Reader, before I touch on liberal fascism and try to explain this "hopelessly inexplicable thing", I would first like to introduce you to political ideologies and the system of their division.
Political ideology describes the style of governing the state and organizing society, as well as the relations and interdependence between the state and the individual. Traditionally, they are divided into right-wing and left-wing movements, although many political scientists believe that such a division is already outdated and irrelevant. Therefore, today we are faced with divisions depicted in various types of political spectra. One such ideological spectrum is in the form of a line, which traditionally divides ideologies into right-wing and left-wing... But as I have already mentioned, such a division may not even be accurate, because some consider liberalism to be a relatively left-wing ideology, while others believe it to be right-wing. What do you think the spectrum builders imagine as right-left? If they divide this spectrum in economic terms, then liberalism, as a supporter of a free economy, should be on the right, and if the spectrum looks at political and individual freedom, it should be on the left. The concepts of left and right arose during the French Revolution of 1789. These terms reflected the distribution of political forces in the French National Assembly: Left (located on the left): people with revolutionary and progressive views, who defended the ideas of socio-economic equality and the limitation of the king's power. Right (located on the right): people with traditional and conservative views, who defended the privileges of the monarchy and the church. Over time, leftism, its characteristics, and its division have changed, which is why I believe it may be inaccurate and "insufficient."
The next, and arguably more diverse and precise, political spectrum is the Diagram of the political spectrum:
The diagram of the political spectrum presents political ideologies in two aspects, on the one hand, the economic view of the ideology (right-wing - capitalist; left-wing - socio-economic), on the other hand, the political freedom of the individual. In libertarianism, a person has more freedom and individual rights are more important, unlike in authoritarianism (sometimes referred to as conservative), in which the rights of the individual are limited, or we are faced with conservatism and the rights of society as a whole are above the individual.
Now let's discuss the main ideologies that we are faced with.
One of the earliest political ideologies is liberalism, which is not only an ideology but also a worldview. Liberalism preaches human/individual freedom and is considered to be its father by John Locke, while economically it is found as a conservative - classical liberalism, as well as a leftist - modern/social liberalism. Classical liberalism is committed to the free market principle and is older, its father can be considered Adam Smith. Then, after the negative manifestations of capitalism, social liberalism emerged to deal with social problems, which also preaches individual freedom, but justifies state intervention in the economy in certain cases, and also gives the state more responsibility, accordingly, modern liberalism considers more state services, thereby confronting inequality and solving social problems.
Conservatism is a political ideology that advocates the preservation of tradition, order, and stability. It opposes revolutionary change and favors gradual development. The ideology emerged in the 18th century as a reaction to the French Revolution, and one of its main theorists was Edmund Burke. Conservatism emphasizes individual responsibility, the preservation of national identity, and the importance of traditional values, including the role of religion and family. Modern conservatives often support private property, free markets, and a strong state.
Communism is a political and economic ideology that aims to organize a classless society, where property and resources are used for the common good. The ideology is based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as described in their famous work "The Communist Manifesto". According to Marx, communism is the final stage of social development, where class conflict and exploitation are eliminated. Communism is one of the anarchic and utopian ideologies, its ultimate goal was anarchy and the destruction of branches of government, although before that, in their opinion, communism should gradually be established everywhere in the world and eventually cover the whole world, only then would anarchic communism be established, which would eliminate class conflict. The practice of communism created important political regimes in the 20th century, such as the Soviet Union. Although these regimes are often criticized for human rights violations and economic problems, we can unequivocally say that the planned economy failed and was defeated in the fight against capitalism.
Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology that emphasizes the primacy of the state over the individual, strong centralized government, and nationalism. Fascism developed in the early 20th century, and the most famous example is Benito Mussolini's Italy, while Nazism originated in Germany under Adolf Hitler. There are some differences between Nazism and fascism, but both have claimed countless lives. The main characteristics of fascism are totalitarian rule, repression of political opposition, propaganda, and the strengthening of military power. Fascism's ideas are considered to reject the principles of democracy, freedom, and equality, making it a politically counter-progressive ideology.
Liberal fascism
Liberal fascism was brought to public prominence by Jonah Goldberg. In his 2008 book, “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Change,” Goldberg argues that liberalism resembles the old, fascist ideology in that it calls for the state to solve all problems, disregards personal freedoms, and frequently uses force or coercion to achieve political goals, which, in my opinion, is fundamentally inaccurate, since leftist, socialist ideologies and economic approaches in general tend to place more responsibility on the state and adopt more regulations. In recent years, we have often heard the words “liberal fascism,” “liberal Nazism,” “radical liberals,” etc. from the Georgian state media and the government. The government evades the question of what "liberal fascism" means... Certain TV stations have even devoted plots to it, in which they try to portray activists fighting for freedom and a European Georgia as aggressors, although it is difficult to find a well-established definition. Liberal fascism is an oxymoron and these two ideologies (liberalism and fascism) are mutually exclusive. It is impossible to discuss liberalism and fascism together, since liberalism preaches the sovereignty of the individual, while fascism is the domination of one nation over other nations. They do not fit into a political regime either, liberalism is part of a democratic regime, while fascism is an undemocratic, autocratic regime. This term is often used by far-right leaders in the West, and they also feed the myths created around this term and spread disinformation to the population in Russia. The term is often used in political debates, where its purpose is to criticize liberal ideas, but it is not considered an academically sound or theoretically clear term. My verdict on this, as the author, is only one, this term is an oxymoron from beginning to end - clever nonsense.
The goal of liberal fascism is the deification and dehumanization of man
Pro-Russian propaganda articles and stories about liberal fascism claim that the goal of modern liberalism is to make people lose faith in God, to put it simply, it popularizes atheism. Reader, as I have already told you, the main value of liberalism is the freedom of the individual (human), and liberalism does not recognize the oppression of any individual or group. Accordingly, an individual who is a Christian or a follower of any other religion is just as important as any other individual. Of course, in liberalism, insulting each other and violating human rights is permissible - damage to cultural monuments (including churches, etc.), sexual violence, oppression, damage to private property, etc.
This is also supported by the fact that the number of anarchists on the European continent is increasing. In my personal experience, this is because the level of education in Europe is high, and people have doubts about different religions and their ideas. In the 21st century, in secular states, a person can choose his or her own religious beliefs, and it is also a fact that in the West, religion has lost its influence on the state (for example, the Pope no longer enjoys as much influence as we remember from history).
Author: Luka Urumashvili
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