Comment on Daniel Pipes article "Fascism's Legacy: Liberalism"

Submitted by J.S. (United States), Jan 10, 2008 at 09:00

In Mr. Pipes interesting article linking modern day fascism to the liberals and not the conservatives, he includes the following statement: ..."conservatism calls for limited government, individualism, democratic debate, and capitalism. Its appeal is liberty and leaving citizens alone." I find it odd to characterize modern day conservatives as espousing liberty and leaving citizens alone.

While this slogan has its mass appeal and often used by conservatives (most recently by Mike Huckabee in January 5th debate), it does not seem to match the platform of modern day conservatism. This group, primarily embodied by the Republican Party, hardly "leaves citizens alone". Their core beliefs are for government to invade our bedrooms (anti-gay marriage), government to dictate what a woman can do with her own body (anti-choice), and government to legislate religion (pro-prayer in school).

It would seem one of few areas that modern day conservatives actually support leaving citizens alone is in their fervor to let Americans buy as many guns as they want, and to let those Americans who have made it to tell those Americans who have not made it "you're on your own"!

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".