Fascism, Why we are not Fascists

Fascism, Why we are not Fascists

When many people think of Fascism they think of Nazi Germany, but I am not talking about Nazism here, I will do that in a later post.

Charles de Gaulle, General, Leader of the Free French during WWII, and later President of France fought against three Fascists states, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Petain's Vichy France. But that didn't stop him from being being called a Fascist by his political enemies. In fact being called a Fascist is something most of us can expect at some point. It shows both an ignorance of Fascism as well as an ignorance of Conservatism.  I am going to show you why and how we are different, but first I must point out were we are the same.

We do share some beliefs and it can confuse people because they think that political philosophies are all distinct when in reality many will overlap at some point. The beliefs we share in common are, Patriotism, the Traditional family as well as respect for Traditional authority. We also share many of the same enemies, Communism, Socialism, Liberalism, Crony Capitalism. But our differences are quite pronounced.

Fascism believes that the State, the Government, is the embodiment of the Nation, that makes it not a thing that is required because it is functional but something that is mystical, nearly divine. Because the Nation is divine or nearly divine it is special, that means that those institutions that serve the Nation are also divine. The Armed Forces are not simply the protector of the Nation but semi-divine itself, it protects something most sacred. You would think that this kind of thinking would put the Nations people at the centre of things, but quite the opposite. The Nation is divine, not the people, the people must worship what is divine, the Nation, the Government and the protector of the divine, the Armed Forces.

One thing that many notice about Fascism is that it can say what it is against very easily, but it finds it much harder to explain what it believes. Much of it sounds like mysticism. It shares a number of features with Communism, it believes in a strong Government but in a weak people, the people serve the State not the other way around. It claims to be a protector of Traditional authority and values, but like Communism it is at heart a revolutionary, seeking to destroy the old to create a new Fascist society. A society in which they are the new Aristocrats, they like that Traditional authority. They are tolerant of Traditional authority when it agrees with them, but it does not like or accept criticism from these authorities. They are not the rulers, they are decoration and they do not understand the Fascist order. Unlike Communism, Fascism is a bit confused as they cannot totally decide if they want to destroy the old order entirely or whether they wish to build upon it.

Fascism also claims to be dynamic, to desire action over words, deeds over intellect, but Fascism is in reality not very active at all. I would contend that it is because fascism is a reaction, an extreme reaction to Communism and general disorder, more than a genuine political philosophy and while it does have real beliefs it is really a grab bag of thoughts in search of stability. It craves stability more than anything.

Conservatism does not believe that anyone should worship the Nation, or the Government, or the Armed Forces. We should respect them but never worship them, they are not more important than the people of the Nation. At times they may be but that time should pass, the Nation should not be in a perpetual self created crisis. Conservatives are not revolutionary's we believe in order, and when things must change in ordered change, not in violent or extreme change. While we love our country, we believe that like our family it is special because it is a part of us, not because we believe it is divine any more than we think of our beloved mother as divine. We believe in the Government being loyal to the people and the people returning that loyalty, a complete reversal of Fascism.

Finally do not let the few things we have in common confuse you into thinking we are the same, we are not.


Upon Hope Blog - A Traditional Conservative Future