A Great Read

I am nearly finished with a great book by Jonah Goldberg entitled Liberal Fascism. In this book, Goldberg chronicles the history of the fascist movement from Italy, the Wilson Administration and Russia then into the Nazis and the New Deal (continued through the Great Society of LBJ). While I have a massive gap in my knowledge of history of the early 20th century, this book did a fabulous job of helping me fill in some of those holes.

The book is really written from a conservative point of view, not libertarian. This is really my only complaint of the book as it addresses some social issues that I find interesting, but do not necessarily agree with.

The detail on the Wilson administration is quite chilling. The fact that Wilson was admiring the work of Lenin in what would become the Soviet Union shows just how fragile democracy really is. Unfortunately, FDR picked up where Wilson left off and continued the growth and intrusion of government in the lives of people. The War Industries Board and the Blue Eagle initiatives were straight out of the Nazi and Italian fascist play book.

Liberal Fascism is not really an easy read. I found myself hitting Wiki to get more information on people mentioned in the text as a result of my general lack of knowledge of this period. Take the time and read this very interesting history of the Liberal Fascist movement. It will make an impact on how you see today's political movement and how the left has manipulated and coerced people into sacrificing their own liberties.