The Woke Reich

Way, way back when I was a young lad in high school, one of the english teachers was famous for espousing "horseshoe theory" to the point where we all (even those of us who didn't attend his class) knew his trademark hand gesture.

Unbeknownst to us (well, me) at the time was that Horseshoe Theory was an idea that existed outside the ivy-covered walls of our Brooklyn prep school. It even has its own Wikipedia page.

The theory posits that the far-left and far-right ends of the political spectrum are actually very close to each other in terms of ideology and behavior. Looking at today's Left and its endless and ever-louder denouncements of anything right of Bernie Sanders as 'extremist,' 'fascist,' and the like in conjunction with its behavior, it's clear to me that Horseshoe Theory is on the verge of a renaissance.

Consider just the latest outrage: The law school at UC Berkeley (the OG incubator for all things woke) has now banned any speaker who espouses pro-Israel viewpoints - a ban that would include the law school's Jewish dean of students from speaking at events in his own school. Used to be, anti-Semites would attempt to qualify it by hiding behind an anti-Zionism facade, arguing that being opposed to Israel’s existence doesn’t mean they hate Jews. That facade is getting thinner and thinner, with politicians such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib caught time and again in blatant anti-Jewish Kinsley Gaffes.

If you read the latest breathless rants from the Left, Sweden is turning fascist, Italy just elected a fascist Prime Minister, eastern European nations are all fascist, Trump is fascist, everyone who was at the January 6th rally-turned-riot is a fascist, anyone wearing a MAGA hat or failing to denounce the slogan is fascist, the GOP is awash in fascists, and the biggest threat to the nation is from right-wing extremist groups (aka “fascists”).

Meanwhile, college campuses are embracing hate speech of acceptable flavors, banning everyone they don't like from exercising their rights of speech and association, denouncing speech as violence, and asserting that actual violence (again, of acceptable flavors) isn't. The Left supports and excuses the violence of Antifa and other extremists because it’s in furtherance of "correct" politics.

Censorship of dissent, inflammatory rhetoric against political opponents, political violence, anti-Semitism, unchecked government power, the press serving as the Party's propaganda arm, using the FBI, the surveillance state, and the IRS against the unfavored... and embrace of an economic system comprised of a few large corporations in bed with and heavily regulated by the State.

Welcome to the new and improved fascism. As I wrote not that long ago, the Left's (re)definition of fascism is mostly "the other side doing stuff I don't like," but as I wrote even less long ago, projection is part and parcel of its playbook

The only think missing is the nationalism that's part of the traditional, 20th century version of the ideology. In its stead is globalism, or if you prefer anti-nationalism, which entails rejection of all things American in favor of a hatred-based elitism, where the masses that actually like the nation and its principles are looked upon with scorn and that which they embrace is therefore automatically bad. Thus, comments about "bitter clingers, "deplorables," and "ultra-MAGAs," all of which are an effort to conflate the far-right fringe with anyone who thinks America is a pretty good place.

If fascism is a far-right ideology (it is on the European left-right spectrum, which is quite different from the American one), then we are indeed in horseshoe-theory territory. The Left, in textbook psychological projection, most embraces that which it most decries, and its “doublespeak” is shockingly blatant in such labels as AntiFascists.

Notice what’s missing? Libertarianism. We make them all uncomfortable, so we are best ignored.

Take note, by the way, that the warnings we hear from Biden, Democrats, and leftists about the Right are couched as threats to the nation, rather than threats to liberty. When we consider their disdain for the Constitution and limited government, it's clear that "the nation" is whatever they say it is and only what they want it to be, and liberty has no place therein. And, on the occasions where they assert threats to "democracy," remember not only that America is a republic, but that many one-party totalitarian states describe themselves thus.

The political dialogue the Left wants is single-opinion, regulated by the woke-government complex, where everything that doesn’t conform to that opinion is bigotry and hate. To paraphrase the late, great Bill Hicks, you are free to think as they tell you.

The “democracy” the Left wants is single-party rule unfettered by the restrictions of the Constitution, unhampered by the Supreme Court, and absent brakes on political excess such as the filibuster, division of powers, or states' rights. The threats to democracy they howl about are invariably assertions that members of their team might not get elected or re-elected. Actual electoral integrity is of no interest.

The sword and shield of this new fascism , and here I borrow from BreadGod's superb deconstruction of neoMarxism, are Critical Theory in its various forms and the present day incarnation of political correctness known as "woke." The goal is an unconstrained, single-party 'Democratic People's Republic of America' that borrows from the various 'isms' of 20th century totalitarian states, with some identity-based ingredients folded into the stew to make it new and exciting.

Am I exaggerating? Am I wrong in asserting our betters would allow us only the freedom to agree with them, to think as they demand, and to do as they instruct? Look around you, then tell me how.

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Peter.