Why Canadians are Sympathetic to Socialism

I want to follow the leads of two other blogs-- Od and Clinton-- in discussing the misconception that Fascism, when placed on the political spectrum, is a far right ideology, a statement which is historically and philosophically untrue and has troublesome implications. Fascism is as far left as totalitarianism and communism.

The error originates in our school system and it is taught, believed and further propagated by Canadians throughout their lives. We remember the spiel. Russia is a far left ideology, a moral fantasy which is failing, due to its practical implication (our texts still teach the cold war as if it is still ongoing--1980), and that fascism is a far right ideology which is racist and nationalist (both true), and capitalist (factually untrue. The rewards of production were state owned and orientated… see Od and Clinton), and finally we end with the middle ground known as Canada being the progressive, just, and moderate country utilizing the best of both worlds (there is no need to try and explain this a pithy sentence as it is the general theme of all my postings).
This philosophical and historical inaccuracy has reaching political consequences for youth. Politically motivated students tend to be interested in extremes (whether this has to do with their naivety or zeal I don’t-- it is unimportant anyway) and when they are faced with the choice between-- very perceptually put-- racism or altruism as a moral code they logically choose the utopian commune as opposed to the chauvinist, violent and racist German example. Thus non-critical thinking people (young ideologues and well meaning citizens alike), mistaking the philosophical premises involved, tend to be more comfortable with left wing values over right wing values in this country.

To say that fascism is as a far right ideology and communism is the alternative on the left is to presume that man is destined to be governed by the arbitrary rule of a tyrant so we should try to choose the best one. That methodology makes government coercion inevitable and a de-facto starting point. It assumes the liberty is non-existent and that man has no right to be free and self determining. It switches the question from freedom vs. dictatorship into which type of dictatorship.

A proper spectrum places collectivism on the far left with liberty and individual rights on the far right. Governments are then placed according to the degree that they are interventionist in policy. States that seek to program their citizens values are leftwing, whether is through social engineering or wealth redistribution, and on the other side of the spectrum are governments that operate under the mandate of protecting the rights of citizens from coercion and arbitrary government rule through legislative checks and objective law.

By this model fascism is a left a left wing ideology. It is statist, chauvinistic, socialist, nationalist and racist with no concern for the rights of the individual citizen. It stems from a tribalism viewpoint in every respect. Citizens in fascist state have no right to their own lives and instead are sminions who are used to satisfy the aims of an unprincipled leader.

Hitler only differed from Stalin in the sense of how he got production from his sacrificial slaves. He allowed private companies to operate in theory (he saw that nationalization of business was terribly inefficient), but controlled what was created and who owned each company, and even determining profit margin making business dependent on state benevolence. Hitler sought to destroy the independent nature of citizens and business alike, and this is in no way consistent with the protection of individual rights.