The day a vice president accused 'several million' Americans of being fascists

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.editorialboard.com/the-day-a-vice-president-accused-several-million-americans-of-being-fascists/

It’s fair to say the Editorial Board uses “fascism” too broadly. This week, one of our readers wrote in to admonish an interviewee for branding things she doesn’t like with the word.

It’s also fair to say we use “fascism” too narrowly. By doing so, we leave out a lot of our history, which, you know, is kinda sorta fascist. If you’re someone who believes the US is the land of the free, a beacon of hope around the world, a shining city on the hill, using “fascist” to describe America’s past will probably cause discomfort.

“The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power.”
Henry Wallace wasn’t squeamish about calling a spade a spade. He was one of Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president (the 1940 election). He also had been the leader of what used to be called the Progressive Party. In 1944, the Times asked him to define what fascism means. The result was a document that could have been written yesterday.

Wallace wrote:

“If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful.”

That sounds like a lot of people we know:

* The J6 insurgents
* Donald Trump’s family
* Donald Trump’s cronies
* The Republicans
* and the very obscenely rich people who continue to fund them

Wallace, moreover, wasn’t squeamish about saying something else that needed saying. There were “several million fascists in the United States” happy to collude with the enemy if that’s what it took to rule.

*snip*

[Cha]

1. Rt TY.. at first I was

thinking VP Harris!

[empedocles]

2. Interesting find

[SharonClark]

3. Henry Wallace was a brilliant man

in a family of notable people. 3 or 4 secretaries of agriculture, founder of Wallace’s Farmer magazine, a couple of college professors, founder of Pioneer Hybrid seed corn company, hung out with George Washington Carver as a child, plant geneticist, and advocate of world peace.

A block from my home is a peace monument to Wallace and George Washington Carter. We’re proud of both these men.