What is a fascist?

First the facts as claimed by some.

What is a fascist? Well according to the Encarta Dictionary, a fascist is a 'dictatorial movement – any movement, ideology, or attitude that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism.". This is a statement backed up by most other sources as well; some even go a bit further in their descriptions such as Merriam-webster.com, who states fascism as follows. "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

Second, the fun parts made up by me.

Wow, that's a bit of an overload of info if you ask me, but by reading these definitions we can get a grasp on what we can call fascism, and therefore whom we can call a fascist. Both definitions look alike at first. However if we look closely at both we can see some disparities. Both define properly, but both are potentially tools to accuse another unjustly of fascism. Rush Limbaugh has used the Merriam-Webster definition to call one of former 2003 presidential candidate Dick Gephardt's proposed ideas fascism. While the Encarta definition must be a standard used by nearly all liberal media; we've all seen this become the name for nearly all conservatives lately. Now I do not give a specific name for the liberals here, and that is not meant as a way to protect them, but simply the list was too great to go through, and none have Rush's clout.

After some thought I came up with some ideas on how to compare the two sides(right and left wingers)against these definitions and perhaps pick a winner in the "who's a fascist race". I thought that we should first lay down some basic rules to fascism using both of the aforementioned definitions, and congeal them into a simpler form. My idea is as follows.

What makes a fascist?

1. A Dictatorship- this is a constant in both definitions, so must be widely accepted as fact.
   
2. Extreme Nationalism- Again this is mentioned in both, so as far as we can see fact.
   
3. Repression of all opposition- Once again both definitions agree here.
   
4. Political/social ideology- This is not stated identically in both, so I took words from both and put them together. (this is called "sampling "and is used often in the music industry)
   
5. Racism- This is not claimed by either but implied by Merriam-Webster's definition, and when most of us think of fascists we think of Nazi Germany, and who were bigger racists' than them?
   

I left out some points from both definitions because there have been more than a few instances of fascism, and all have varied in some degree on the internal workings related to business and social regimentation. To make a boring story short, no one can say for sure about the rest of it, and it seems irrelevant to the point, so, it is not on my list.

Okay, moving on to how this will work. First, I'll pick a side, (liberal or conservative) then I will take the numbered traits from the above list and rate each side. The ratings will be on a 1-5 scale, 5 being most like the Nazi's, 4 like Joe McCarthy, 3 Microsoft, 2 corporate news media, 1 The French. Again, I must stress this is only a general scale to help me and hopefully some others, gain some insight into who the real fascists are, and should by no means be a definitive calculation. Definitive calculations are for people with agenda's that need proof of their statements. I am presenting an opinion only, and my agenda is only to appear funny, therefore I need only assure I am not outright lying or defaming anyone.

Conservatives

1. Dictatorship- Based on the current administrations' attempts to stack the deck in the Judiciary branch, and manipulation of the voting system in certain states, I must give it a solid –3
   
2. Extreme Nationalism- This is an easy one; with the idea that and we know what's best for everyone else in the world – 5
   
3. Repression of opposition- Another easy one; the whole idea that disagreeing with our government is treason – 5
   
4. Political/social ideology- Okay this is the toughest one; by saying our government must step in and tell us what is morally right even when we were unaware of it – 3
   
5. Racism- With all the PC people ready to scream racism, it should have been easy, but there are more ways to be a racist than just saying racial slurs – 4
   

Liberals

1. A Dictatorship- While liberals are not quite as visible on this, they too have attempted to stack the deck in the past (just not as successful) – 3
   
2. Extreme Nationalism- Okay these guys really need help here, they seem to have given many Americans the impression they are ashamed of us; everything bad is apparently our fault - 2
   
3. Repression of all opposition- Another area where they suck; They try to act tough and ready to fight, but never actually do: I went to school with some guys like that - 1
   
4. Political/social ideology- They wish they had this problem; the only thing that looks like an ideology here is the Green party, and they are not even classical democrats - 1
   
5. Racism- Okay here is where their strengths lie, (finally) they play the race card at every opportunity, which gives fuel to the fires of the more open racists, making themselves appear the friend of minorities – 5
   

The conclusion

The scorecard is as follows, conservatives 20, liberals 12. Therefore, by this demonstration, the conservatives are by far the more fascist-like, and the liberals at this time have the right to call them fascists. However, a score as low as the liberals' points to them being nearly French, and that of course is the same as that "S" word. That word is not spineless, but close that word is SOCIALIST.

Yes, socialist which is nearly communist, and that would make us Chinese. I do not speak Chinese and feel this would be a bad deal for me and many of my friends or family. The food would be good but without an ability to communicate, I wouldn't be able to order it anyway.

I have concluded that to vote conservative is to lean towards fascism, while to vote liberal is to align with socialism. Neither is good for America so I'm voting for Ralph Nader.