Recently Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mentioned in one of her live sessions on Instagram about the infrastructure vote that there is a fight going on in America against fascism, something that she has constantly mentioned in the past. She has compared Donald Trump and various other individuals to the Fascists.
But does AOC really know what Fascism is? According to Webster’s College Dictionary (4th Edition), fascism is “a system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized governmental control, belligerent nationalism, racism, and militarism. It is also defined by some sources as right-wing authoritarianism.”
Of course, Fascism is also considered to be synonymous with Nazism, since the two ideologies have much in common. In addition, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany was based on the Fascist regime that Benito Mussolini established in Italy.
The Trump Administration, or various conservatives for that matter, do not fall into these categories, since they promote free enterprise and hence freedom. They do not advocate a one-party dictatorship, nor are they are racists, despite the claims by AOC and her fellow leftists. In addition, nationalism is not patriotism.
Interestingly, both Mussolini and Hitler considered themselves to be socialists. After all, Nazism stands for National Socialist German Workers’ Party, while Mussolini was a socialist.
Is AOC aware of these facts?
Many of you out there are probably with the line showing the spectrum of political beliefs, from the far left to the far right. The left end of the line lists communism, while Nazism, Fascism, racism, and ultra-nationalism can be found on the right end of the line. Given that Hitler and Mussolini considered themselves as socialists, not to mention the fact that libertarians and anarchists are usually not listed on the line listing political beliefs, perhaps an asterisk would be a better choice of listing all the ideologies within the political spectrum. Or perhaps a conceptual cluster or tree diagram would be better methods of listing all the ideologies.
Another fact AOC should be aware of is that there isn’t much difference between socialism (which she advocates) and communism. Both ideologies promote government ownership of the means of production, i.e. the government owns all businesses. But the key difference between socialism and communism is that whereas socialism is implemented via laws and regulations, communism is the result of violent revolution. So it is safe to say that socialism is communism with manners.
AOC would be wise to brush up on her knowledge of economics, politics, and history.
