Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Are MAGA Republicans Fascists?

The Left's favorite 'F' word is 'fascist.' But of course leftists won't define it, the better to use it as a verbal cudgel.  We know, however, that responsible discussion of a topic begins with a definition of terms.

What is a fascist? More to the point, what is fascism? The term expresses what philosophers call a 'thick' concept. Such concepts combine evaluative and descriptive content.  Examples include cruel and cowardly. If I describe an action as cowardly, I am both describing it and expressing a negative moral evaluation of it. Right and wrong, by contrast, are 'thin' concepts inasmuch as they contain no descriptive content.  If I commend you for doing the right thing, my commendation includes no descriptive content.

Read the rest at Substack.

UPDATE (10/21): The 'Fascist' Meme Returns. (WSJ) 

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Bill Vallicella

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5 responses to “Are MAGA Republicans Fascists?”

  1. Whitewall Avatar
    Whitewall

    A fascist today also can mean any Republican who opposes anything a Democrat wants no matter what it is.

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  2. Michael Brazier Avatar
    Michael Brazier

    The thing about the Left is that, in their minds, subduing the whole of society, both public and private, to the achievement of some singular end, and organizing society along military lines, is just what states do, and what they’re for. Where they part from Hitler and Mussolini is in the end they want the state to pursue – they seek the Revolution that will redeem humanity of original sin and create Paradise on Earth. The idea that someone could desire a state that does not subsume all society into itself is incomprehensible to them.
    So, when they look at a frank nationalist, they perceive a fascist; when they look at an open Christian, they perceive a theocrat. For they think a nationalist would use the state to promote his nation, and the Christian would use it to promote his faith.

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  3. BV Avatar
    BV

    Michael,
    I think your analysis is basically correct. Leftists are totalitarians who want total control. In that regard, they are no different from Communists, Fascists, and National Socialists. The idea and the value of limited government is incomprehensible to them.
    And so it incomprehensible to them how there could be an enlightened nationalism that is not fascist, and a promotion of religious liberty that is not theocratic.
    What makes Kamala Harris such a POS is that she will not honestly state what she is so obviously for. She is a stealth ideologue who is a lot smarter than she presents herself as being. Although she is dumber than Pelosi she is like her in that regard.

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  4. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    Here is how Mussolini put it:
    Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato (“Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State”).
    That’s certainly more “D” than “R,” these days.
    No freedom in that definition.

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  5. BV Avatar
    BV

    Right you are, Joe. And thanks for the Italian.
    The Dems of the present day could be called the fascists of the Left. A vote for Kemala the Mendacious & Hillarious (note my spelling) is a vote for tyranny, not liberty.
    To her I say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ld2oR_G9Zw

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