Fascism

I am reading Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. Interesting book--I would doubt some of it if I hadn't been reading some other scholarly works that say much the same thing--that the United States was much closer to become a fascist state in the early part of the 20th century than most people realize. That Mussolini was a hero to a lot of the "names" in political history of the '10s, '20s, and '30s. That our presidents were less freedom-loving than we would like to think. God was good and delivered us from this fate. Perhaps to facilitate evangelism. Perhaps to save the world politically. Perhaps . . . who knows. Perhaps to sell books, Goldberg overstates his case.

Unfortunately, I have found myself using the world. Our college is going to have a tobacco-free policy next year. A student asked me what I thought of it, and I said it was kind of fascist. I hope that doesn't get back to the president! I only meant that it's an overdone attempt to control behavior by laws. Now, I despise smoking and drinking, and would be the first to discourage anyone from doing it. But . . . if a 13-year-old has the freedom to get an abortion without her parents' permission, a 19-year-old should be able to get a beer and a student at Dalton State should be able to smoke at the gazebo. Of course, the 19-year-olds and the DSC smokers don't respect the limits of moderation, good taste, and good sense. So, by not exercising our responsibility, we lose our liberty.

The nanny state is becoming the mommy state. Why abortion is protected as the ultimate freedom but smoking and drinking and motorcycle helmets and seatbelts are not free choices is a mystery to me.

I would almost say, "Let Roe v. Wade stand" if the government got out of the abortion business. If the government didn't pay for one single abortion, directly or indirectly; if the government would not mess with a health care providers' conscience options, if the government let the same standards in terms of minors and parental consent stand as they do for other medical procedures, if the government did not push for more abortions anywhere, here or abroad, in public or private hospitals. But the left is not happy with choice; it wants imposition, it wants to invade the womb, it wants control. It wants "wanted children"--wanted by whom? (This is not to say Roe v. Wade is good law.)

Those who read this and are pro-choice, read the history of eugenics and learn the part abortion played in that. Who decides who is wanted?