statism and collectivism defines fascism and Nazism.

Progressivism

The above elements of fascism share significant traits with American progressivism, which some call “American Fascism”. The most significant,

“Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”

can’t possibly be confused with the conservative principle elevating God Given liberty and individualism above the state.

President Woodrow Wilson (Democrat)
President Woodrow Wilson (Democrat)

President Woodrow Wilson – Democrat (December 28, 1856 February 3, 1924): Has been described as a proto-fascist, in addition to him being known as a flagrant racist. (Link to Woodrow Wilson racism)
According to Liberal Fascism:

  • Wilson disguised his fascism by calling it progressivism, a term not widely used until after 1909.
  • He stated “The essence of Progressivism was that the individual marry his interests to the state.”
  • He wrote “Bismark’s (Germany’s Otto von Bismark) welfare state was an “admirable system the most studied and most nearly perfected’ in the world.”
  • He believed that society could be bent to the will of social planners.
  • He established the American Protective League. The APL was a semi-official organization of citizens that spied upon other Americans. At its zenith, it consisted of over 250,000 members in over 600 cities. The APL intimidated, threatened, detained and violated the rights of countless America Citizens.
  • He heavily influenced Herbert Croly, who adopted Wilson’s Presidential example as dogma. Wilson created an all-powerful Executive Branch of government while minimizing the legislative and judicial branches, in harsh contrast with the Constitution’s establishment of co-equal branches.
Herbert Croley: American Progressive/Liberal Philosopher And Strategist
Herbert Croley: American Progressive/Liberal Philosopher And Strategist

Herbert Croly (January 23, 1869 – May 17, 1930): One of the most influential American Progressive/Liberal authors. He literally wrote the Bible of progressivism7 “The Promise of American Life” in 1909, defining progressivism and liberalism from his day through to the modern progressive/liberal movement. His key elements of progressivism/liberalism, which completely align with fascism:

  1. Mobilize society like an army
  2. Call for spiritual rebirth
  3. Need for “great” revolutionary leaders
  4. Reliance on manufactured, unifying, national “myths”
  5. Contempt for parliamentary democracy
  6. Non-Marxist Socialism
  7. Nationalism
  8. Spiritual calling for military expansion”

9. The need to make politics into a religion
10. Hostility to individualism.”1

Last Know Photograph of FDR
Last Know Photograph of FDR (fdrlibrary.org)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Democrat (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945): FDR brought in many Woodrow Wilson administration officials to fill the ranks of his administration.

FDR greatly expanded the powers of the presidency, granted by a democratic Congress, and would have gone further if not for court challenges.

FDR’s foundational program The New Deal, was known at the time to be remarkably similar to the economic programs of both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

“The broad-ranging powers granted to Roosevelt by Congress, before that body went into recess, were unprecedented in times of peace. Through this “delegation of powers,” Congress had, in effect, temporarily done away with itself as the legislative branch of government. The only remaining check on the executive was the Supreme Court. In Germany, a similar process allowed Hitler to assume legislative power after the Reichstag burned down in a suspected case of arson on February 28, 1933. (p. 18).

The Nazi press enthusiastically hailed the early New Deal measures: America, like the Reich, had decisively broken with the “uninhibited frenzy of market speculation.” The Nazi Party newspaper, the Vlkischer Beobachter, “stressed ‘Roosevelt’s adoption of National Socialist strains of thought in his economic and social policies,’ praising the president’s style of leadership as being compatible with Hitler’s own dictatorial Fuhrerprinzip” (p. 190).8

– Wanted to create an “extra-constitutional private army” out of the American Legion. In a radio address FDR told them he wanted to be “A new commander-in-chief under the oath to which you are still boundI reserve to myself the right to command you in any phase of the situation which now confronts us.1

– American Legion considered itself an “American Fascisti” for a time, under FDR’s influence, it was a turned into a quasi branch of the FBI used for spying.1

– FDR used the FBI and other federal government agencies to spy on his critics at home.1

– He build a 2.5 million young man Civilian Conservation Corps, work program very similar to those set up in Germany and Italy, all used similar arguments for why they were needed.1

Barack Obama wanted to do something similar but more paramilitary. He never seemed to pursue it after becoming President. During his first campaign he said:

We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

– “The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a:

US labor law and consumer law passed by the US Congress to authorize the President to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery.

It also established a national public works program known as the Public Works Administration.

The National Recovery Administration (NRA) portion was widely hailed in 1933, but by 1934 business’ opinion of the act had soured. By March 1934 the “NRA was engaged chiefly in drawing up these industrial codes for all industries to adopt.”9

The NRA was established to administer NIRA and was led by retired Army General Hugh S. Johnson, an ardent disciple of Fascism. “As head of the NRA, he distributed copies of the Corporate State by Raffaello Viglione-an unapologetic fascist tract by one of Mussolini’s favorite economists.”

The program gave unions considerable power, which they used to block black Americans out of the workforce. Some black journalists called the NRA names like Negro Run Around, Negro Removal Act and Negroes Robbed Again.”1

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was declared unconstitutional in May 1935 when the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in the case Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.1

– FDR tried to stack the SCOTUS when they shut down his policies. FDR effectively intimidated them into submission.

Was this President Obama’s intent during his state of the union speech where he directly challenged the SCOTUS?

– FDR broke with tradition since George Washington, and ran for a third term. Had he not died, would he have kept going?

– Finally, and perhaps most appallingly, FDR put over 100,000 American Citizens into internment camps.

Sources:
1Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg
2Dinesh D’Souza Glen Beck Interview
3The Big Lie, Dinesh D’Souza
4The Doctrine of Fascism, Benito Mussolini
5The Faces of Janus, James Gregor
6Merriam-Websters Online
7Herbert D. Croly: Apostle of Progressivism
8Three New Deals (Mises.Org Review)
9Wikipedia

Obama’s Foreign Policy Challenge

Capital Building, Washington D.C.

Capital Building, Washington D.C.

President Obama largely gets a pass on his domestic policy. He receives near unlimited top cover from the American “Minion media” and pop culture who restate and reframe his mistakes, and distort legitimate policy and ideological criticism. Why are things so different on the foreign policy stage?

First, the fawning adulation President Obama receives from the domestic media is largely missing in the rest of the world. In fact it’s often the case that you’re better off following BBC reports to get accurate coverage of U.S. domestic news than reading the NY Times or watching CNN-NBC-CBS-ABC!

Second, President Obama and his foreign policy team are out classed. President Obama learned his leadership skills at ACORN. He’s up against people like Vladimir Putin who were schooled by the KGB, or the Iranian Ayatollahs. This is the equivalent of pitting a pop warner football team against the super bowl champions. President Obama has a ruthless streak, but it only comes out when dealing with the GOP, conservatives, TEA Party Patriots, police or Americas allies. The latest embarrassing example is the President’s bullying attacks on Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. When it come’s to America’s enemies, his ruthless streak is Missing In Action.

Third, President Obamas domestic adversaries play by the rules. They obey the laws and adhere to basic rules of decorum. Obama is more and more unilaterally re-writing laws, ignoring those that he doesn’t like and using executive orders and regulations to create laws when he can’t get them through Congress. His latest power grabs include using the FCC to control the Internet, and ATF preparation to ban ammunition, in violation of the 2nd Amendment. America’s international adversaries don’t play by the rules, and it seems that Obama can’t keep up, anticipate or deal effectively as a result.

Progressivism is a kindred ideology to communism that seeks a lesser degree of the same, authoritarian government.