Here's the link to the related piece from February 2014:
The Socialist Party Manifesto of 1936 reads, "It is now
two years since the appearance of fascism in France. The great capitalists,
dogged by declining profits and threatened privileges, fear lest the suffering
people free themselves from the domination. They have subsidized and managed
fascism."
I guess Veith would tell those Socialists they were in fact
the Fascists. I'm afraid Veith is one of these people that are unable to grasp
the various nuanced definitions of the word Socialist. It's no wonder they
don't understand Capitalism either.
Within the realm of philosophy, all those Existentialists
who emphasized Individualism over and against the collective truth-seeking of
Hegel... hah! Both sides are Fascists.
Never mind the fact that the Nazis themselves rejected Hegel
and the philosophers of the day declared Hegelianism was dead with the
ascension of Hitler.
The Individualistic hedonistic Romantics...all jack-booted
marching Fascists.
Environmentalists...Fascists.
Islamists... Fascists.
The homosexuals that died in the death camps, they were
fascists too.
The Postmodernists that were attacking the very notion that
there was some kind of comprehensive political or philosophical
system...they're Fascists too according to Veith and not a few who think like
him.
Even Mefferd picked up on the inconsistency in suggesting
secular relativists and Islamists are cut from the same cloth. Well, it's the
worship of the state, Veith answers.
Of course he doesn't see the empowerment of the state with
Constantinianism or Right-wing Nationalism? Medieval Europe wasn't a Roman
Catholic Totalitarianism where even a whisper in the pub that questioned the
system could lead to your execution?
Kierkegaard and Camus were worshippers of the state?
Nietzsche becomes a Conservative wishing to preserve social values and
traditions?
He's all over the place. Islamists were inspired by the
Nazis. But then the secular pan-Arab Baath party...they're Fascists too! Well,
certainly Baathism was a form of secular Arab Nationalism. It arose in an
attempt to forge nationhood out of states that had been created by Western
Imperialism. In the case of Syria, it was an attempt to justify the rule of a
secular minority over a religious majority. But militant Fascism on the order
of Mussolini?
And if the Baathists are Fascist, then how can their
arch-enemies the Islamists be the same thing?
And as far as the Arab Christians involved in the creation
of the Baath party, I'm going to assume in this case Veith would reject their claims
of Christianity? I would too, as well as Veith's, but generally these folks are
quick to claim as 'Christian' any group that is politically expedient.
Racism... he speaks of Eugenics, but doesn't seem to even
grasp what the movement was about in the United States. He can't understand why
they wished to limit the birth of Southern Europeans? This would perhaps
explain why he would be baffled as to why people like Barry Goldwater and many
clergymen were interested in the movement? Many of these people were racists
who wished to preserve the WASP-ish establishment. What they feared was
non-Protestant culture, especially Roman Catholicism. They didn't want them to
outbreed the WASP's who by the early 20th century were not having as
many children.
In many cases conservatives had embraced (in part) the
lessons of Darwin and Eugenics was (in a way) a means of combating what they
viewed as a newly discovered natural law. Even wonderful people like John D. Rockefeller
appealed to 'survival of the fittest' in Baptist Sunday School lessons in order
to justify Capitalism as reflecting a God ordained natural law.
Does Veith want to call Rockefeller and Goldwater Fascists
too? I doubt it.
Consequently Capitalism was a kind of baptized Conservative
version of Social Darwinism and it is still with us and rabidly promoted by
many Christian Right groups... all of course in the name of 'Biblical
Worldview'.
Of course the system itself has nothing to do with Scripture
but is in every way a child of the Enlightenment. For years I've read the
childish attempts to exegete Capitalism from Biblical texts. I call these
experiments childish because they start with grossly oversimplified definitions
of Capitalism in an attempt to prove a few basic points as if that justified
the whole system.
Veith cites racial ideas but fails to mention (or grasp)
these ideas were already standardized in the thinking of the British, Dutch and
Belgian empires. The French too, but to a lesser degree. The French (at least)
always venerated their culture over the blatant racism of the Protestant
states. Hitler took ideas that were already present in much of Europe and
recast them and amplified them.
There were other Fascist parties in Europe and Hitler
quickly found allies in France, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and elsewhere. These
parties were trying to combat the social reforms that had been developing in the
wake of World War I and the collapse of Empires. The Fascists wanted the glory
days back... the days of Empire, Capitalism and Nationalism... ideas that are
in fact closely related.
Racism is at the very heart of Imperialism. It always has
been and always will be. And what is racism but Nationalism turned up a notch?
This is why when World War II ended the world changed.
Everyone had to look in the mirror. Veith has learned nothing from the history
he dares to teach.
The fact that this fine fellow is considered a respected
history teacher and cultural commentator should give Christians a reason to
pause and consider the state of things.
That Mefferd loved the book is no surprise. She understands
nothing of these matters, history, or how the world works. The book promoted
ideas she wants to believe because they support the political agenda she's wed
herself to.
Wow.
All I can say is Judgment is being rendered on the American
Church.
I won't go so far as to say that Veith is a Fascist or that
the Christian Right is explicitly Fascist... but it's close. I will say with no
hesitation that were Fascism to arise in this country the Christian Right would
be first in line and very willing participants. Some would argue it has already
been here a long time, at least a generation before the rise of Bill Clinton. I
might be inclined to agree.
Mefferd is concerned the Churches are being manipulated to
emulate the agenda of the government. Quite a stunning statement coming from a
minion of the Christian Right and its massive state-corporate interests.
This was just before the show ended and her reminder to
support the 2nd Amendment, because gun rights are the most Christian
thing imaginable and of course loving guns is anti-fascist. Hitler was about
gun control and therefore Obama is like Hitler right? This is like being in Middle
School.
Never mind the violent Nationalism that goes along with 2nd
Amendment fanaticism. I guess she's forgotten about the militia movements in
the 1990's... often racists, Ultranationalists and pro-Nazi sympathizers.
But for her to be
worried about Churches and leaders being shaped by the government is too much.
In 2002 I literally wondered how far would it go? How far would the Christian
Right go in its obeisance and submission to the warfare state?
Veith cites Bonhoeffer as being faithful to the Biblical
Gospel. What? There's much to appreciate (and criticize) regarding Bonhoeffer
but to suggest he was theological orthodox again reveals either ignorance or
deception on the part of Veith.
He mentions Niemoller? Why? He's obviously not interested in
what Niemoller said. Niemoller said that it was Nationalism and pride in German
culture that led them to embrace Hitler. It wasn't Environmentalism or
Relativism... it was the fact that German-ness was wedded to Christian
identity. In the early days it seemed to them Hitler was the Christian leader
they had been looking for.
This whole interview was an exercise in fiction, fabrication
and was little more than an exercise in propaganda or worse a display of the
Theatre of the Absurd.
Listening to this programme I felt like I was in some kind of
apocalyptic dystopian movie, a Christian version of 1984.
A well known false teacher once rightly said that Satan was
alive and well on the planet earth. True, but we should be far more concerned
about his presence in the Church, in the pulpits, books and on the airwaves.