Reply #29: I think there's a tendency to overuse the word "fascist" [View All]

[Donald Ian Rankin]

Fascists and modern American Republicans have very little in common. To indulge in math-speak for a moment, if you take orthogonal projections from both positions onto the left-right axis of politics they end up in roughly the same place, but the orthogonal compliments are very different.

The most important difference is that Fascists take their adoration of the state and state power almost to the point of making a religion out of it, Republicans take their hatred of the state and state power almost to the point of making a religion out of it.

Fascists are often pro-eugenics, Republicans are opposed to abortion.

Fascists regard the will of the people as an irrelevance; Republicans believe it is paramount, they just can't accept that they don't represent it.

Fascists are often either anti religion or want to subordinate the church to the state, Republicans want to subordinate the state to the church.

Fascists believe in state censorship. I'm probably going to get into trouble for saying this here, but most Republicans are in favour of favour of freedom of speach.

Fascists want to raise taxes, Republicans want to abolish them.

I think a lot of people reason as follows:
Fascists are bad.
Republicans are bad.
Therefore Republicans are Fascists.

I think this is a mistake, both factually and rhetorically. There are similarities (nationalism, militarism, opposition to homosexuality, draconic punishment of crime), but they come from very different philosophies.