Thursday, November 23, 2006
"Fascists" Who Believe In Individual Self-Government
It's may be accurate to say that the left despises libertarians more than conservatives.
With conservatives, the left can at least try to "argue" that their opponents are "Nazis" and "Fascists." Regardless of how contrary to fact such accusations are, there are some strains of conservatism that are very religious, "flag-waving," or hyper-traditional, so caricatures can be falsely extrapolated to extremes in such cases.
It's considerably more difficult to claim one's opponents are "Nazis" or "Fascists" when the opponent's essential premise is that government should be limited considerably and that individual freedom is the hallmark of a decent and successful society.
Leftists can pretend that conservatives are Fascists but with libertarians they can't even muster a lie effectively. Add to this the fact that leftists actually do favor considerable government "intervention" (control and coercion), and they lose their case immediately.
A socialist of any stripe is more kindred in spirit to fascism and Nazism than anyone even moderately libertarian in outlook. Add to this the fact that many conservatives (those who aren't religious, flag-waving, or hyper-traditional) are rather libertarian, and the leftist finds him or herself looking in that ugly mirror again where their own desire to feed authority to an all-powerful state is seen in everyone who opposes their own excessive statist sympathies.
