Much depends on how you define "fascist" and "liberal", "right wing" and "left wing".
Simply choosing two objects - fascism and liberalism - and saying "oh, they have points in common, the are therefor the same" will not do. Eg. they are both human political phenomena, forms of political organisation exhibited in bipedal societies, therefore they are the same. Well, er, yes, but there are extremely important differences.
- That nazism, for eg, drew some of its political forms from the (wealth of) utopic politics swimming around the early twentieth century, and that socialism, and even liberalism (at its more utopic end,) did too, is a. a well-remarked point b. pretty obvious - how weird if the actors involved had somehow managed to drink, scrupulously from separate cultural pools.
to point to these similar cultural origins, of some of the features, and to note ensuing points of coherence is not enough to ignore the substantial, significant points of incoherence.
for me, the absolute point of incoherence, the utter difference, lies in the way these systems deal with political conflict.
- To say that liberalism instantiates its borders, and acts to suppress difference is not a new point. Lots and lots of lefties take issue with Rorty's classic account of liberalism. Can't remember its name, sorry, but he sets up the idea of liberalism as a circular group, of people, discussing things. That's liberal politics.
Lefties, such as my good self, have often pointed out that it sets up a circle of exclusion, with the
discussion of those excluded from the "circle of debate" simply (mis-)heard as irrational, shouting, aggressive, violent, noise.
That doesn't, however, mean it is fascist.
Becasue, for me, the crucial difference lies in how the fascist states dealt with that noise and dissent. For heaven's sake, the chief characterstic of fascist states was /is violence. Not symbolic violence, actual, utter violence.
And yes, I know there are other significant differences, one party rule, centralised economy and authority. But the violence thing is so big, and so stomach-turning, I am actually really p off that you can attempt to compare name-calling on a by talkboard to it.
Coolfonz - I'm astonished - I thought you were someone I "knew" under a different name! Welcome to mn.