Jinn of Current Events

One is often confronted to ignorance of the true nature of fascism, a social-political system where individuals are sacrificed to the Nation and private property exists in name only, since the State has unlimited power to direct the use and disposal of any and all "private" property. Examples of fascist regimes include: Hitler's Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Fascist Italy, and Hussein's Baathist Iraq. Common denominators across these regimes are socialism, nationalism, rule by brutality and terror, and rabid hatred of the individualism and freedom found in the USA.

James Bennett eloquently examines the origins and fate of fascist ideology in Europe: fascism, and the proto-fascist movements from which the historical fascist parties emerged, was an integral part of the Continental European cultural and political scene for several generations prior to its political-military victory of 1940, and represented a major current in Continental political and social thought. It was not confined to Germany and Italy... To be a fascist in Continental Europe in the decade before World War II was not to be marginalized or aberrant. A European fascist could feel immersed in a large, self-contained purposive universe, with fascist organizations for women, children, university students, labor unions members -- even automobile owners. ... These movements looked back over several generations to the first stirrings of proto-fascist movements in the late 19th century. The typical young Vichyite militiaman rounding up Jews in 1943 or waiting to fight the Anglo-American invaders in 1944 was probably not an opportunist recruited on the spur of the moment. His papa had probably been a fascist street-fighter in the 1930s; grandpapa had probably been in the anti-Dreyfusard riots in the 1890s. And it would not be surprising if grandpapa's parents and grandparents had been ultra-nationalists and anti-Semites in the previous generations. As I discussed in last week's column, fascism must be considered as one particular expression of a wider Industrial Counter-Revolution against individualism, constitutional government, free markets and global trade. ... European fascism was like a large river, flowing and carrying along millions of willing and enthusiastic adherents across the European continent. The question now is, where did this river disappear to in 1945? 

In his 2003 Ford Hall Forum talk, Dr. Leonard Peikoff, author and objectivist philosopher, intellectual heir to Ayn Rand, explores the unlikely tension between America's self-interest and its people. From its beginning, America has stood for the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, individual rights, capitalism, and the pursuit of happiness. Today's dominant trends in America, trends endorsed not only by our leadership, but seemingly by the general public, represent the opposite of these ideals. Peikoff explores this contradiction with special emphasis on U.S. foreign policy after the September 11 massacre.

On the current war: To defeat Nazism in World War II, nothing less than a massive assault on its home base, Germany, on the country at the heart of Nazism support and export was necessary. The same principle applies to Islamic Fundamentalism. The Germany of Islamic Fundamentalism is not Afghanistan or Iraq, it is Iran.

Listen to the audio stream or watch the video online (Real format). Peikoff's 2003-Apr-06 Ford Hall Forum talk lasts an hour, and every second is rivetting.

Ceterum censeo, delenda est Mecca.