From a reader:
Subject: Liberal Fascism: a gift in the desert
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr. Goldberg, I’m a Marine helicopter pilot who’s been stationed in the Anbar province of Iraq for the last few months, and I’ll tell you that one of the hardest things to bear out here is missing your columns in NR (commercial mail sometimes takes a while to catch up with us; my latest issue of NR just endorsed Mitt Romney for president). So, when I stumbled across Liberal Fascism whilst browsing through Amazon.com, I had to buy it to help fill the void. As we’re a little distanced from current events out here, I didn’t even know you had a book in the works; but, trusting in both the author and the subject matter, I figured my curiosity would be rewarded.
I was not disappointed.
After finishing the book, I immediately knew I’d have to re-read it at least a couple more times to fully appreciate the wealth of information presented therein. I felt like I’d just finished a graduate course in history and political theory (or, perhaps, ‘History and Moral Philosophy’ for you Heinlein fans). It’s always been grating to listen to either my liberal friends or various pundits ominously hinting at the similarities between Bush and Hitler, Karl Rove and Himmler,etc, and know that the comparison is ludicrous, without the ability to rebut. Now, conservatives of good conscience have the ammunition to fire back (I lost no time getting embroiled in lengthy blog arguments with a liberal college friend of mine – a former state rep in New Hampshire, no less – on the intellectual roots of modern American liberalism. As he’s a politics major and eats, sleeps and breathes all things political, he’d crush me if I didn’t have your book). I also found it a powerful defense of limited government and the traditional American right to be as good, bad (without being criminal, of course), or indifferent as you want, without some well-meaning but haughty ‘expert’ trying to make you better whether you like it or not. There’s a reason I volunteered to put on this uniform, and it does not include defending an agenda of authority at the top and submission on the bottom, no matter how sugar-coated.
Anyway, thank you for writing such a rich (yet accessible) history, and helping me while away a few more hours out here. I’ve recommended it to everyone in the squadron who’s seen me reading it (and no sooner did I finish than another pilot immediately asked to borrow it. Another few months out here and you’ll have a small cadre of anti-fascists at the ready). Keep fighting this good fight, and I look forward to getting back home and reading your columns without three months of transit time in between.
Semper fi,[Name withheld]