Or, perhaps it is just snark, but I find it interesting/amusing/ironic that Jonah Goldberg, with his Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning’>Liberal Fascism thesis, can write the following:
I support the Arizona law, but I’m also worried that it could lead to civil rights abuses.
[…]
I agree that there’s something ugly about the police, even local police, asking citizens for their "papers."
The fact of the matter is, if one is concerned about increased state powers, as represented but such ideologies as fascism, then a key place to look is expanded police powers, especially powers that might induce the police to question citizens about their legal status for basically no other reason than because they can. Now, understand, I don’t see the Arizona law as fascistic (or, as Colorado Democrat put it, according to a Politico headline: Arizona law like ‘Nazi Germany’). However, I have objections I noted yesterday and I doubt that that law will ultimately accomplish what it set out to do.
Another thing I would note about the column, Goldberg asserts that the law is “necessary” but he doesn’t actually make a case for the law. Instead, he simply details other examples of expansions of state power as if to say “well, we’ve done these other things, so we can do this to.”
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April 29th, 2024 at 2:19 am
Hi! Thanks for pointing to Goldberg's book. The link to Amazon needs to be fixed though.