It was Winston Churchill that gave us the phrase “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. Well folks, we have failed to learn our lessons from post-World War I Europe. Based on trends in modern politics, it appears I will have to explain. In the ashes of war-torn Europe–and continuing through the global Great Depression–we saw the joint rise of Socialism and Facism.
While the two social and political ideologies are placed on opposite ends of a straight-line “spectrum”, it would be more apropos to see political thought in a circular form–thereby putting the two right next to each other–for they are truly not that far apart. Both believe in a strong, centralized government that controls many of the aspects of citizens’ lives. Where they differ is who should be feared when it comes to disturbing the social order. In Socialism, that blame lies with the rich and the elite. In Fascism, that blame is assigned to those that do not share a common racial, societal or religious history. It is no coincidence that the Fascism that overtook Italy, Germany, Spain and the Baltics in the build up to World War II came in direct response to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the growing strength of the Soviet Socialist Republic. In fact, Hitler’s Nazis gained national prominence with the Brownshirts’ attacks on Communists in the streets of Germany.
We all know that it was these competing political ideologies–and their desires to expand and impose those on others–that led to the greatest human tragedies in history. And that it was only the might of the free-market, democratic society of the United States that beat back the dual threats–both in the campaigns of World War II itself–and then in the extended Cold War that saw the Iron Curtain of Socialism descend across half of Europe and spread to much of Asia as well.
An entire generation bore witness to horrors of the twin terrors of Fascism and Socialism and many vowed to never let that happen again. But eventually, the members of that generation aged and passed on. Memories began to fade and the commitment to free-markets and limited government control did too. New generations of both Europeans and Americans–with no first-hand experience of the Nazi or Soviet models started to rise to power–bringing with them ideas first espoused by Karl Marx that seemed hip and new again. Soon “socialist democracies” began to sprout in Europe–with all the “benefits” of Socialism–without the Soviet-style gulag system and death squads.
And as long as Germans were taking care of Germans and the French were taking care of the French, it appeared that Socialism was going to work. But then came the new wave of immigrants–first from Africa and then from the Middle East–and some of those who had heartily endorsed the high taxes and limited freedoms began to question why those spoils should be shard with those who are not “German” or “French”–and the Fascists began to find their footing for their inevitable return.
We here in the US had enjoyed a long immunity from such political forces. Even until 20-years ago Socialists were just union leaders, hippies that smoked pot and ran co-ops and crazy old men that sounded exactly like Bernie Sanders standing on street corners yelling about the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Fascists were a dozen losers that dressed up in Nazi costumes and waved swastika flags in the park on Hitler’s birthday every year. But bolstered by efforts in our education system, Socialism has become the hip new thing in US politics as well–with more young people today preferring that system over free-markets. Add in the battles over socialized medicine and control of thoughts and words so as not to “offend” anyone, plus the push to eliminate long-held constitutional rights–and you have sown the seeds for the inevitable rise of Fascism, even here in the US.
And that is the path we are now facing. The question is, where are the people that are willing to fight for freedom going to come from this time?
