20 Jun 2021 7:12 pm
Then your argument is that more people would support fascism/fascism-lite if it wasn't made into the f word of politics, which is different from people who argue that (subset) isn't liberal because (reasons).FOS » 20 Jun 2021, 6:59 pm » wrote: ↑ I agree with you overall but I think there is a bit of nuance.
Yes of course the USA is 'liberal'. Indeed both parties are liberal...republicans more than democrats (always have been)
And the majority of citizens in the usa, brainwashed in our schools, take liberal priors as axiomatic truth. They lack the vocabulary to even challenge liberalism as a political philosophy.
But at the same time...wheneve somebody like Huey long comes along, they become extremely popular. The people can easily recognize that this is what they actually want. And as long as you do not inform people that Huey long was much more of a fascist than a liberal, nobody will even notice the internal contradictions here. Indeed according to polls, the majority of us voters want a more socialist economy mixed with traditional social values. That sounds a lot like fascism. They just don't know it.
So is this really a soctsman fallacy? I mean...can you really be a liberal if you do not know what liberalism is? I would argue no.
You would at least have to have heard of Jesus to call yourself a christian. Ideologies have to actually mean something coherent and definable...they are not defined by whatever mass of people decide to adopt the label.
In fact your argument implies that people who oppose the current system CANNOT be liberals or were fooled into supporting liberalism while holding views contradictory to liberalism cuz ppl are stupid/gullible.