Quote of the day
“Social liberalism is the foremost, predominant, and in many instances sole impulse for zealous regulation in this country, particularly in big cities. I love it when liberals complain about a ridiculous bit of PC nanny-statism coming out of New York, L.A., Chicago, D.C., Seattle, etc. — “What will they do next?”
Uh, sorry to tell you, but you are “they.” Outside of a Law and Order script — or an equally implausible MSNBC diatribe about who ruined Detroit — conservatives have as much influence on big-city liberalism as the Knights of Malta do.”
Monday Book Pick – Liberal Fascism
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change by Jonah Goldberg
Recently released in paperback, the well researched book explains the history you should know.
As Dr. Pournelle pointed out:
Goldberg’s book is an anomaly: serious students of political science shouldn’t find anything here they didn’t already know. Alas, I had to say “shouldn’t”, because a very great number of people who consider themselves serious students of political science will be shocked and astonished to discover that Fascism, Progressivism, and modern American Liberalism have many intellectual roots in common. Roosevelt’s New Deal incorporated many elements of Italian Fascism, and in fact before the mid-30’s many Western statesmen had admiring things to say about Fascism and about Il Duce Mussolini who made the trains run on time and brought prosperity — or its illusion — to Italy. Goldberg documents all this as well as the Jacobin roots of both Fascism and Progressivism. The notion that human life can be improved by central planning and tinkering with the legal and economic system is the common thread to them all.
What Americans are Reading
Just to check the pulse of America and see how things are trending, let’s take a look at what Americans are reading.
Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin is currently holds the #1 position in sales ranking for all books at Amazon.com.
The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World is a very respectable #19 in the Amazon sales ranking.
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning comes out in Paperback in June. I’m expecting a jump in sales then.