timdaniels.com

2010-01-04

Fascism Defined

Definition of Fascism: "A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion." [Robert Paxton, "The Anatomy of Fascism"]

It would please me greatly if everyone that throws around the word "fascism" actually knew what the word meant. Here's an exercise for you: The next time you are tempted to use that word--don't. Say what you mean instead.