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Go Home GOP Plays Fascist Card

TIMOTHY NOAH FEBRUARY 20, 2012

GOP Plays Fascist Card

BY TIMOTHY NOAH

A new way to track the GOP crackup is to count the number of major Republican White House contenders who say that if you don't elect them America will become a fascist country. Amazingly, both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul did it this weekend. As Alec MacGillis notes, on Feb. 19 Santorum told a crowd of 3,000 at a Georgia megachurch,

Your country needs you. It’s not as clear a challenge. Obviously, World War II was pretty obvious. At some point, they knew. But remember, the Greatest Generation, for a year and a half, sat on the sidelines while Europe was under darkness, where our closest ally, Britain, was being bombed and leveled, while Japan was spreading its cancer all throughout Southeast Asia. America sat from 1940, when France fell, to December of ’41, and did almost nothing.

One day before, Ron Paul told a crowd of about 2,000 at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo., that "we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government and big business and authoritarian rule and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen." The next day Paul said much the same thing to CNN's Candy Crowley. The irony is rich, given that for years Paul allowed newsletters to go out under his name that attempted to build political support through the time-honored fascist method of stirring up racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic hatreds.

Will Romney follow suit? Or will he act like some lily-livered northeastern moderate and say only that his campaign is about "saving the soul of America"? 

I'd like to think that even Jonah "Liberal Fascism" Goldberg (currently vacationing in the president's home state of Hawaii, according to his Twitter feed; honestly, whatever happened to privacy?) finds all this talk unbecoming in anyone who seeks America's highest office. That's surely too much to hope for. 

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This looks like a version of the Argumentum ad Hitlerandum -- you know, the point in an argument when someone says something like "Well, Hitler was a vegetarian too!" That's the moment when you know the discussion has fallen off the edge.

- ironyroad

February 20, 2012 at 1:35pm

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Happy President's Day, Timothy! And yes, it is way too much to hope for. I have a libertarian columnist as a friend, and he refused to read Jonah Goldberg's book on the grounds that it is absurd. I recall when I began reading National Review in 1975, that august publication boasted the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Russell Kirk and James Burnham as writers. Now, Goldberg and Rich Lowry hold down the fort at NR. Conservatives are ever nattering on about the decline of standards; here we have a prime example of that.

- liberalref

February 20, 2012 at 1:39pm

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nah, Romney is too busy baptizing all of us "gentiles" and our heathen souls to get worked up about calling Democrats Nazis. In light of the Mormons continuing to baptize the Jews who died in the holocaust, I would think he would give that line about saving souls a rest. But I don't think he can help it. And I love Santorums re-invention of history, like the oil embargo on Japan, which was choking its war making effort, (and which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor itself) or lend lease and other material supply of Britain never happened. (or about the tens of thousands of Americans who enlisted in Canada, or the American flying tigers in China or...I could go on, but what do facts matter to Santorum?) He didn't even get the general dates right. Hell, the rape of Nanjing happened in 1937. What an asshat.

- blackton

February 20, 2012 at 1:56pm

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Man, Santorum paints a scary picture of fascists in the 30's and 40's. I guess the Pope was all over that stuff, urging Catholics to resist the fascist onslaught. Predominantly Catholic countries, like Ireland, Spain and Italy surely must have been giving the Axis holy hell. And I can just imagine some Nazi trying to stir up things among the good people in Bavaria - good luck with that, Heinrich! Take your putsch somewhere else!

- GeoffG

February 20, 2012 at 2:20pm

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How ironic, when the original meaning of "Fascism" -- "Rule by the corporations" -- seems to be what the Republican Party is pursuing. Reduce taxes on corporations? Check. Reduce regulation of corporations? Check. Allow unlimited contributions by corporations? Check. Reduce the power of the Federal Government compared to corporations? Check. Increase military spending on the Military-Industrial complex? Check. The Republicans even seem to be indulging in the worst kinds of reality-denying propaganda used by Fascist states to justify their actions. It's a shame that pandering to the Tea-Party and Fox News seems to have no limits in what scarry things you can say about the "other side".

- AllanL5

February 20, 2012 at 2:20pm

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The sciolist strikes again. Corporatism did not at all mean rule by the corporations. It was a putatively organic notion of how society and the economy should be ordered and organized. Studying before speaking would be a grand idea.

- liberalref

February 20, 2012 at 3:15pm

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Blackie, I'm waiting for Senator S. to bring up the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.

- tmmats

February 20, 2012 at 3:25pm

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"...the grass will grow in the streets of a hundred cities, a thousand towns; the weeds will overrun the fields of a thousand farms...." Herbert Hoover on FDR's possible election in 1932.

- MikeB.

February 20, 2012 at 3:28pm

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In re Jonah Goldberg vacationing in Hawaii -- while it's not true that the Eastern Manatee is native to the Hawaiian Islands, they are known to migrate there during the winter months. Hopefully without photos on Twitter.

- wildboy

February 20, 2012 at 3:38pm

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liberalref, I think you're both right, Mussolini (and others) seem to define Fascism in various ways; rule by corporate power is one element of fascism, isn't it? What it isn't: traditional democracy. Certainly, I think the Republicans have gone off the deep end here, but they seem to be off the deep end on so many levels it's hard to take it all in, harder to believe it's happening HERE. I guess that's always been my personal worst fear.

- Sophia

February 20, 2012 at 4:33pm

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A number of years ago, I recall conservatives accusing liberals of launching "McCarthyite" attacks on conservatives. It's probably in St. Orwell somewhere; accusing people of one's own worst sins and faults. Or it's the "mote/beam" trope in the Gospels. Boy (or girl), we have been up to this nonsense for a long time. When do we grow up?

- skahn

February 20, 2012 at 5:23pm

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The corporations didn't rule under Mussolini, Mussolini ruled. The Republicans are deep-enders, no question about that.

- liberalref

February 20, 2012 at 9:21pm

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These conservatives either don't know what Fascism is or they are being fantastically hypocritical. In any case, they are a cartoon waiting to be drawn. Santorum looks in the mirror and sees himself in a Franco uniform: "is that me he gasps." Yes, yes, yes, the mirror winks at him...

- arnon

February 20, 2012 at 11:57pm

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"But remember, the Greatest Generation, for a year and a half, sat on the sidelines . . . . and did almost nothing." I hate to inject a note of historicity into Santorum's hysteria, but during that period the United States did a great deal, from Lend Lease to reinstating the draft to building up our defense system. Some historians argue that this period was crucial to both building up our defense and public support for intervention. Second, as a couple posters underscored, it was largely FDR orchestrating intervention and Republican isolationists opposing. Dan

- dbuck1

February 21, 2012 at 7:31am

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Republicans are sort of correct in that this may be conservatisms last great stand. I imagine Obama winning again, with the House going back to Democratic control and Democrats retaining the Senate (all dependent, of course, on the economy). With Dodd-Frank, the PPACA, and the new EPA regulations (with CO2 possibly on the horizon) and Obama's ambitious Transportation plan, Conservatism will simply have too much to undo, and the best thing is that all these new laws and regs will benefit the public at large, but be acutely felt by those industries affected. Read New York magazines latest on Dodd-Frank for example. Big Agriculture (Cargill, Monsanto, ADM, ConAgra) are going to be in big trouble with insurance companies, for instance, if they keep supplying nutrient-deficient foods that contribute directly to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, fatty livers, etc. Since the insurance companies can no longer cherry-pick and simply dump people when they get sick, they have to prioritize prevention. Insurance execs will demand that they have representation at the table for Farm Bills. Cheap calories will become more expensive. This is what Obamacare is really going to do, make healthy food an economic act! This is scaring the heck out of rich conservatives. The coal industry with these new regs, and Obama's massive $80 billion shot in the arm of green energy stimulus funding is scary to them because the government under Obama is working against them. But wouldn't it be wonderful if there wasn't all that cross-state air pollution? Which also jacks up health care costs (COPD, asthma, bronchitis is all augmented down wind or near coal plants). And the asphalt lobby is coming under big attack because Obama wants to prioritize multi-modal systems (this latest House Transport Bill is truly conservatisms last great hold out for automobile-mania). These are freaking sea changes Obama is implementing. His RE-POWERING American Lands act is turning contaminated brownfields sites into renewable energy power points, creating constituencies for renewable energy in such Red States such as Wyoming, Arizona, Texas and in the heart of the Keystone State. If conservatives win this election, all this is gone and coal execs, oil execs, asphalt execs, insurance company execs, Wall Street sharks get back into firm control and get everything they want, and the ABILITY TO POLICE THEMSELVES!! Neither choice is directly fascism, but conservatives, i believe, truly think that Obama is destroying their model for winning elections. And he has passed laws that are hitting their bank-rollers in the gut. Obama is blitzkrieging Republicans, and we hardly even notice!! I really do have to learn to write less. Forgiveness, please!

- RedState

February 21, 2012 at 8:09am

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Libref, unlike the big rags like HuffPo, Politico, etc., we're a fairly self contained bunch, and the same 30ish people post on most articles here. Would it be possible for you to couch your criticism in a politer fashion? You seem very erudite, certainly more than I am - I find it hard to believe that this is how you speak with people you meet in real life when they annoy you. Why not accord some courtesy to your fellow travelers here?

- NR409654

February 21, 2012 at 8:54am

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Hey! Republicans! "Fascist" is our hyperbolic rabble-rousing claim about the opposition. Getcher grubby Nazi plutocrat hands off it! The word you use is "communist," or "socialist" if you don't think people take commies seriously nowadays. The problem in this country is nobody respects tradition any more.

- Dausuul

February 21, 2012 at 8:55am

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It's called "projection."

- WandreyCer

February 21, 2012 at 9:02am

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NR, I'd love to be "30ish" again! But apparently age brings wisdom. [moment's thought] Oh, er . . . you probably meant around 30 posters, right? [goes pink, shifts uncomfortably]

- ironyroad

February 21, 2012 at 9:32am

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I wish they'd make up their minds. Is Barack Obama a fascist or a Communist? Or as the bumper stickers always say "Communistic"? I saw a van yesterday with the hammer and sickle bumper sticker. Something about "change" and "Communistic". Driven of course by an old codger with Ma Kettle in passenger's seat. Collecting that socialistic SS and Medicare. All that was missing was a Medicare funded Rascal hanging off the back.

- dubyadoubte

February 21, 2012 at 9:38am

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They call the World War II generation the Greatest. They're pikers compared to Baby Boomers, who will not die, will not give up, will take their fair share and more, descendants be damned (especially since the descendants seem more and more like brown skinned bastards). They say that being able to live with delayed gratification is one of the signs of maturity and adulthood. If so, Republicans have proved themselves to be the worst kind of children, sacrificing long term potential gain for immediate satisfaction.

- NR409654

February 21, 2012 at 10:03am

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