I remember when Veith's book Modern Fascism first came out
in the 1990's. I recall a Lutheran friend of mine and fan of Veith being quite
excited about it. At the time I was just beginning to come out of my Right Wing
mindset but for the most part still embraced it.
As my friend reviewed Veith's basic thesis I remember being
a bit puzzled because it didn't seem to match up with what I knew... at all.
Clinton was a wicked guy and I sure disliked him, especially
then...but a Fascist? That didn't seem to make sense.
In the almost twenty years since that time I can only say I
had no idea how flawed Veith's thesis was. Recently I've encountered similar
arguments (from FOX news watchers and Christian podcasts) and then just
recently I stumbled on this episode of Mefferd's show. She was praising the
book. I was thankful that there was going to be a fresh discussion. I thought
perhaps he would tread a bit more cautiously. Maybe he would reflect and
realize that he had painted too broad a brush. Far from it.
In the end it would seem everyone Veith disagrees with is
pretty much reckoned a Fascist. That seems to be the criteria. It's almost a
catch-all for him. As I listened, when I wasn't shaking my head in disagreement
and lamenting his lack of knowledge, I was laughing. The list of 'Fascists'
kept growing.
I was left thinking that either he really doesn't understand
the material... which he leaves little clues throughout the interview which
lead to me to believe that's the case... or he's just reading it with a
political agenda in mind. I think this certainly plays into it as well.
Regardless his commentary is unworthy of a Christian leader and an embarrassment
for someone who purports to be an academic.
As I mentioned Glenn Beck tried this line of argument a few
years back. It got a lot of attention in Conservative Christian circles. It was
during that period that I was astonished to find out that supposedly respectable
Christian intellectuals were appearing on his show.
As I often say about the Right, even if you agree with the
overall agenda, you should be appalled by Talk Radio and the entire FOX
project. Their presentation of information and method of dissemination is
dangerously misleading and utterly deceptive. There are a handful of
conservatives that are rightly upset and refuse to watch. If what you believe
is true, then you should never have to reduce yourself to base behaviour and
deception in order to promulgate it.
Shame on these Christian leaders who have participated in
the lies and deceptions of FOX and have approved of its evil deeds.
I really believe the Right is trying desperately to spin
Fascism as a Leftist movement... which is prima facie absurd and hilarious if
it wasn't so dangerous.
I say this as one who is not a Leftist. Just to clarify I am
'theologically' Conservative but I don't believe it's possible for Christians
to remain Biblically faithful and be 'politically' Conservative. Nationalism (a
foundation of Rightist thought) is a form of idolatry and is incompatible with
Christian Worldview.
Just because I reject the Right, this does not mean I am
therefore a Leftist. I realize that is incomprehensible to many minds but the
problem is how they've been taught to think.
I believe in a concept I call Negation. We are Truth-tellers
and we reject the World-Project.... the Beast project that's trying to create
models and systems to make a perfect society. They are all idolatries that will
fail. There is no Biblical political or economic system. Our message is not a
political order or an economic model. We bring the Gospel which the world will
always hate and revile. We will always be a dissenting pilgrim minority. We
cannot reform this world.
The Bible tells us how to think about power and money, but
the redemptive system can only be embraced by those who are renewed by the
Spirit. If all of society were really converted, (an impossibility in light of
Scripture) the existing systems would be rejected not reformed.
We expose the works of darkness and live as strangers and
exiles. We bear witness, suffer and if need be die.
The greatest threat is not the pagan world declaring itself to
be anti-Christian. The greatest danger is baptized paganism and pagan thought
inserting itself into the Church. This happens regularly in the realms of
theology and Biblical study. There are theologically liberal threats and
conservative threats. Yes, there are those who proclaim to believe the Bible
and can be even more dangerous than those who treat it as the words of men.
They have a greater power to deceive because when compared to the theological
liberals of the Mainline churches they seem like stalwart confessors.
But that's not always the case.
In recent years they have battled for control of the culture
and in particular the historical narrative of culture. They have wedded
themselves to the Political Right and Nationalism and yet the 20th
century has a bad track record with Nationalism. Veith and others are working
to change the narrative to appear more attractive to their point of view.
Like Clinton, Obama might not be the most praiseworthy
individual, but a Fascist, a 21st century Mussolini or Hitler? Is
this some kind of bad joke?
Somehow homosexuality, environmentalism and individualistic
relativism all end up being key foundational planks to the Fascist vision.
Militarism and Nationalism, the actual heart of Fascism
somehow seem to be left out of the discussion. That's rather convenient.
As I talked about in the other article, this is just
misleading. Any philosophy teacher or historian would laugh these people out of
the room. It's hard to know where to begin. I literally did not agree with a
single point Veith was trying to make. He's fundamentally misunderstood the
nature of what Fascism is, and how the ideas he cites influenced (or didn't
influence) the movement.
His argument is a mumbled jumbled mash-up mess of a bunch of
different philosophical strains which can be said to influence not only Fascism
but about a dozen different strains of thought. He's playing one of the worst
guilt-by-association games I've ever seen. I have to wonder if he knows what
he's even talking about?
What's worse a profound ignorance or designed deception?
According to Veith modern Europe (which is overwhelmingly
Socialist) is basically Fascist. Because in his mind they're the same thing! I
guess we didn't realize the Nazis won after all!
All those people who fought the Fascists during the war...
they were actually Fascists and didn't know it.
CONTINUE READING PART 2