I am her

[JTB]

When you look up “economic fascism”, you don’t find anything about “a confluence of socialism and large-scale capitalism.” You do find several libertarian writers who refer to fascism as “socialism with a veneer of capitalism.” A confluence and a veneer are different; the first implies a co-mingling, the second is a facade. Functionally, those are important differences.

“Economic Fascism” is the title of a 1994 essay published by the Foundation for Economic Education, one of the oldest libertarian think tanks in the United States, known for its magazine The Freeman. That article does not define “economic fascism” per se but does describe aspects of economic policy under Mussolini and asserts there are direct parallels with US government policy as far back as the New Deal and continuing to the present.

A more contemporary use of “economic fascism” comes from prominent libertarian Jacob Hornberger, who describes Trump’s actions with Carrier and threat to punish corporations who move abroad by imposing tariffs on their imports as an indication of the “coming economic fascism.” One might quibble by observing that Trump proposes import tariffs on a host of goods manufactured by non-US companies, but the basic point Hornberger strives to make is obvious.

So we probably can assume cD simply means “fascism” when he says “economic fascism” and intends to emphasize the tendency for fascist regimens to applied degrees of influence or even control on manufacturing while retaining a mostly free market economy.

FEE has a close association with another libertarian think tank, The Ludwig Von Mises Institute where Lew Rockwell has served as president and wonk. It is Rockwell who refers to fascism as “socialism with a veneer of capitalism” which may be the basis for cD’s comment. Rockwell is an advocate of “anarcho-capitalism.” And here we have, I believe, the foundation for the assorted complaints and rants cD has leveled in this and other threads.

Anarcho-capitalism as characterized by Rockwell is anti-war, anti-state, and pro-market. Any of this beginning to sound familiar? The anti-state complaint extends all the way to local government and assert that any regulation impedes the free market. In fact, these folks don’t believe we actually have a free market today. Taxes are seen as one of the most onerous expression of government aggression, not oppression, but aggression. Government aggression like that as well as war is a common theme which anarcho-capitalist and anarcho-libertarian sorts of libertarian react against strongly.

So perhaps rather than emphasizing what he thinks is wrong with local and national government, cD can do us all a favor by clarifying what he is for exactly and not so much what he is against. Rather than saying what government should not do, what government should do. How would things work? How would schools be funded? How would roads get built and maintained? How would safe drinking water be reliably supplied to several million people? How would monopolies be prevented? How would safe building practices be assured? How would it all work?

Or do you even care? Perhaps it’s easier to complain and criticize rather than offer ideas people might get behind. I concede that embracing such fringe ideas might be ultimately frustrating and lead to a defeatist attitude and with it the sort of anger and resentment we see here so often.

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[JanS]

j242….thank you for the video :D

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[J242]

Dave, I’m not sure why you feel the need to troll back into previous posts but I think that says a lot about you. I respond to what you say post by post. If you had any sense of decency you would do the same but who am I kidding?

You’ve proven yourself to be a mouth-breathing wingnut time and time again.
You question valid sources while peddling alt-right conspiracy nonsense, you make uneducated blanket statements (about the very people who are paying for your social security!!!), you continue to push false narratives and in general just seem like one hell of an example of the kind of person I want my children to avoid.

Good on ya for being a shining example of what reich wing propaganda does to a normally healthy mind! Maybe we should put you on posters for a “This is your brain on stupidity” campaign? I’d be happy for my tax dollars to fund similar because you and your uneducated, inflammatory ilk SHOULD be shamed back into your regressive little caves.

Shame on you a thousand times over!!!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by J242.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by J242.

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[J242]

@JanS, Happy to provide it. :) Bill Hicks was an amazing comedian, author and poet. Sharing his words and particularly his live shows is my pleasure. :)

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[J242]

Dave:”The hypocrisy here is over the top. You and other have a complete narrative on how I and other conservatives think, yet you play victim to the same such false conjecture.”

You obviously do not understand what the word “hypocrisy” actually means. See your various posts as an example. If I had said that you and your fellow right wingers systematically tore down our posts and confronted us on them (How dare they!) I would be a hypocrite. That is not in any way the case.

Please, I beg you to show where I have been a hypocrite. That is one of the worst insults I could ever have lobbed at me and I’m calling you on it. Where did I support something then go against it? Where have I been a hypocrite?

For you? That’s easy. You claim all “drug users” are “stupid” yet you yourself are one. Regardless of how you intended your posts to be received, that’s what you’ve said and I can guarantee you’ve taken some form of substance that has altered your bio-chemistry. See, THAT’S hypocrisy, not what your ignorant opinion falls on. Get over yourself already and get a grip on reality.

Shame on you a thousand times over.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by J242.

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[JoB]

JTB.. i am beginning to see the libertarian influence in this last election crossing both aisles.. and it disturbs me greatly

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[J242]

Sorry, but not sorry to kick you while you’re down Dave but again I say shame on you. Maybe you finally realized that people are able to do this miraculous thing called “checking the source material” which you seem to be utterly incapable of. No skin off my knee on that. I just find it highly amusing that when you get some reality slapped across your face you shut down. If only it were so easy with the political folk you support. Maybe we could continue our progress instead of falling back into the weeds like you and your ilk seem to want us to do.

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