Dr. "Death" Kervorkian on Fox News; the "14 Steps to Fascism"

Today I watched Dr. Kervorkian interviewed by Neil Cavuto on Fox News. Cavuto was trying to tie Kervorkian's suicide assistance together with Obamacare and wasn't too successful. Cavuto was talking politics, Kervorkian was talking philosophy and often they just talked past each other.

At one point Cavuto asked Kervorkian why Dr. K had, in the past, likened the USA to Nazi Germany. Kervorkian cited the "14 steps to fascism" that some nutcase had promulgated. I Googled "14 steps to fascism" and came up with a list that appears dishonest and agenda-driven. It did not describe fascism; it seemed to be describing attributes of Bush and Republicans (or more accurately, the left's skewed beliefs about them) and trying to pass them off as fascism.

Some of the "fascist points" in the list:

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

My comment: So if you are patriotic, you're a fascist. Riiiight. Schools and post offices everywhere must be fascist. Politicians with lapel flag pins must be fascists.

Religion and Government are Intertwined -- Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

This appears to be a slap at Bush for being a devout Christian. However, it appears untrue as a general rule about fascism. I am not aware that either Mussolini or Hitler, the two leading fascists, supported (or even exploited) Christianity to any significant degree. In fact, Nazi fascists were pagans and vegetarians -- not Christians. Both Hitler and Mussolini opposed Christianity.

See the list here to read all of the claims.

I would refute this list point by point, but it doesn't appear to have been widely circulated or accepted, even among the left. What it does illustrate, however, is how people with a political agenda are often less than objective when describing some objectionable ideology. Their goal is to attribute the traits of that ideology to their opponents.

Meanwhile, if you want to understand the history, beliefs, traits and practices of fascism, do read Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism." I read it twice and will probably read it a third time.

The Wikipedia article on fascism is also pretty good.