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 | Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
Author: Jonah Goldberg
Publisher: Doubleday
Binding: Hardcover
Released: 2008-01-08
Sales Rank: 407
ISBN: 0385511841
Edition: 1
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 2008-07-21 - Liberal Fascism
I had some eye opening experience, when my neighbor gave me to read Goebbels's Diary translated into Czech by Vaclav Moravec. It was 1974 in then communist Czechoslovakia and books like that were not around, this one was found in the roof structure of the church, where my neighbor was laying new roof tile. Official line of communist propaganda never missed an opportunity to place themselves into exact opposite to Nazism/Fascism. When I read the Diary (which described Hitler's rise to power), I was shocked to see the similarity of the Diary language to the major communist media in communist Czechoslovakia. How that can be, if they are supposed to be on opposite side of the political spectrum? Since then I left Czechoslovakia and more and more I was coming to the conclusion, that not only Communists, but current liberals (Democrats and Greens) and socialists in Europe are together with Fascists and National Socialists on the left side of the politics. My conclusion was coming from stepping back from the history of mankind. I was looking on historical evolution of human freedom (individualism), which is not progressing throughout the ages always toward personal freedom, but overall trend does; from barbaric times of killing opponents toward slavery (progress), to feudal serfdom (progress), to Capitalism with more freedom for people selling their work (progress). Socialism is a historical movement back toward serfdom and slavery, not a progress, as leftists like to claim. They are actually reactionary trend. Right is not represented by KKK, Skinheads etc. Those are extreme leftists, just different kind, which embarrasses modern dominant left. They deel with the problem their traditional way - they call them extreme right. It always worked so what. This book provide a lot of information showing the relationship between Fascism and Socialism. Only difference between them is the fact, that Fascism was forced to rename itself due to its adversity toward international control. One can say, that today's Globalism has the same ambitions as Socialist International had. There is a lot of confusion and smoke blowing, but that seams to be a case. Some proponents of Globalism do it for a selfish reason not realizing, that they are heading in the direction of the leftist plan (did I tell the well guarded secret?). Libertarians are confused about it as well because they see globalism as an expression of economic freedom, well, useful idiots maybe? Some leftists oppose Globalism (they are more equivalent of Fascists), some push it like Clinton or liberal Republicans do (those are more like followers of Socialist International). I am sorry that I had to wait for this book for so long. It (in my opinion) does not go all the way but it is an important step in prohibited direction. And it is right direction.
2008-07-19 - The truth hurts...
This book is a must read, or listen, for anyone who wants to know the truth behind liberals. I'd put this book along with The Marketing of Evil, by David Kupelian, and the Emancipation Revalation Revolution dvd, as must haves for Americans who really want to know what the hell happened to our country.
 2008-07-17 - The opposite of the truth
The fact is that Hitler and Mussolini were on the far right. Rather than try to distance their far right from today's far right, Goldberg tries to make them mainstream left. In other words, rather than merely downplaying the truth, he is telling us the opposite of the truth.
I'm a liberal, but am not going to claim that Stalin and Mao were on the right.
2008-07-14 - This book will change your opinion about fascism, FDR, and liberals.
Liberals are fascists.
They are *not* Nazis, as Goldberg repeats thought out the book. They are fascists. All Nazis are fascist. Not all fascists are Nazi. Being a fascist is not about hating Jews but its about government control on daily life.
It's a bold statement, but by the end of the book it makes sense. Goldberg first describes Mussolini and Hitler's regimes, slicing the fascism from Nazism and Communism. Then he compares it to turn-of-the-20th-century Progressivism and FDR's New Deal. Then he looks at the protests of the 1960's and LBJ under the fascist lenses, and then Hillary Clinton and the like. Throughout the book he goes back to Italian fascism, German Nazism, and Progressivism and unpeels more and more about their politics and philosophies like an onion. He uses this to discuss economics, race politics, and abortion.
His discussion on FDR and the New Deal was the biggest shock to me. I didn't know that the NRA (National Recovery Administration) employed Nazi tactics like big demonstrations and sanctioning non-NRA aligned businesses. I also didn't know that FDR received a personal letter from Hitler commending him on his New Deal. Before I read the book I thought FDR was the best president ever, followed by Ronald Reagan. Now I'm not so sure he was that great or the closest we have had in the USA to a fascist dictator.
However, by the end of the book you start to wonder if fascism is really that bad after all. Political correctness has made us all accept a "happy fascism," hence the smiley face with the Hitler mustache on the cover of the book. Goldberg discusses this towards the end of the book in a chapter "We're all Fascists now."
The section on abortion and race politics was hard to read, not because they were poorly written but because they are sensitive subjects for me. I also waited to the end to read the Nazi platform in the appendix, which was a let down. It's underdeveloped with it's 25 planks compared to modern standards and doesn't describe all the public policies that the Nazi's eventually implemented.
Liberals are going to revolt at the thought of them being the fascists instead of conservatives being the fascists. But then, do you think conservatives liked that label for the last 30 years? It may not be college textbook quality but it is well researched and referenced. I give it five stars.
 2008-07-10 - Interesting read that should at least bring up discussion
I think people should read this book. Why? It touches on various topics that are not well understood by most people and many that are considered taboo. For example: How many people out there know about eugenics and the fact that we had several states that had eugenic laws? Moreover, how many people know that several revered people in our History we not only supporters, but also funded eugenic research?
I read various reviews, especially the negative ones, and many people charge the book as having erroneous facts and cherry picking. I have not seen one specific fact listed in the book properly challenged by any of these reviewers with actual facts that can be verified.
Even if the author cherry picked passages of speeches, it does not make them untrue. It is part of the public record and anybody should be able to access them. If your interpretation of such passages or given definitions differs from that of the author's, that\s fine. That is what books are for. This is the nature of humans: to question, to search.
May this book and other books serve the purpose of instigate open, honest conversations about things that are relevant.. and not inspire a meaningless finger point bickering between left and right. Maybe if we stop bickering and start reading and researching a bit more about our past, we will stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Or, at least, recognize the warning signs of trouble and have a real discussion.
I don't give 5 stars to the book only because the prose is not that fluent, which can make for difficult reading and loose the reader on what is being discussed. But again, I praise the author for being able to publish a book that brings out various topics that should be discussed into the mainstream.
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