The Rachel Report Issue #22

Dear Liberty Lovers,

April was a busy month! Christina and I ran around like chickens with our heads cut off speaking at different churches and grassroots organizations in Idaho Falls (three times), Pocatello, Rupert, Washington County, and here in the Treasure Valley. God is so good, and let me tell you…a wildfire of conservatism and Biblical citizenship is catching in Idaho.

We are so humbled by the work God is doing but as always, when on the front lines, you take fire.

In the past month, I have lost count of how many times I have been called a fascist. Fascism is perhaps one of the biggest contemporary “buzzwords” being used in anti-conservative and anti-Christian rhetoric. Calling someone a fascist has become one of the favorite smears from the Left.

Recently, I received a text from an anonymous person that accused me of being a fascist…of course, they said it with quite a bit of colorful language mixed in there. Though I frequently get accused of being one, this time, I felt compelled to respond. All I responded with was, “Can you define fascism for me?”

Well, surprisingly, I haven’t heard back. I say “surprisingly” sort of tongue in cheek. Of course, I didn’t really expect a reply…however, at the same time… if I accuse someone of being a person that ascribes to a radical ideology that is responsible for murdering millions of people and destroying nations…I typically have a clear understanding of the ideology and pretty damning evidence to back up my accusation.

But that’s just me…  

Very few people in society today really understand fascism… and that has been bothering me quite a bit lately. So this month, I want to talk about it.

Of course, as was the case when we discussed socialism, communism, and Marxism, this will be a ten-thousand-foot view of fascism as explaining it fully would take hundreds of pages (evidenced by the thousands of books, articles, and commentaries offered on the subject).

There are two essential parts of the narrative regarding fascism right now in the United States. The first is that it is understood to be a far-Right ideological construct. The second is that fascism is synonymous with nationalism, including religiously.  

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the Left (and even many moderate and Left-leaning Republicans) say that fascism is a far Right-wing ideology. So let’s begin there.

One of the most significant philosophers of the nineteenth century was Giovanni Gentile who has come to be known as the founder of fascism or the philosopher of fascism. Gentile’s philosophies became some of the most powerful and influential in Europe and his ideas profoundly shaped the first half of the twentieth-century world.

In Gentile’s eyes, there are two opposing types of democracy: liberal democracy and “true democracy” which is fascism.

For him, liberal democracy, such as seen in the United States, is individualistic, too focused on liberty and personal rights, and therefore always results in national selfishness. This eventually leads to collapse.

Antithesizing that form of democracy, Gentile’s fascist, “true democracy” necessarily requires people’s willing subordination to the state. Fascist ideology is centered on the idea of creating a community that resembles the family unit. As an economic theory, putting it simply, fascism is when public and private entities become intertwined. Public and private interests are one in the same and the government serves as the administrative arm of society.

Sounds pretty familiar right? Sounds a little like….Socialism!

Well, that’s because fascism was born out of socialism. Gentile was a committed socialist and a scholar of collectivism. For him, fascism was merely a form of socialism. It was the medium between socialism and capitalism. In other words, fascism is socialism in its most workable and effective form. Gentile viewed capitalism as marked by class conflict, wastefulness, materialism, and doomed to profit-driven selfishness which was not sustainable long term. On the other side, revolutionary Marxism was doomed to failure as a result of its violent and socially divisive destruction of the middle class.

For Gentile, fascism traded the problems of capitalism and socialistic Marxism for nationalism and racialism- the “blood and soil” as he termed it- of collective private-public partnerships.

This brings us to the second part of the narrative.

According to Gentile, capitalism is driven by individualism, socialism by class struggle, and fascism by national identity and class. Dinesh D’Souza spoke on the subject and stated that “fascists are socialists with national identity” (2018).    

Fascism is defined by a centralized government, authoritarianism, militarism, collectivism, and a one-party state. Sounds a lot like many politically Left in our country.

Socialism seeks to control the economy through direct state intervention in the means of production and wealth distribution whereas fascism seeks to control the economy indirectly through dominating the private sector.  

Fascism cannot stand without socialism for it was upon this ideology that fascism was conceptualized.

The political Right is often accused of being fascist for one simple reason: fascism has been (rightfully) villainized in this country. Every man, woman, and child in this nation has, at one point or another, learned about Nazism and the havoc it wreaked on Europe in the 1920s-1940s.

Because a key component of fascism is the “blood and soil”… in other words, race and homeland… the Left has weaponized the political Right’s overall patriotic bent to connect this form of national pride with fascist ideology.   

The Left has been working to bind fascism around the necks of the political Right…and unfortunately, it has worked. Because fascism is sold as being synonymous with nationalism, any who believes in American exceptionalism or takes pride in being a citizen of the most prosperous, benevolent, and free country the world has ever known, is automatically branded by Gentile’s philosophy. For most of the population, this is done without the realization that fascism is actually a Left construct right up there next to socialism and communism.

With this information as your new weapon of choice, the next time you are dubbed a fascist, ask your accusers to define it as a political, social, and economic ideology. When they (most likely) cannot… or define it as “racism, bigotry, sexism, and transphobia,” share with them the truth about the ideology.

The truth is that the Democrat party is now the party of socialism in America. And fascism is simply a construct of socialism.

Friends, propaganda is a powerful tool and the Left has weaponized it in this country; I would argue more so than ever before in human history.

Children are not being properly educated about history or the truth about socialism/ communism/ Marxism and fascism and it is deepening the division in this nation.

The Left isn’t stupid. I hear from Republicans all the time, “The Democrats are so stupid!” Let’s be clear…they are not. Yes, there are “useful idiots” perpetuating their ideology, but those in power in the Democrat party are not fools. They are calculated and strategic.

Selling the narrative of Left-wing socialism and Right-wing fascism was an effective move on the American political landscape that has caused division and distraction.

Division and distraction are the two most powerful tools in the Left playbook. Because what do division and distraction lead to? Dissolution.

I have been seeing so much division and distraction lately in our country, in our state, in our party, and in the church.

Now more than ever, we need not to be divided as a party or church. We need cohesion around the principles that built this nation and truth.

We also need to not be distracted by the “noise.” Recently, satan has been working double time trying to distract God’s warriors from fighting.

Don’t let the enemy divide you, your fellow liberty lovers, or the church. Don’t let the enemy distract you from the calling God has for you and the battles you are called to fight.

You conservative… you believer… are dangerous to the Left. Your knowledge is power. Your passion is power. Your cohesion is dangerous. Your focus is dangerous.

So be dangerous.

Each morning when you wake, be the person satan says “Shoot, she’s/he’s up!”

Don’t be afraid to be attacked by the Left.

I spoke with a fifteen-year-old gal last month about just that. She said, “If I say I’m a conservative at school, I’ll be called names and lose friends.” My heart went out to her and I shared one of my favorite quotes with her from a professor I studied under: “The God of history has a way of vindicating the memory of the righteous.” God is your rear guard (Isaiah 52:12; Isaiah 58:8).

Let Him vindicate your name and reputation.

If you’re not taking fire, you’re not on the front lines.

Believers, we are called to be on the front lines, fighting for the innocent and vulnerable, standing for truth, battling for justice, and attacking evil. 

Yes, attacking evil. Do not just play defense with evil. Play offense. 

Dangerously attack evil.    

Be dangerous to the enemy.

Be dangerous to evil.

Be dangerous to satan.

Christina and I had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Rick Brown and Charlie Kirk this past weekend. While chatting with pastor Rick over dinner, he told me “Truth without courage is an orphan.” 

Have courage. 

Don’t be afraid of being called a fascist…or whatever else the new “buzzword” insult is- racist, bigot, Christian nationalist, sexist, extremist, etc.

Be afraid of being called neutral.

Be afraid of being called apathetic.

Be afraid of being called complacent.

Be afraid of being called the generation…who lost liberty.