There's that "F" word again...

Goodness...the professor has been upbraided for using the "F" word...

Fascist...there I go again darn it.

"How," I've been asked, "can you use the "F" word when discussing what our current administration and lackeys are up to?" "Where is your tolerance, you hate-speecher you, and why are you so paranoid about our beloved leader?"

Hmmmmm...has been my response, as they've answered their question with the question itself.

Remember the professor is about logic...no emotion here folks...just putting together batches of information, studying and analyzing that info, and looking at the historical background and precedent. Let's discuss the infamous "F" word in a rational manner and analyze what Fascism is.

The word is the Americanization of "Fascista"...the popular national socialist party in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century (Fascio Autonomo d'Azione rivoluzionaria). At that time the western world was going through a love affair with experimental political systems, mainly as a result of growing populations, the morphing of agricultural workers into industrial workers, growing importance of industry and growing consumer demands, and world-wide unrest as a result of this growth and change.

Bennito Mussolini, who would later lead the Fascistas to victory in national elections, had been an international socialist for over a decade. He came to the conclusion that the Italian people had too much pride in themselves as the descendants of the Romans to ever put their faith into an organization loyal to international interests. He felt the Fascistas were on the inside track to bringing a socialist agenda to Italy.

The internationalists immediately turned their vengeance on him...denouncing the Fascistas as a "right wing" organization. This charge actually did not really stick until World War II forced socialists world-wide to denounce Mussolini's rule. It was most convenient then to state that he had been a right wing zealot all along, despite his socialist writings and leadership.

The National Socialist party which eventually took control in Germany (the N.A.Z.I) was never referred to as a fascist organization until Mussolini was rebranded as a right winger. Then the brand slid effortessly over to the German dictatorship. Confusing? Keep in mind socialists world wide had spent a decade drooling over the recasting of all of Europe in the socialist model, led by Herr Hitler and Il Duce.

Those dreams turned into nightmares of course, as always happens in authoritarian regimes. What saved the world, thank God, was that the two major players for world dominance could not long tolerate competition. So the international socialists, represented by the Soviets, and the national socialists, represented by the Nazis, had to come to violent blows. It became totalitarian state versus totalitarian state for control of land, resources, and human capital.

The real history buffs among you will remember as well, during this time of political upheaval the U.S. was hardly immune from radical ideas from Europe. Mussolini was very fashionable in the U.S. from the first world war especially. Later, Hitler, also became an idol of the radical chic set.

Woodrow Wilson modeled himself as the American reflection of European "stateism" and wrote extensively on behalf of a powerful and centralized government. He decried that Blacks, Jews, and excessively "individualistic" persons should not be allowed to vote. He deputized hundreds of thousands of goons to terrorize his political enemies. These "redshirts" burned down newspaper buildings, the homes of editors and writers, and lynched the more unfortunate.

They were given the authority to arrest, as an internal security organization of the government, and more than a quarter of a million Americans went behind bars in punishment for not supporting the administration. The Wilson gangs arrested more persons in three years than Mussolini and his Fascistas did in a decade.

It was during this time period that Wilson declared himself "the American Fascist" and Mussolini "the Italian Progressive."

The point of this history lesson, of course, is to view current politics in a clearer light. The labels of socialist, progressive, and fascist are truly interchangeable. You will hear gnashing of teeth at this historical truth, of course, as radical idealists will always be mesmerized by labels and always be competing among themselves for the top rung on the radical ladder. Socialists and progressives will call capitalists by the term fascist...and fascists will label the socialists and progressives as communists, and the rest of us will generally be quiet on the issue as we view all of the above as being dangerous NUTS!

Whoops...now I'm using the "N" word as well. Well, bring on the censorship...I deserve it for being a "F........." old "N....."

The Professor