Jonah Goldberg on His New Book, Liberal Fascism

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds and his wife forensic psychologist Dr. Helen Smith interview my good friend Jonah Goldberg about his new book, Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. I have read the book and heartily recommend it. In fact, my blurb for it is below:

"In the 1930s, the socialist intellectual H.G. Wells called for the creation of a "liberal fascism," which he envisioned as a totalitarian state governed by an oligarchy of benevolent experts. In Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg brilliantly traces the intellectual roots of fascism to their surprising source, showing not only that its motivating ideas derive from the left but that the liberal fascist impulse is alive and well among contemporary progressives-and is even a temptation for compassionate conservatives."

In the podcast Jonah says that researching the book "has made me much more libertarian." He doesn't just go after contemporary progressives, he also warns that "compassionate conservatives" are practicing liberal fascism. From the interview:

"With someone like Huckabee; with someone who actually takes compassionate conservatism seriously, you've got this vision that the government can do anything it sets its mind to, and that the measure of good public policy is how much you care. That, to me, is a very scary turn of events in American politics."

Amen.

The link to the Instapundit podcast is here.