[lbo-talk] Re: 14 characteristics of fascism

[Michael Pugliese]

This critique had its counterpart in a well-articulated viewpoint coming 
from the center-right. Kevin Phillips's book Post-Conservative America 
suggested that populist concern in grassroots America might be focused 
either on economic equality or on a reactionary social agenda. He pointed 
out the similarities between the ideas of the New Right in America and the 
beliefs of the European "Conservative Revolutionaries" of the early 1900s, 
which made possible the rise of fascism. Both were: 1) extremely 
nationalistic and patriotic, and partial to authoritarian solutions; 2) 
anti-secular, and anti-humanist, taking their inspiration from newly 
invented "traditional" religion; 3) anti-liberal and supportive of a 
restoration of "old morality." When analyzing the growing strength of the 
Republican Party, especially in the South, Phillips cautioned that "any Sun 
Belt hegemony over our politics has a unique potential . . . to accommodate 
a drift toward apple-pie authoritarianism."
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Economics/AuthoritarianDemocracy.html