Jonah Goldberg expresses a low opinion of some very noble causes, such as environmentalism, climate change, anti-smoking and animal rights, because they are used on the liberal left to justify the excessive government intervention and control characteristic of statism and fascism, while, of course, also enabling his political opponents (American Liberals)to lay claim to the moral high ground for themselves, along with the political, professional and/or economic advantages that go with it. This is a shame, because some of these thus belittled causes are extremely (environmentalism and climate change, vitally) important.
If the ONLY way for our civilisation to deal with its environmental problems, which will otherwise put an end to it, were fascist government, then fascist government is what we need. Not that I believe it is.
The author points out some of the very real and deep attractions of fascism and Nazism, which we rarely learn about, because of the political and social pressure primarily to demonise, rather than to understand, them, especially their attempt to recreate the "tribe", which evolved human nature and behaviour patterns are actually adapted to, in the form and function of the state. Although Goldberg obviously doesn't recognise the profound importance of this himself, human nature and behaviour having evolved in essentially two different environments: the individual's extended family group, or tribe, which he depended on, identified with and felt strong bonds of loyalty towards (which was also the primary unit of genetic continuity, thus giving individual altruism its evolutionary logic), and which all states now lay claim to, on the one hand, and the environment external to it (including other, rival, groups of humans), on the other, which he would have feared and, in cooperation with members of his own group, one way or the other, sought to exploit.
Civilisation conflated and confounded these two environments, which the state developed to facilitate the exploitation of to the advantage of its most powerful (and ruthless) individuals (who formed ruling and privileged elites), in a perverted, misplaced and now unrecognised (because disguised and rationalised) continuation of their blind Darwinian struggle for survival, advantage and "success", only now largely reduced to the pursuit of POWER (money, social and professional status, etc).
Nevertheless, within the pre-Darwinian paradigm (relating to the political and social sciences) it is written and still most likely to be read in, and considering the general ignorance (even amongst the supposedly well-educated) about the true and closely related natures of fascism, socialism and liberal-leftism (whether of a Labour, Conservative or LibDem flavour), this is a important and thought-provoking book.
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