Buy the book, for the economy's sake!

Submitted by matt (United States), Jan 29, 2008 at 19:40

By all means buy the book... The two particulars made general are of course "Fascism" and "Liberalism". Fascism is a particular, it refers to the Italian Fascist Party, a historical phenomenon. Liberalism, as well refers to an 18th Century political (republicanism) and economic (free market economies) philosophy; particularly the thought of Rousseau, Locke, Jefferson and Mill among others.

The author of this book continues the sort of nonsense polemic so prevalent in the MSM. The terms "liberalism" and "fascism" have lost their particular meaning, to become meaningless to describe an opponent in the pejorative. To get an understanding of Liberalism or Fascism it might be better to consult Mussolini himself, Forham has some of his notes available, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html and for Liberalism, Adam's Smith's "On The Wealth of Nations" is considered by many the principle text of Classical Liberalism.

Of course you can expand the meaning of the terms "Liberalism" and "Fascism" beyond their particular meaning, but then again you can do that with any specific term. My principle criticism is that this book actually argues for the expansion of these terms to the extent that they refer to nothing other than a simple "straw man" to tear down. I think it is silly when done from the left or the right (i.e., the Left calls Conservatives "Nazis" or the Right calls Progressives "Communists"), both are unhelpful to any sort of civil conversation in a republic. As for the accusations tossed towards my post (being as guilty as my criticism, the use of "buzz words", etc.) I'll consider them erroneous; unless you think they merit attention?

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