Comment by mschuster91
Comment by mschuster91 a day ago
> Then FDR played with fascism
That's a gross misrepresentation of history. Politically, FDR can be most fittingly described as "European-style Social Democrat". He was not "playing with fascism", he literally was the President during the war against the literal fascists in Europe.
Fascists can fight wars with other fascists, so that's not a counter to the argument.
I think it's a debatable point, but if I were to steelman the argument, LBJ significantly expanded federal authority through his Great Society programs, concentrated control at the expense of federalism, massively expanded the surveillance state to target civil rights leaders and anti-war activists, and advanced an aggressive foreign policy through military action.
Meanwhile, he was glad-handing Congress to exert stronger, central control over the government.
I'd be hard pressed to call any one of those actions fascistic, but if you believe that any parts of modern America are, then those greased the wheels to them. Certainly seems enough to have justified the descriptor of 'flirting with' imo