One movement closely associated with liberalism in America is statism. Although most statists in this country tend to be liberal, not all liberals are statists. Statism in its most basic form is fascism. Correct, political statism is indistinguishable from fascism. In fascism, the State is the ultimate authority. The people are therefore subordinate to the State. Benito Mussolini’s Fascists were conservative in stripe, nonetheless his government was the ultimate in statism. It is important to remember this when liberals try to equate U.S. Conservatism with Italian Fascism. It is a lie. A political school of thought cannot at the same time be for personal liberty and Fascist. American conservatism is based on liberty and Rule of Law.  Conservatism and Fascism are mutually exclusive.

The Liberal/Statist Connection

It may come as a surprise, but I don’t mind liberals in general.  They honestly believe their ideas are good for their fellow man, if others don’t share them it’s because of a lack of knowledge and the solution is education. They believe their efforts to change things will result in a better world.  The problem I have is when the liberal agenda is carried out though statist means. Statist liberals believe not just their way is right, but everyone else is wrong. Not only that, but your liberty needs to be curtailed if it conflicts with their world view. To them “wrong” beliefs and practices are bad and therefore should be outlawed.

“Anything not good for you is bad. Hence, illegal…” (Demolition Man)

The fictional city San Angles from the movie Demolition Man is a perfect example of a liberal statist dystopia where personal liberties are severely restricted in the name of the common good. Another movie set in a future statist dystopia, but of a conservative type, was V for Vendetta. I wonder if the Occupy crowd, many of whom seem to be liberal statists see the irony of them wearing the Guy Fawkes mask, as “V” is an anti-statist hero, not an anti-conservative one.

The liberal statists believe that the average person is not smart enough for true liberty. To them the Constitution is a hindrance to their freedom limiting agenda, something to be worked around or simply ignored. They rationalize their disdain for personal freedom by claiming what they want is for the “common good”. They, not the Founding Fathers, and certainly not you, know what is best for you. They smugly believe themselves to be politically and morally correct and therefore superior.  Anybody who does not believe as they do must obviously be an ignorant brute, or have been duped by evil-minded, power/money hungry capitalist “fat cats”. If only we poor fools would just follow them, they lament, things would be so much better. Liberty is seldom if at all considered in their calculations when they imagine their liberal utopia. The credo of the Statist Left might well be:  “You’re free to do whatever the State allows you to do, isn’t that enough?  No, only true freedom is enough.