THE MANY FACED MONSTER THAT IS COMMUNISM, OR FASCISM, OR NAZISM, OR...

This op-ed takes a journey through political ideology 101.  It is a journey inspired by the loose and sloppy use of political buzzwords meant to attack President Trump and his supporters.  The buzzwords were most likely tested with focus groups of ignorant people to see which ones get the best traction with the public.  Top candidates are Nazi! And Hitler!  Facist! Is up there too.  But do the Trump haters who keep repeating these words really know what they mean?  Or are these people suffering from a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder?  Let’s start with a little review.

Tyrannical governments in general and communism in particular are models of murderous behavior towards their own populations.  Generally, conservatives understand  that and liberals do not.  This lack of understanding drives the obsessive-compulsive behavior that we see.

What is communism?  What is not communism?  What about fascism?  Nazism?  On the one hand, you can call up your Wikipedia definitions of political systems for communism, fascism or Nazism.  On the other hand, you, the reader, need to be able to think abstractly about the underlying ideas that inform these ideologies.  Fairness and equality are certainly the motivating ideas underlying communism.  The unspoken part is that achieving true fairness and equality in an unjust world requires a strong central government to enforce those ideas.

If It’s Communism, the Usual Suspects

Freedom of speech, Self defense, Protection from the government, Due process, Private property and Business ownership are among the issues address by true believers in communism.  However, the division between what is and is not a communist belief is not that clean.  Freedom of speech?  But sometimes…  Protection from the government?  No, but sometimes…Due process?  Well, we do have to pretend.  Private property?  No, unless it serves the state’s interest.  Every regime that started with communism, had to, at some point start loosening some of its ideological chains.  Cuba and North Korea are notable exceptions, but it is only a matter of time.

It can be said that the heart of “communist fairness” is that there are certain areas of human activity which are irredeemably unfair.  They will never be fair, so they must be eliminated if true universal fairness is to be achieved in this world.  The items above are examples of those activities which will always stop realizing fairness in the world.

The unspoken irony is that communism cannot exist without capitalism.  Call it a sad comment on human nature, call it whatever.  Time and again, pure communism has failed miserably as a social, political, and economic system.  When the otherwise communist Chinese call their system “communism with Chinese characteristics” is a subtle way of admitting communism doesn’t work.  But it is great for maintaining a tyranny and suppressing individual rights.

All of this doesn’t keep liberals from still mindlessly screaming the same epithets at conservatives.  Now, when it comes to fascism, it is another version of the same problem.  The liberals screaming these insults don’t even know the difference between these two main ideologies.  The Internet does not help.  There is an unresolved debate over what truly defines fascism.  It is like a hot potato neither side wants to hold.

 We need to pick more on fascism since it is the ultimate insult in the minds of many liberals.  Moreover, one must remember that in Europe when fascists and communists were at each other’s throats, these labels were considered the ultimate insults.  So, if one is accusing another of being a fascist, might that mean you are a communist?

What are the Differences Between Communism and Fascism?

These terms are used interchangeably in the minds of many.  Both represent the worst elements of authoritarian governments.  Moreover, there are many long winded academic discussions which obscure the fundamental reality of these two ideologies.  An Internet query produces a reasonable discussion. However, it underplays the fundamentally tyrannical nature of these two ideologies. 

The most important question is over what defines “right wing”.  Liberals think of “right wing” as nationalist and a form of centralized government.  Conservatives think of “right wing” as representing freedom from government oppression.  Neither communism nor fascism recognize the idea of freedom from government control. So, it is hard to see how fascism would also be “right wing”.  The concept of government control can differ by both degree and type between communism and fascism.  Pure communism rejects the concepts of personal property or ownership.  However, early in the experiment of Soviet Communism, concessions had to be made to communal peasants to allow them to cultivate their own food while producing food for the nation.

The distinctions turn on the concepts of ownership and control.  You can own something but not really control it.  You can also control something and not necessarily own it.  These two ideas are essential tools of political power.  Communism and fascism use them but for different stated purposes even if they end up in the same place.  So, really, at the end of the day what is the difference?

Is Fascism Worse Than Communism?

This link will take you on a different adventure.  The Internet response gives you a few things to think about. However, the suggestion that fascism is more violent than communism does not ring true.  So, there are problems with the Internet explanation for these ideologies.

There is a humorous political cartoon showing a soldier labeled “fascist” intimidating a defenseless family with his gun.  It then shows a communist soldier chasing away the fascist soldier.  Then he proceeds to do intimidate the family the same way.

There is more to review with respect to socialism which will have to be saved for later.  The main point made here is that there is a lot of confusion over the meaning of these political terms because their real meanings make certain ideologues too uncomfortable.

The clearest and most consistent model of political power by which these ideologies can be weighed against each other is the individual versus the community.  How much power should the individual have in a community.  How much power should the community have?  When you substitute the words state or government for community, then the issue becomes clear.

However, liberals avoid that model at all costs of logic and clear thinking.  They misapply labels and hence mislead others.  Hence, so long as liberals keep calling us “fascists”, “Nazis” and God knows what else, we will have to keep correcting them.