Libertine Fascism, Part I

I just finished listening to Mussolini's The Doctrine of Fascism from Librivox. It's pretty wretched stuff, bombastic and artless. It also contrasts somewhat with the positions taken by American progressives and, presumably, Argentinian Peronists.

A quick word about the Peronists - there's precious little English language Peronist texts out there to consume. Peron was a huge fan of Mussolini, but it's not clear to me how he reconciled his love of class warfare with Mussolini's absolute rejection of it.

Back to Il Duce. In short, Fascism is the suppression of the individual for the interest of the State. Specifically, the interest of the State is imperialism, the exertion of international influence in military, economic and cultural spheres.

Mussolini explicitly rejects both the class warfare of socialism and the individual freedom of liberalism. Benito's "liberalism" and "liberals" are not to be confused with modern American progressives, but instead most closely parallel American libertarians. Mussolini has no problem at all with explicit or implicit social classes so long as everything serves the goals of the State. After trashing the idea of personal freedom, he offers a few nods to it allowing that individuals can manage their own lives as long as they, too, serve the needs of the State, yea, even unto death.

The State's goals are straight-up imperialism.

For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and its opposite a sign of decadence... But empire demands discipline, the coordination of all forces and a deeply felt sense of duty and sacrifice: this fact explains many aspects of the practical working of the regime, the character of many forces in the State, and the necessarily severe measures which must be taken against those who would oppose this...

What struck me most about The Doctrine of Fascism was how purpose-driven it is. Say what you like about the Mussolini and his oppressive State, the guy had very serious goals. Listening to it, I just couldn't imagine Barack Obama giving similar speeches. I would argue that the fascism of American progressives serves no purpose other than getting loaded and getting laid. Where Il Duce demanded sacrifice and discipline from everyone so Italy could recover the Roman Empire, Obama, Pelosi and MSNBC demand that productive people be shackled with taxes and laws so guys who wear dresses, make up and high heels can smoke weed and marry each other.

More later.

Uhh, yeah. I'm all in. You bet.