It’s a tough new year for me, with Trump and everything. He, and his opponents, have made me feel like I live in crazytown more than anything else in recent history. At least (per the recent “Vice” movie) Dick Cheney just seemed like a lying jerk.
I was listening to Raico for some sanity, and I really appreciate his perspective. Liberals share a certain realist perspective along with the “paleoconservatives” that’s a smidge more tolerant of fascism than the political left would like. Although the paleos somewhat endorse certain reactionary attitudes, they and the liberals don’t endorse fascism by any means. Rather, they tolerate society’s effort to resist revolutionary leftism. Not for ideological reasons, but out of pragmatism, and acknowledging how radical and harmful that leftism really is. There is a respect for the organic.
We call this “pragmatism”. It’s an American idea, but frankly I find it to be liberalism’s (not fascism’s) best defense. We never will know if our current system is just the right one, so we need the flexibility to move on to something different. This is the essence of liberalism, to me, all said and done. A sort of pragmatism.
Fascism, for all its flaws, is just more pragmatics in outlook than leftism. I could foresee fascism bending over to more liberalism. Such as what occurred in Spain and Chile. The Fascists don’t oppose liberalism, even as they look down upon it. But Marxists see liberalism as antithetical to their world view.
America is changing. As is the world. We need a new defense not of so-called “liberal democracy”. We need a commitment and reaffirmation of the definition of “pragmatic liberalism”.
Maybe the troops won’t come home, but good God out of Syria and Yemen! Ah, nevermind.
