Philosophical Void

I'm seeing a couple of discussion about ideology. Specifically, some people are wondering if the ineptitude of the Bush administration will affect public opinion on conservative "small government" philosophy vs. liberal "big-government". Those discussions are here , here and here.

These discussions are good as far as they go. But one thing I think is really missing is the focus on Bush ideology vs. conservatism. Bush is not a conservative. He's a fascist. And no, I'm not implementing Godwin's Law.

I'm speaking in a pure political sense. Bush's ideology is centered on two concepts. First, attain and maintain centralized power at all costs, utilizing the "end justifies the means" value base. Second, support corporate power and wealth for it is the source of the first principle.

This is not conservatism. Look it up.

Thus, I think these discussion get off to a bad start right from the get-go by mis-defining Bush. Much of the analysis of Bush displays a certain confusion that Bush, while a "conservative", has expanded government, spent into deficits, and centralized power in the federal government. Often the conclusion is, this does not compute. Well, it does compute. Only you have to look at the data in light of fascism rather than conservatism. And few are willing to do that because of the negative connotations of the term "fascism" and Godwin's law. But hey, let's not put lipstick on a pig. It is what it really is.