Redstate
Big Government once again turns on its Little Partners
By John Hayward
October 29th, 2013

I’m going to use a loaded word in this post, so I want to get it out of the way right up front. That word is fascism.

We all know it’s bad – just about the worst thing a government can become, although I can think of a few million victims of communism who might argue the point, if we could use a Ouija board to contact them. But it’s very difficult to define fascism with precision. It’s not the same thing as Nazism, although they are obviously related.

The fascist movements of the Twentieth Century started with a lot of big promises, and ended with bloody wars and genocide. The big promises mostly concerned the superior wisdom of the State and its planners, who were better at managing industrial production than private citizens. They weren’t looking to make industry the outright property of the State, as communists did, but the core idea – buried beneath all the layers of militarism, violence, and hatred – was to make a small group of genius government planners the senior partners in every business venture. This way, the power of industry would be harnessed for the social good of all.

Of course, it would be necessary to restrict the freedoms of the people, to ensure that everyone complied with the central authority’s elaborate plans. The most important people were absorbed into the great ruling Party, blurring the lines between government and industry… but those lines still existed, as any of the Little Partners quickly discovered, if they didn’t fall in line with official policy. As for the common people, well, they obviously didn’t know what was best for them. How ridiculous, to suppose that working men could match the genius of the State’s top scientists and economists! The fascists wanted to keep the engines of industry humming below decks, but there would be no doubt who stood at the helm. And it wasn’t just the arbitrary rule of a single charismatic dictator, not at first. The “best and brightest” were always around him. The dictator was Chairman of the Board in a great corporation of brilliant minds.

The promise of successful national management was a key part of fascism’s appeal, mixed with surging national pride, which enabled fascist control by allowing the State to portray itself as the avatar of popular will. The government became synonymous with the nation – nothing makes a fascist angrier than efforts to distinguish between the two. Those who met the demands of the State and its dictator were making sacrifices for the good of the nation. Who could say no to such demands? (Traitors, that’s who!)

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