The Progressive Lie About Fascism

The modern “progressive” wing of Liberalism has propagated the lie of conservatives being “Fascists” for so long most Americans now don’t even think twice about it. In the past year, screaming “Fascist” has become ubiquitous among progressives  Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who has become the virtual spokesperson of Bernie Sanders “Democratic Socialism” movement, proclaimed a few days before Christmas “Its Fascism that we’re evolving into” in reference to America.

She previously stated that a vote for the Democratic Party “is a vote against slavery”. Then on Christmas Day, Progressive Salon magazine went so far as to publish the article “Hallmark Christmas Movies are Fascist Propaganda”.  According to Salon, through radical Leftist writer Amanda Marcotte, Hallmark Christmas movies demonstrate the “platonic ideal of fascist propaganda”.  She even compared Hallmark to movies produced by Nazi propaganda minister and genocidal Nazi conspirator, Joseph Goebbels. The progressives calling conservatives “Fascists” is beyond ironic, as this is the polar opposite of the truth of who is Fascist. Let me explain.

First, it’s critical to understand a bit of history about the rise of Fascism in the 1920’s and 1930’s (and history

being ignored by much of academia). The iconic founder/leader of the early Fascists was Benito Mussolini of Italy. As a young man Mussolini was an avowed atheist and hoped to see Italy follow the Soviet Union into a socialist system. He later turned his ideals toward a nationalist socialism, but never gave up the ideals of socialism.

Mussolini, with the help of his socialist and nationalist “black shirts”, came to power in Italy after WWI and immediately sought to centralize government power. He sought and eventually demanded a one-party system and curtailment of regional independence and individual rights. He sought and achieved “top down” government planning of transportation and industrial, and nationalized major industry.

With this one-party centralized control, Mussolini was able to “make the trains run on time” and gained some notoriety for his success. Of note, spurred by FDR the US Democratic Party sent observers to Italy to discover his plans, and some of these ideas helped in planning what became New Deal legislation. Though Mussolini helped restore the Italian Monarch and gave lip service to the Roman Catholic Church, he was not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination.  He was a revolutionary “progressive” of his time.

 Adolf Hitler had a background similar to Mussolini. He came to lead the National German Socialist Workers Party after WWI, of which we get the abbreviated “Nazi”. Hitler and his genocidal henchmen were national “socialists” (Nazis), who sought to end the conservative institutions in Germany and centralize all power to the state. Following the example of Mussolini, Hitler used thug “Brown Shirts” as political terrorists in an attempt to seek a one-party system and centralized government control. When rising to power within the German Reichstag, Hitler

snubbed the efforts of the conservative party to join the Nazis as a bulwark against Communism. Hitler viewed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as his primary enemy, though this was primarily based on his racial theories of the sub-human nature of the Slavic peoples. Hitler hated the conservative military officers in Germany, the prior nobility, and he hated and oppressed the Christian Church.  Hitler’s deputy Heinrich Himmler demanded those in the supposed “elite” SS give up Christian practices, and Christian leaders were put in concentration camps. Hitler’s vision was a neo-Pagan socialist Germany. The Nazi’s, like Mussolini, were Fascists in their aim of centralized government control under a one-party system with the curtailment of regional and personal independence. Hitler sought to separate the youth of Germany from the old ideals through Nazi “education” into Nazi ideology.

Conservatives are the antithesis of the original Fascists and Fascist ideology. Conservatives believe in checks on government power, whether in terms of checks among branches and state versus federal, or checks between competing parties. Conservatives want to maintain and support non-government institutions like the Church and family and social organizations and prevent overweening government in local affairs. Conservative inherently distrust of power in the hands of any individual, group of individuals, or party, whether Nazi or Socialist. They seek to further individual freedoms the Fascists hated and sought to end, like free speech, the individual right to bear arms, and the individual rights of families in education. Conservatives believe in the importance of the Church.

Socialism, including the modern versions like Bernie Sanders’ Democratic Socialism, is much closer to Fascism. Socialists, of which the modern Progressives belong, seek centralization of power to the Federal government as a way to enforce their ideology through that power. They trust government and not families and individuals. They do not support allowing the free speech of opposing parties and thus seek a one-party state apparatus with “approved” speech and ideas of governance. They seek to curtail regional independence and certainly family and individual independence through excess regulation and lawmaking. Importantly, they seek to curtail the influence of family and church for the goal of using education to create a new generation beholden to their views.

The Hallmark Channel is seen as a last bastion of “clean” and wholesome entertainment. It is conservative in the themes of the importance of family, religion and independence. There are literally hundreds of Channels pushing progressive ideology and just one Hallmark Channel for those who still want wholesome entertainment.  Objectively, the Hallmark Channel should be considered harmless and something progressives would just ignore pass over in their vast number of choices. Progressive channels demeaning Christianity, traditional family and independence. Similar to what happened with the Fascists in Italy and Germany progressives are absolutely intolerant of anything contradicting their ideology. It is beyond irony that the militant progressives label Hallmark Christmas shows “Fascist”. This is also labeling the traditional and conservative Americans who defeated the Fascists in WWII as being “Fascists” themselves.

 It is time for Americans to demand the progressive Left stop the ridiculous and fraudulent labeling of conservatives as “Fascists”. If anyone is closest to real Fascism it is the progressive Left. Regardless, you won’t hear progressives shouting “Fascists” as they defeated fascism and want to leave it in the past. Also, leave the Hallmark Channel alone: If you don’t like Christmas, Christianity, or traditional family, you have the wonderful American freedom to turn the channel to what you believe. Don’t end that right for conservatives. Don’t be Fascist!

Bill Connor, is an Orangeburg, S.C. attorney, Army Infantry Colonel and author of the book “Articles from War.”