The United States’ “progressive” agenda is now an avowedly socialist one. An historical basis exists for it from Woodrow Wilson and FDR, which had a fascist bent to it. (Jonah Goldberg and Dinesh D’ Souza) This week past it was in sight and bubbling back up.
Former President Obama has often mentioned “progress”. Progress is code and as such is subject to semantic overload. It is played in the jousting mode of the ‘Motte and Bailey’ fallacy.
The ‘Motte and Bailey’ fallacy is a form of dishonest reasoning. It involves a trap of treating the term's core meaning as an equivalent to its penumbra meanings. Switching from the plain simple meaning, the ‘Motte’ (the safety of the Castle) to the ‘Bailey’, the hard to defend and more controversial meanings of a term overladen with other freight. For example, everyone largely agrees with "progress" of the accepted Motte and A argues for the Motte but is arguing the Bailey of progress as socialism.
BLM, Black Lives Matter, is a fine example of this. The Motte is universally agreed upon but the Bailey, as detailed on its web site of socialism, dispensing with the system of capitalism, the 'patriarchy' and the nuclear family; and most bizarre of all, its veneration of Castro, and support for the Cuban regime which shot a lot of Black and Mulatto Cubans for their support of Battista. https://www.realclearinvestiga...! The term “social justice” can be treated in like manner. When it talks of systemic overthrow that is the position from the Neo Marxist Bailey.
On Thursday last a new example of the Motte and Bailey fallacy, broke out of the dragon's egg and into the media: “the end of shareholder capitalism” or “stakeholder capitalism”. Mr Joe Biden the Democrat contender for the US presidency delivered a speech in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. He said:
“It’s way past time to put the end to the era of shareholder capitalism…In place of “shareholder capitalism,”
Biden proposed a more inclusive system built on the power of labour unions and on “black, brown, and Native American” communities that he said had been left out of economic prosperity.” https://www.breitbart.com/econ...
Andrew Stuttaford, “High Stakes”, in the National Review, 10 July 2020, has expanded on stakeholder capitalism or corporatism. First, he says, “corporatism” has many forms ranging from the benign, European Christian Democracy to early 20th C US ‘Progressivism’ to the “infinitely more heavy-handed in theory and practice of some variants of fascism.” Notably, Mussolini’s Italy and Mussolini had admired FDR’s programmes.
The underlying point, says Stuttaford, is that corporatism is seen as the best way of running society- ‘the third way’- "with or without the ballot box." Stuttaford adds:
“A key part of the pathway to social harmony was, Mussolini, claimed,“social justice” (a phrase, it seems, we are doomed to live with for eternity) and something to which the “selfish individual” will always
be an obstacle.”
'Stakeholder capitalism'– 'shareholder capitalism' as corporatism is inimical and at odds with the individual- that the ‘collective’ or ‘corporate’ entity knows best; personal property rights and to those at law to whom we foreseeably and proximately owe duties. It can be argued that the present congressional Democratic Socialists have captured the Democratic party, and pushed it left.
Connected is the paramount issue of the break down of the rule of law. Both Heather McDonald in The City Journal (July 2020) and Mrs Sydney Powell (Flynn’s lawyer) in an address at Hillsdale College (2020) have separately said that the Republic is in peril of being lost.
Several rule of law points may be made. First, it is seen is the belief by many Democrats that Mr Trump is not – should not be- the legitimately elected president and the 2016 election is somehow void-hence the politically loaded ‘lawfare’ of the Muller investigation and ‘impeachments’; secondly in the operation of certain law enforcement agencies (e.g. the FBI), prosecutors and Courts/Judges. A two-tier justice system with a serious politicisation involving prosecutorial overreach and of made up indictments is seen e.g: the ongoing Flynn Case; the two Russian Collusion Bot/Troll farming cases- US v Concorde Marketing and Consulting LLC and Concorde Catering LLC (prosecution withdrawn) and with ‘Bridgegate’ (Kelly v US no 18-1059 USSC, 7 May 2020) in favour of the appellants. Defence Counsel describing the case as ‘one of an indictment looking for a crime.’ Thirdly, the breakdown of law and order and calls to defund the police since the death of George Floyd.
Finally, on the rule of law, former Obama aid and progressive, Dan Pfeiffer, expressed a widely held opinion that: (1) the Supreme Court was “the greatest obstacle to Progressive policies..” and (2) It’s been clear for some time that the Constitution — as written — is incompatible with a progressive agenda.” (3) that Bill of Rights protections of due process, freedom of speech, right to self-defence are seen as antiquated. Protections for religious opinion and conscience are also despised: see David Harsanyi, ‘To the Left, ‘Fair’ Means Forcing Nuns to Buy Abortion Pills’ National Review, 9 July 2020.
Then COVID has fuelled a massive rate of unemployment which is a factor in social instability.
As with Weimer Germany, such conditions make for the enveloping storm that fascism exploits. An added and present ingredients to that exploitation are the partisan activist media and activist academics.
Thus: Socialism + Corporatism = fascism; where race is a factor then: Socialisms + Corporatism + Race (“white privilege” ?) = National Socialism.
Some of these seeds exist in our own polity. Watch this space.
Graham Hill MA (Hons) LLB (Hons)
Nelson 11 July 2020