UPDATE #2: The political left is already deciding which barrier to their agenda will be taken down next. The filibuster has to go, of course. ACORN is working on vote fraud.
UPDATE: Michael Ledeen sees it. His second column is here.
What is happening now–and Newsweek is honest enough to say so down in the body of the article–is an expansion of the state’s role, an increase in public/private joint ventures and partnerships, and much more state regulation of business. Yes, it’s very “European,” and some of the Europeans even call it “social democracy,” but it isn’t.
It’s fascism. Nobody calls it by its proper name, for two basic reasons: first, because “fascism” has long since lost its actual, historical, content; it’s been a pure epithet for many decades. Lots of the people writing about current events like what Obama et. al. are doing, and wouldn’t want to stigmatize it with that “f” epithet.
Second, not one person in a thousand knows what fascist political economy was. Yet during the great economic crisis of the 1930s, fascism was widely regarded as a possible solution, indeed as the only acceptable solution to a spasm that had shaken the entire First World, and beyond. It was hailed as a “third way” between two failed systems (communism and capitalism), retaining the best of each. Private property was preserved, as the role of the state was expanded. This was necessary because the Great Depression was defined as a crisis “of the system,” not just a glitch “in the system.” And so Mussolini created the “Corporate State,” in which, in theory at least, the big national enterprises were entrusted to state ownership (or substantial state ownership) and of course state management.
Maxine Waters was on This Week today. That is a scary prospect and it was as bad as it sounds. A grinning fool is in charge of our future.
I have worried about Obama and the fascist tendencies of the left. This “stimulus bill” is an example. It is a spending orgy of Democrat priorities, mostly to reward and strengthen constituencies. Thus, we see ACORN get billions even while they are prosecuted for election fraud. They are a core constituency of Obama’s and were even behind a lot of the real estate abuses that brought on the crisis. No matter. They will be rewarded.
Obama is not a communist. Fascism is a form of socialism that includes private property. It is often supported by private interests that think they have an inside track with the government. One example is big business, which loves this bill. The “Progressives” of the early 20th century were interested in power and control, not necessarily public ownership of the means of production. They also used censorship, just as threats of the “Fairness Doctrine” circulate in Washington now.
Why would Obama want to roll back welfare reform? That was Clintons great accomplishment but it was really, like most of his accomplishments, an act of the Republican Congress. Democrats have no interest in reducing the welfare rolls. Those are voters ! Why risk the possibility that they might stray as they gain self confidence in the work force?
The economic stimulus bill had very little economic stimulus in it, if you mean a solution to the crisis. That comes next. Banks will be bailed out on condition they continue to fund Democratic party imperatives like loans to risky borrowers. After all, there are few Democrats who understand economics.
I suspect we have begun our own “lost decade.” The Japanese used exactly the same sort of spending priorities in the early 1990s and built billions of dollars of infrastructure projects, many useless and redundant. We are about to do the same with the same result. Stagflation, here we come!
The political risk is an even worse consequence as we have a fascist in the White House.