On C-Span this week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) agreed with a caller who said the country is descending into "fascism."  In response, Cantor said the public is "finally waking up" to this and that the GOP is trying to bring President Obama "back into the mainstream."  Funny, but earlier conservative leaders called Obama a socialist and a communist. Preceding Cantor were Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN),  Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) and the leader of the GOP, hate-talker Rush Limbaugh, tagged Obama as a devote of Marx and Lenin.

It seems our friends on the Right need a primer on the political spectrum and political nomenclature.

But first, let's dispense with some minor silliness.  Obama and his party won a crushing election victory, Obama maintains extremely high approval ratings among a strong majority of Americans; Cantor's party and candidate took an election beating and enjoy the approval of a very small minority:  By definition, Obama is in the mainstream and Cantor is not.

Now, for the labeling:  To make your attack-by-label effective, you really must have at least a middle school understanding of the words you're using.  You have to know, for instance, the difference between Karl Marx and Groucho Marx -- otherwise, you make yourself look stupid, impotent and callow, instead of just impotent and callow.  

Most 8th graders have access to a Mirriam-Webster dictionary, so let's use the definitions from there, just so we don't go over the heads of the folks in the GOP.

Fascism:

"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."

(Just for grins, here's a video from Encyclopedia Britannica that will illuminate for you which end of the American political spectrum is akin to fascism.)

You can tell that fascism is a wee bit different from socialism and communism by taking a little peek at the grand daddy of all fascists, Benito Mussolini.  Benny had a private army, called Blackshirts, that he used to attack, imprison and kill socialists and communists.  He helped his fellow fascist, Adolf Hitler (his was a race-based a fascism) both invade France and support the fascist "nationalist" side in the Spanish Civil War (which made him a new fascist friend, Generalissimo Franco).  Another hint:  In 1945, Benny and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were dragged out and lynched by the local communists.

But, in case the distinction isn't clear yet, let's go back to the dictionary.

Socialism:

1. any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3. a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Communism:

1 a: a theory advocating elimination of private property b: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed 
2capitalized a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably d: communist systems collectively

Now the political spectrum is a complex, layered and nuanced thing, but we won't burden you with all that just yet.  In the most simple left-right terms, communism is the far left, socialism is left, liberalism/progressivism is center-left, while conservatism is right and fascism and feudalism are far right.

See?  Obama can't be fascist, socialist and communist all at once.  (Perhaps next week we'll show how he's not any of them.)

While we're on the subject, the Right has also been equating Obama with Adolf Hitler and, with a twist of historical revision, claiming the Nazi's were on the Left.  (Here's Jon Stewart's hilarious video on the subject)  Right.  Next thing you know, they'll be telling us the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

The "Nazi's were Lefties" meme is based entirely on the words "socialist" and "worker's" in the Nazi name - the National Socialist German Worker's Party.  The American conservatives who push this line of thought seem to believe that Hitler wouldn't make up a name that was less than honest to draw in support from people who would otherwise oppose him.  I don't share that faith in Adolf.

In fact, as early as 1927, there were bloody confrontations between Nazis and communists in Berlin. By 1933, Hitler had taken office and begun restricting civil rights restrictions - a decidedly Rightwing goal (some econo-Lefties have also attacked civil liberties, such as in Cuba and China).  The Reichstag fire gave Hitler an great excuse to both suspend civil liberties and paint the communists, whom Hitler equated with the Jews of Europe, as dangerous. Hitler had the communist leaders arrested, and because the major communist leaders were in jail or under investigation, the Nazis were able to take control of the legislature and set the rules in their favor.  Dachau opened that year --  the first concentration camp built in Germany -- and the first people in it were mainly socialists and communists.

Kinda strange that these "Lefty" Nazis were so dead set against the commies and socialists, eh?

Not long after taking office, the Nazis replaced the labor leaders, imprisoning some, with Nazis.  They also controlled wages and forbade strikes.

Kinda funny how these "Lefty" Nazis were so hard on labor leaders, eh?

Hitler was equated with the divine, and complete, unquestioning obedience, was due Der Fuhrer.  The press was tightly controlled and banned books were the fuel of public burnings.  That fits pretty well with Rightwing forms of government, from monarchy to fascism (as in the definition above: "a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader").

On the "Night of the Long Knives," in 1934, the Nazis' purge targeted people who were associated more with socialism than with nationalism, because Hitler didn't want to lose the support of the conservative business community - which had supported his rise to power -- and conservative Army leadership.  Both the Army and the business leaders saw the socialists as a threat.

Industrialists who had provided the funds for the Nazi victory were unhappy with the socialism and homosexuality of Nazi party's militia commander Ernst Röhm, so they conspired against him and got him executed. Tell me again, which end of the political spectrum boasts of its homophobia?

The party always supported extreme nationalism, and racial and sexual discrimination, but by the mid-30s the Nazis abandoned all pretense of being socialist and began selling off public ownership of state-owned firms in steel, mining, banking, utilities, shipyards, ship lines and rail.  The delivery of some public services that were provided by the government prior to 1930 were transferred to the private sector.

Privatization?  Which party has been pushing that one?  Oh, right.  The Right.

The "proof" we most often hear from the American Right that the Nazis were Lefties is the assertion that the Nazis banned private gun ownership.  Skip over, for now, the historically inaccurate assumption that the Right is always pro-gun and consider what really happened with gun laws under the Nazis.

After World War I, the Weimar Republic required the surrender of all guns to the government.  In 1928, the German parliament replaced the gun ban with strict gun licensing.  By 1938, the Nazis had relaxed for "good" German citizens the gun laws that were in place in Germany at the time they seized power, but specifically banned Jews from possessing any dangerous weapons, including firearms.   In short: German nationalists could own guns, but Jews and communists ("enemies of the National Socialist state") could not.

Arming "us" and disarming "them" fits the definition of fascism ("and forcible suppression of opposition").

I'm hoping that helps the GOP leadership and their talking heads sort things out.  Maybe now they can find some more sensible ways to attack the president.  Or something.