Martin’s point, such as it is, has a certain validity, but in making it he has simply provided cover for the re-definition of fascism that is the very point of Goldberg’s book.
Fascism is not, Not, NOT mere authoritarianism, which has existed since the dawn of time. Fascism is a unique breed of command-economy totalitarianism mixed with bombastic pieties of the patria mixed with cultic collectivist miasma, focused on a divinized Leader. This is distinct from Communism, where the leader is not divine, but succeeded (even Stalin), and the patria is Good only as a Servant of the Historical Inevitability, Comrade. Desiring to restrict the flow of unwanted immigrants is no more fascist than enforcing postal rates.
Fascism is the original Third Way, the point between the Material Emptiness of Communism and the Anarchy of the Free Market. Yes, the impulse to seize authority is found all over the political spectrum. I’m sure you could somewhere find a Libertarian who wouldn’t mind being Dictator for oh, six months, just so he could re-order the mos maiorum and then ride off, Cincinnatus-like, into the sunset. But Fascism is something specific. And it looks like something else specific, too.
