Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Fascism is a little-understood and overused word. It derives its name from the Roman fasces carried by magistrates as a symbol of authority. A fasces is a group of rods bound around an ax. It’s strength symbolized group unity in Mussolini’s eyes, and thus became the symbol of his Fascist Party.

Fascism was a new word invented by Mussolini to identify his organization. There is no single definition of fascism, which makes it easy for people to throw the term around quite readily. Even Mussolini had difficulty in explaining it consistently. He began the movement as a socialist, and fascism evolved to mean government control, but not ownership, of all commercial activity. That is because people could not be trusted to run their own businesses to serve all:

“Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect.”

And

Fascism repudiates the conception of “economic” happiness.

Ownership did not fall into the hands of government, because that would be socialism, and Mussolini wanted to break from the Marxists in Europe. The appeal of Fascism and its nationalistic fervor inspired Hitler to add some facets of the ideology to his own National Socialist Party to counter the socialist influence of the Soviet Union.

What I know of fascism is its desire to control not only commerce, but society and culture. People equate strong nationalism as the definition of fascism, yet that was simply a rallying point for Mussolini. As with any dictator, the leader was more important than the country. The nationalism both he and Hitler espoused was race-oriented rather than bound by geography.

Mussolini wrote his manifesto in 1919. Which political party in the US does this sound like?

* The nationalization of all the arms and explosives factories.

* A strong progressive tax on capital that will truly expropriate a portion of all wealth.

* The seizure of all the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of all the bishoprics, which constitute an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor.

* The formation of a National Council of experts for labor, for industy, for transportation, for the public health, for communications, etc. Selections to be made from the collective professionals or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a General Commission with ministerial powers.

* A minimum wage.

* The participation of workers’ representatives in the functions of industry commissions.

Is fascism really right-wing?

Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) turns 64 today.

For those of you too young to remember, and those of you whose memory is clouded by age, the common rallying cry of the 1960s was, “Never trust anyone over 30.” Of course, all the current “radicals” in academia were the very ones who coined that phrase. Now they are. And they expect the youth of today to trust them.

Young people in the ’60s were strong and influential. 1950s music (which carried over until around 1963) was almost as processed as rock and country music today. Something sold, and everyone copied. Music “manufacturing centers” sprung up, and labels had teams of writers and studio musicians in house to create a specific sound for every singer they had on contract. The Beatles were a big factor in changing that. With George Martin, “the fifth Beatle,” they created new sounds and rhythms. When the Beatles released Abbey Road they were sitting on top of the world. They were the strongest influence in music at the time. When they did something musically, others attempted to imitate. Youth was on a roll.

They were all under 30 at the time. That same year, I think it was 1969, Rolling Stone did a cover story on rockers about to turn 30. “Never trust anyone over 30.”

Who are the under-30s today?