DEFINING FASCISM
The overused term is closer than you think
BY DOUG FRENCH

The word Fascist is the all-purpose political epithet directed typically at the right. Comedian George Carlin in a recent appearance on Bill Maher's HBO series flung the F (for Fascist) word around frequently in describing the Bush administration, oil companies and big business. 

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, uses fascist to describe director Oliver Stone, John Wayne or anyone who went to school at USC in his book, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors. 

Historian Ralph Raico, speaking at a recent Mises Institute seminar on the Economics of Fascism, described Fascism as the "most frequently abused term in political vocabulary." Raico noted that everything from racism to police brutality is called Fascism. 

So just what is Fascism exactly? From online encyclopedia Wikipedia: "Mussolini, in a speech delivered on October 28, 1925, stated the following maxim that encapsulates the fascist philosophy: 'Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.' Therefore, he reasoned, all individuals' business is the state's business, and the state's existence is the sole duty of the individual."

That sounds a lot like what politicians and commentators on the left and right pine for: subordination of the individual to the state. Libertarian types might be tempted to call America Fascist. But, Pepperdine University economics professor George Reisman describes America as a "hampered market economy with a loss of personal freedoms," especially after 9/11. 

Closely related to Fascism is Nazism. "There are sufficient similarities between Fascism and Nazism to make it worthwhile applying the concept of fascism to both," writes Kevin Passmore (in Wikipedia). "In Italy and Germany a movement came to power that sought to create national unity through the repression of national enemies and the incorporation of all classes and both genders into a permanently mobilized nation."

Contrary to what many believe, Nazi Germany was socialist; not capitalist, which is what the Communists and all other Marxists claim. In fact, Nazi was shorthand for the National Socialist German Workers Party. Economist Ludwig von Mises emphasized in his book Omnipotent Government that the Nazis were socialists. There was private ownership in Germany in name only. Hitler's government controlled all prices and production levels. As professor Reisman pointed out in his speech entitled, "Why Nazism was Socialism and Why Socialism is Totalitarian," delivered at the Mises seminar, all public needs were thought superior to private needs. The individual only served as a means to an end for the state. 

Under Nazi control, chaos in the economy (shortages and poverty) was the result. From that chaos, totalitarianism inevitably follows. Reisman made the point that as sellers evade the wage and price controls, totalitarianism is required to keep the black (or underground) market from developing. Government spies, informants and thugs serve to make people fearful and make it dangerous to conduct business. The black market is seen as "stealing" from the state, sabotaging the socialist plan. 

Nazi or Fascist leaders live in fear of the people. Thus to keep a lid on the citizenry, freedoms are taken away. These leaders divert the peoples' attention by making scapegoats of certain groups. They get rid of anyone who thinks for him or herself and stop all gatherings that are not state sanctioned. In other words, terror is the nature of the Nazi or socialist system. 

Reisman believes the social democrats of today don't have the moxie to outright steal the means of production and give it to the state. "Social democrats are like pick pockets that may dream of pulling off the big job some day, but don't have the stomach for the killing." 

But, if anything, America is moving toward Fascism. Reisman said in his speech that the essential elements of one-party rule and censorship are needed before America could be considered Fascist. "We still have freedom of speech and press and free elections," Reisman explained, "though both have been undermined and their continued existence cannot be guaranteed."

Elections in this country have become dodgy at best with voters displaying shockingly poor judgment most of the time. Besides, there is scant difference between Republicans and Democrats. They are essentially one. All the while, the Patriot Act chisels away at our rights. When Bush calls anyone not for his war anti-American, that chills free speech. The political classes on the right and the left are moving toward Fascism, and are closer than you think. LW

Doug French, associate editor of Liberty Watch: The Magazine, is an executive vice president of a Nevada bank. He is the 2005 recipient of the Murray N. Rothbard Award from the Center for Libertarian Studies.