Another part of the Lib faith lies in being the enlightened contrarian. This is why Obama does the opposite of what common sense would dictate, because he (the Lib saviour-hero, at least in his own mind) is above common sense and only he is wise enough to understand the *bigger picture* and know that doing the opposite of what common sense dictates will work this time, if only because HE is the one willing it into reality. As long as his fellow travelers in the MSM play along and protect him from any realistic examination of the results of his crazy actions, he is free to continue pretending that his actions and policies really do work just like he said they would.

Reality however always intrudes into this idylic mythological world and eventually the incoherrent fantasies fall under their own weight. The best you can hope for is that you too will not be crushed by the collapse when it happens.

dictonary.com:

.”2. fanciful; impractical; unrealistic: romantic ideas.

there were twelve,number two seemed to fit your definition best,still ‘demented’ sounds like a little more appropriate adjective when describing marxism (as far as common useage):

1.crazy; insane; mad

thanks to all,lots of food for thought.

[From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. [Done]

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. [Done]

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. [Done]

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. [Done]

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. [Done]

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. [Done]

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. [Done]

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. [Done, but not now necessary.]

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. [Done]

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. [Done]

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. [Done]

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. [Done]

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. [Done]

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. [Done]

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. [Done]

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. [Done]

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks. [Done]

18. Gain control of all student newspapers. [Done]

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. [Done]

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions. [Done]

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. [Done]

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.” [Done]

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.” [Done]

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press. [Done]

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. [Done]

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.” [Done]

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a “religious crutch.” [Done]

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.” [Done]

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. [Done]

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.” [Done]

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. [Done]

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. [Done]

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. [Done]

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. [Done]

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. [Done]

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. [Done]

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. [Done]

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems. [Done]

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. [Done]

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

Some are still in process. Some are campaign platforms of The 0bamanation.

Folks, keeping up the argument over the meaning of Left vs Right, Statist vs Fascist is just what the Transnational Progressives want you to do. Keep wasting time arguing what the meaning of is is. They fashion your chains as I write.

And yes, in general, the Fascist model sometimes was able to sputter along, while the Bolshevik model always crashed and burned (or morphed into a Fascist system like the Chinese did).

But to be clear, his broader thesis is essentially correct. And so is yours. And to tie this back to the initial point, both socialisms needed a central organizing myth; in one case it was the national identity, in the other case it was the equally intoxicating notion of “progress” toward the historically inevitable international people’s revolution. As I said, romanticism about an Utopia in the past that never was, v.s. an Utopia in the future that never will be. That’s the difference in a nutshell.

Actually, it’s you that screwed the pooch on this. The origins of Fascist theory are found in the writings of the French Radical Syndicalist Georges Sorel. He was Marxist who observed that Marxist economic theory was not working and that “capitalist” economies were both dynamic and stable. He combined that thought with the sociological writings of the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who theorized that all societies are held together by a central organizing myth or what we now call a narrative.

Sorel merged the Marxian idea of a vanguard revolutionary class that would lead a collectivist society with the Paretian theory of the central organizing myth. He correctly identified Marxism as once such narrative but by no means a unique one. There are many narratives that work for collectivism. The Italian socialist leader Benito Mussolini put practical flesh on this structure and renamed it totalitarianism or in the Italian case Fascism. His title of “Il Duce” does not come from his leadership of the Italian Fascist party but from his days as the leader of Italy’s socialists. Mussolini was the darling of Progressives throughout the world until 1936. Anyone who properly understands Fascist theory would quickly identify international versus national socialism as merely two different narratives on which to build a collectivist totalitarian state.

Fascist theory is now almost 100 years old. It has proven to be a better predictor of collectivist political organization and behavior then Marxism-Leninism. All Marxist-Leninist states mimic Fascist behavior while few Fascist states behave like communists. Clearly Marxism-Leninism is a sub-set of Fascism and not something different from it. Lenin and Mussolini actually argued this in Zurich in person and in correspondence.

It is my experience that when I here someone going through great trouble to differentiate Socialism from the rest of Fascism he is claiming that Socialism is a superior form of governance to both Fascism and republican government. I don’ see why anyone would want to take this position since Socialism has murdered an order of magnitude more of its citizens and delivered less economically then Fascism. Truth be told if you exclude Hitler then the rest of Fascism governments murdered fewer people in total then a couple of slow months in the Soviet or Chinese Gulags.