From: f_gautjw@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.activism,alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: NLNS: CHRISTIAN IDENTITY (UPDATED V
Date: 11 Oct 92 13:01:54 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1296500400@igc.apc.org>, NLG Civil Liberties Committee <cberlet@igc.apc.org> writes:
> 
Thank you for posting your definition(s) of fascism.  While helping me
to better understand your broadbrush use of the term fascism, the
definition(s) also raise some new questions.
> 
> State-enforced austerity is not a central characteristic of
> fascism.
> 
	I find this to be an unusual statement.  Prosperity has never exactly
been the hallmark of fascist regimes and economics is "central" to any
form of government.  Certainly a fascist regime uses pressure to
enforce its state policies, so why wouldn't state-enforced austerity
be a central characteristic of fascism?


> Fascism
> 
> Chip's definition:
> 
> Extreme racial or cultural nationalism combined with economic
> corporatism and authoritarian autocracy; masked during its rise to
> state power by pseudo-radical populist appeals to overthrow a
> conspiratorial elitist regime; spurred by a strong charismatic
> leader whose reactionary ideas are said to organically express the
> will of the masses who are urged to engage in a heroic collective
> effort to attain a metaphysical goal against the machinations of a
> scapegoated demonized adversary.
> 
- - -
	This definition raises certain questions.  Do you consider nationalism
inherently evil?  Would you prefer a one-world government?  Do you
feel that appreciating and defending one's own culture and cultural
values are somehow primitive instincts that must be overcome by the
educational efforts of the enlightened egalitarians?

Why the "pseudo" in pseudo-radical populist appeals?

What strong charismatic leaders do you see in America today and which
ones do you fear?  What "metaphysical" goals do they propose?
Can you name any modern day American scapegoated demonized adversaries
other than the remnants of Randy Weaver's family and other small
religious groups who would like most of all to be left alone?


> 
> Definition excepted from "A Dictionary of Political Tought" by
> Roger Scruton.  (The Macmillan Press, London, 1982, p. 169)
> 
> "An amalgam of disparate conceptions...more notable as a political
> phenomenon on which diverse intellectual influences converge than
> as a distinct idea; as political phenomenon, one of its most
> remarkable features has been the ability to win massive popular
> support for ideas that are expressly anti-egalitarian."
> 
> "Fascism is characterised by the following features (not all of
> which need be present in any of its recognized instances):
> nationalism; hostility to democracy, to egalitarianism, and to the
> values of the enlightenment; the cult of the leader, and
> admiration for his special qualities; a respect for collective
> organization, and a love of the symbols associated with it, such
> as uniforms, parades and army discipline."
> 
> "The ultimate doctrine contains little that is specific, beyond an
> appeal to energy, and action."
> 
> - - -
	Frankly, I think the first definition says much more than the second
"amalgam" definition which seems so non-specific as to include anyone
desired.  When you use the word *fascist* are you alluding to the first
or to both definitions?  

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