Stopping the Ghost of Mussolini

by The Individualist

The purpose of this article is to make the case for an amendment to the constitution that I will label the anti-fascism amendment.

The Spirit of the Anti-Fascism Amendment

The greatest danger of Fascism is governmental control of the means of production. This is Benito Mussolini’s Third Way between Capitalism and Socialism, where the machine of industry is not undone but rather the ownership of that machine is transferred to a national government. This is accomplished through byzantine regulations or the appropriation of the equity of industrial entities, most notably the transfer of ownership of corporate stock to the government. This grants the government the ability to control the means of production, even as the government retains its traditional role of watchdog policing disputes.

The problem with combining these two functions is something called “Segregation of Duties”. When one has the power to control an asset, to record the use of that asset and the authority to approve its use, then there is a potential for abuse and fraud and a breakdown of controls. When governments combine these powers over industry with a takeover of social services, the potential for abuse can lead to dictatorial control. The Anti-Fascism Amendment I am proposing is intended to stop our government from being able to exercise this type of power.

Thus, first, I propose the following:

Neither the federal government nor any state or local government may ever hold any ownership interest in any business or partnership, including for-profit and nonprofit corporations.

With the assignment of US Senators from state appointments to general elections, we began to move power from the states to the federal government. The federal government expanded its reach into what are now "entitlement programs". This creates a "segregation of duties" issue similar to the one caused by government ownership of equity, but more subtle. Government operation of these services by using regulation to override the authority of the states, means that issues with how they are managed are less likely to be corrected by the same government that is responsible for them. Since Federal courts and agencies are the auditors who regulate and the final arbiter of disputes there is a conflict when the federal government manages the operations.

Since these “entitlements” have become an accepted part of our culture and likely can’t be removed, the fix as I see it is to divorce the regulation and decision making from the federal government. I propose the following:

All monies for programs or services that would violate the strict interpretation of the tenth amendment because they cannot be justified as a power granted by the US Constitution must be decided upon by state authority. Each state will appoint one financial expert answerable to that states comptroller’s office and their decision making authority will be subject to the executive and legislative branches of each state as deemed appropriate by state authorizes. These individuals will make up a Commission located in Kansas.

Monies appropriated for these programs will be sent directly to the Kansas Commission. The federal government may only define the purpose of the funds. All matters as to program operation and the distribution of funds shall be the express authority of the Kansas Commission. The Kansas commission must provide the rules and procedures for these programs to the federal government. The federal government will then have the duty to audit those operational procedures and financial results in accordance with the rules and procedures provided by the commission.

Fascism without Godwin’s Law

Godwin’s law states that any internet discussion will eventually devolve to a comparison to Hitler. I wish to ignore Hitler and concentrate on Fascism’s father Benito Mussolini. In his book Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg places Mussolini as Fascism’s philosophical father. Fascism as an economic philosophy was based off of Corporatism which is an offshoot of syndicalism. These were ideologies which centered around worker’s unions or syndicates controlling corporations and businesses.

Many label Fascism as “rightwing” because the fascists were at odds with the communists for the control of Socialism. Both ideologies support dictatorial collectivism in the name of achieving a utopian dream. Conservatism in America is based on the classical liberalism of Jean Baptiste Say and Thomas Malthus. These are the philosophies of the US Constitution: Free Markets, Limited Government, Constitutional Republics, the regard for Property rights and Individual Liberty. Fascism is none of these things.

"There is no security of property, where a despotic authority can possess itself of the property of the subject against his consent. Neither is there such security, where the consent is merely nominal and delusive."

-Jean-Baptiste Say, A Treatise on Political Economy, 1803

Compare this with the following quote from Benito Mussolini:

“The corporate State considers that private enterprise in the sphere of production is the most effective and useful instrument in the interest of the nation. In view of the fact that private organization of production is a function of national concern, the organizer of the enterprise is responsible to the State for the direction given to production.”

–Benito Mussolini

Mussolini believed in Totalitarian control and a command economy. He achieved this goal without destroying corporations. However they were directed by the state and thus economies were planned. This article from the Library for Economic Liberty explains it very well (link). Thus, Fascism is promoted when a single state power is given control over the institutions that run our lives. That control can be in the form of regulation or in state ownership. The end is the same either way, it will be government bureaucrats who make life choices for the individual.

Can I get a Trade in on my New Deal?

Prior to the New Deal this issue was a limited one since the federal government controlled much less of the social services provided. Every day social services and charities were governed only when necessary by the state and local governments As the New Deal expanded to the Great Society, the government slowly crept into the cradle to the grave socialism.

Roosevelt enacted Social Security in 1935 and Johnson enacted Medicare in 1965. Fannie Mae started in 1938. Confiscatory income tax rates up 90% were put in place to pay for these programs. The New Deal started the meme that there were “things the government should provide,” which is the basis for justifying entitlements. With the encroachment of entitlements paid by the government, the federal bureaucracy saw fit to control how the funds were spent and Federal usurpation of power began. I truly believe in my gut that this change in the zeitgeist of Washington started with the advent of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

A Funny Thing Happened to My Freedom when I let Others Secure it for me

“The general will rules in society as the private will governs each separate individual."

Maximilien Robespierre

“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”

Charles Dickens

Carl Sagan was an atheist because he thought that there was no God based on rational thought. In the French Revolution high minded individuals rejected God to revolt at the notion that men had a higher calling. These kinds of Atheists reject the idea of God because they see Man and thus themselves as the preeminent authority. To those who are ambitious and want power, a belief in a Creator that judges men is nothing more than a road block to power. Fascism with its totalitarian control will be the vehicle of choice for people who harbor these ambitions in their heart.

We have seen our government take stock in banks and auto industries and fund entities like Fannie Mae and Solyndra. At Gibson Guitar the government walks in, accuses them of violating Indian laws though India sees no violation, and absconds with their inventory. In the French Revolution, an unscrupulous individual named Fabre D ’Englantine ingratiated himself with the Jacobins and used similar tactics to take the estates of the “evil rich” by accusations to the Counsel of Twelve that sent merchants to the guillotine. Vive la révolution!

When a private corporation makes a mistake the government is first to chastise the leaders of the company and to enact penalties for wrongdoing. Agencies dutifully report to a congress, eager to gain a political payday appearing to protect voter’s interests. When a government sponsored entity makes similar mistakes the same politicians will obfuscate the issue to avoid the political fallout of what is Congress’s responsibility.

Giving Congress and bureaucrats the kind of control over industry, social services and government which economic Fascism trumpets and heralds, and which government has been slowly adopting, creates the justification for fraud in the mindset of politics. This is the best argument that I can come up with to try to explain it. Please remember these two things:

“The government cannot honestly regulate what it owns.”

“A Fascist Economy attracts Jacobins and brings the Terror.”

Conclusion

We must not allow the federal government to own or control industries or companies within industries. And when federal funding programs are necessary, that spending should be made through an independent National Commission answering to representatives of each state. Otherwise, we invite economic Fascism, and once economic Fascism takes hold, unlimited power and corruption follows, which destroys freedom. The amendments I propose are my modest attempt to answer that issue.