NOT Fascism … because we don’t CALL it That

Today the President signed a bill to fix health care by forcing every American to buy health insurance – or else pay a fine.

The President then said that he expects the Congress to present him with a bill to create jobs by forcing every American to buy a GM car – or else pay a fine.

When asked how every American can afford to buy health insurance and a car from GM, the President said that he will sign an executive order forcing every American to get a loan from a bank – or else pay a fine, and every bank will be forced to give those loans – or else pay a fine.

One brave reporter then asked, “But Mr. President, isn’t that Fascism?”, and he quoted The Philosophy of Fascism (Mario Palmieri, 1936):

Economic initiatives cannot be left to the arbitrary decisions of private, individual interests. Open competition, if not wisely directed and restricted, actually destroys wealth instead of creating it.… The proper function of the State in the Fascist system is that of supervising, regulating and arbitrating the relationships of capital and labor, employers and employees, individuals and associations, private interests and national interests.… Private wealth belongs not only to the individual, but, in a symbolic sense, to the State as well.

To which the President replied, “Look … It’s NOT Fascism … because we don’t CALL it that.”