I have a personal rule: whenever a political conversation hits the point where someone accuses George Bush, Republicans, conservatives, or me personally of being Hitler, a Nazi, or a fascist, the conversation is over. I smile, finish my beer, and make a polite withdrawal. No retort about their commie mothers. No bridge-burning, relationship-ending, eternal ire-invoking epithet. No right hook to the jaw. Just smile, bid them a good evening, and walk away.
So, it is with full consciousness of what I do that I break this rule. I feel justified in breaking it, however, because in the last issue of the Orient, Ashby Crowder did such a good job of calling Republicans Nazis without actually saying it.
"Though Bush is a war criminal if we use standards that have been applied to others, he is clearly not on par with Hitler," Crowder offers as a backhanded compliment. And Brutus is an honorable man.
The real problem, you see, is not even what the Republicans are saying that makes them fascists; it's how they say it. It is the "similarities in style and rhetoric that are notable."
Crowder asserts that if the rhetoric of the Republican Bush-cult were used in Western Europe, it would be considered fascist. Well, they would know, wouldn't they? Germany, Spain, and France have all dabbled in it. Let's keep in mind that the second place vote-getter in France's 2002 election for prime minster was Jean Marie LePen, a fascist.
"When an American says that his 'nation' is superior to everyone else's it resembles Nazi ideology." There is something perverse about Crowder's assertion that love of country-some call it patriotism, others nationalism (and you can usually guess who they're voting for based on that distinction)-implies a Nazi-esque mentality. But Americans don't say 'nation.' We say country. When Germans said 'nation' in the 1930s, they were referring to an ethnic nation, an Aryan race of people superior to others at a biological level. When Americans say 'country,' we mean the institutions and history that define us as a free and vibrant people.
Those who take comfort in knocking America down a peg or two in comparison to the sainted Western Europe have had to come up with some pretty creative ways to do it. Even if one takes a dismal view of our current economy, it is Herculean in comparison to the Euro-bloc. With GDP growth rates in the one percent range, plummeting birth rates, aging populations, and increasingly unsustainable social welfare benefits from the governments, Europe's vaunted nanny states are going nowhere. When the facts are against you, go to the big guns-call the president's supporters fascists.
In terms of free speech and free press, America is second to none. Our points of contention regarding constitutionally protected free speech are over issues that no decent society would be faulted for outlawing. Is digitally produced kiddy porn permissible? What about NAMBLA literature on how to seduce young boys? We give people the benefit of the doubt. Forget God, In People We Trust.
We trust that people can drape themselves in the flag because they love their country and that the end result will not be the fall of democracy. We trust that students can have a "Pro-Bush mentality" and not be founding members of the Bowdoin Hitler Youth. We trust that people can think that America is the greatest country in the world and simultaneously not support invading the rest of it.
Are we better? Yes, absolutely. Both on traditional measurements and the more abstract as well. It's time to call a spade a spade. We are freer, richer, better educated and less constrained by societal standards than any other Western country (and forget about the rest of the world). Are we imperfect and flawed? Of course, and we always will be.
Let's keep in mind that the problem with fascism wasn't "style and rhetoric," it was the creation of authoritarian governments, the oppression of the individual, and the violent elimination of rival elements. With Nazism, it was the Final Solution and a militant desire for lebensraum. The "obvious parallels" Mr. Crowder cites between a belief in the greatness of America and a belief in the Third Reich are the same as the obvious parallels between Coca Cola and cocaine. Perhaps there is a similarity on some elemental level, but it's so abstract and irrelevant as to be ridiculous.
Crowder belies an inherent distrust in people. His pessimism would make him a conservative if his naiveté didn't ensure his liberalism. Americans would never stand for fascism. We distrust our government and love our guns. Our heroes are loners-cowboys free to roam the countryside. As much as we struggle with issues of diversity, we do so because we are more diverse and accepting than any other country. Yet there are no genocides, no ethnic battles, and "racist" is synonymous with "stupid redneck."
That said, I've finished my beer, I bid you a fine day, and I'll now excuse myself.