(no subject)

[fpb]

Anyone who thinks that I was too harsh about Jonah Goldberg's repulsive and politically motivated rewriting of my own country's history ought to read today's Thomas Sowell column, where it is taken entirely at its own valuation and highly recommended as summer reading for the children of conservatives. This unhistorical, culturally imperialistic propaganda, that distorts my country's and my continent's history in the service of provincial American concerns, is going to enter the bloodstream of a whole American party, If it has not already done so. This will increase further the mutual incomprehension between USA and Europe, because you cannot stand on your two hind legs and inform anyone who knows anything of continental history - France, Italy, Germany, etc. - that Nazism and Fascism were "left wing". This sort of rubbish, especially if spoken with the arrogance of Goldberg and Sowell, will increase European contempt for American viewpoints and culture. Do we really need this sort of trash further complicating our already difficult relationship, and all for the sake of a few Republican votes in the next election?

Comments

[goreism.livejournal.com]

Where did I compare Nixon and Reagan to the Communists or Nazis?

You claimed at all forms of collectivism are "Left" in the States. I responded that the degree of collectivism a political movement espouses isn't a reliable indicator of its position on the political spectrum. Nixon was more "collectivist" by any measure than the modern-day Labour party, whether you look at marginal tax rates, government spending, or tariff barriers. But we call Labour "left-wing" and "socialist," and call Nixon a man of the Right.

The reason is that the words "Left" and "Right" aren't defined in terms of policy positions, especially over time. They're not short-hand for describing how collectivist a movement is. The American Right has often been just as "collectivist" as the Left—only in different ways.