Culture Clips—October 28, 2002
Compiled by Sylvia Finlayson
Associate Editor, Meridian Magazine

Left-wing Fascism

"The ideas of Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism, are remarkably similar to the ideas of modern-day Western Leftists. If Mussolini was not the direct teacher of modern-day Leftists, he was certainly a major predecessor. What Leftists advocate today is not, of course, totally identical with what Mussolini was advocating and doing 60 to 80 years ago in Italy but there are nonetheless extensive and amazing parallels.

"There is practically no feature of modern-day Leftism that was not prefigured by Mussolini. It is clear from the many quotations and reports that are available that Mussolini was very much a kindred spirit of modern-day Leftists. It is therefore hilarious that Leftists now use the name of his movement as their routine term of abuse! Ignorance of history does indeed lead to some strange follies.

"He started out as such a radical unionist firebrand and Marxist agitator that he was often jailed for his pains. But as he matured he moved towards somewhat more moderate politics which saw him win power by political rather than by revolutionary means. Modern-day Leftists seem to be the same. The young go out demonstrating against globalization and the like while older Leftists exert their efforts within the framework of conventional democratic politics — via the major Leftist political parties.

"And no one was a more ardent advocate of government provision of basic services than Mussolini was — and he actually put those ideas into practice on a large scale as well. And he also instituted a 'welfare state' that was very advanced for the times."

John J . Ray
Front Page
10/22/02
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Golden Throat

"Sen. John McCain couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle.

"And that was part of his comedy shtick this weekend as the Arizona Republican butchered a number of Barbra Streisand songs and slammed her politics as he hosted NBC's 'Saturday Night Live.

"In a spoof commercial hawking an album called 'McCain Sings Streisand,' the senator portrayed himself as a man who 'has served his country in the military, the Congress, and the Senate,' said the announcer. 'Now he serves America with song.'

"That's when McCain jumped into a brutal rendition of Streisand's 'Evergreen.'

"'I've been in politics for over 20 years, and for over 20 years, I've had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job,' said McCain during the spot. 'So I decided to try my hand at her job.'

"'Do I know how to sing?' McCain asked. 'About as well as she knows how to govern America,' he said to roaring laughter from the studio audience."

Joe Kovacs
Worldnetdaily
10/20/02
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The Essence of Bigotry

There are, I think, two kinds of racial smears. There's the old-fashioned n-word bigotry, the kind that still sadly exists in many places, the kind that hovers in far milder forms in the psyches of many of us. Yes, you too, dear Salon reader. And then there's the second kind of smear, the notion that someone who has a different politics than many others of his or her race is somehow a traitor, a self-hater, an Uncle Tom.

Both, it seems to me, are functions of bigotry. Why? Because the essence of bigotry is to reduce the complex, varied, human individuality of a human being into a racial cipher. It is to smelt the irreducible complexity of a person into a racial caricature. It is to deny individuality; it is to give someone no space to think for him or herself, to free to be a person, and not a mere member of the group.
To me, this freedom is an irreducible core of what liberalism should be. It is about a person's right to think for herself with dignity and respect. It doesn't mean that you can't disagree vehemently with such a person, subject her views to withering scrutiny, rhetorical barbs or logical dissection. What it does mean is that you do not play the race card or any other card when engaging that person's views. And one of the key signs that much of today's left is actually, demonstrably illiberal, intolerant and reactionary, is the way in which this is now a common feature of leftist discourse.

When a black public person like Harry Belafonte calls another African-American a slave to white masters, you see what I mean. When defenders of feminism call someone who files a sexual harassment lawsuit "trailer-trash," you get the picture. When a gay man can write a column asserting that another man is a "nasty faggot," it's hard to think of how much lower the discourse can get. When liberals denigrate the president as a "boy" or as a "sissy," to quote Maureen Dowd, homophobia doesn't lurk far behind.

Andrew Sullivan
Salon
10/25/02
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Patent Absurdity

"You do not have the right to keep generic drugs off the market for frivolous reasons," President George Bush declared on Monday as he announced his administration's new effort to bust up complicated legal schemes devised to do just that. Drug manufacturers have been using loopholes in the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act—which is aimed at promoting cheaper alternatives to brand name pharmaceuticals whose patents have expired—to prevent competition.

It's no wonder that brand name drug makers are worried. In 1984, when the law was passed, only 19 percent of prescriptions were for generic drugs; today the figure is 47 percent. That means patients have saved a lot of money. Generic drugs are just as effective as their brand name equivalents, and typically cost one-third as much.

But in recent years, major pharmaceutical companies have gotten greedy. Instead of being satisfied with their 20-year monopolies on new drugs, they have tried to prevent competing manufacturers from using their recipes to make cheaper versions of their drugs.

One approach is to apply for a secondary patent on drugs whose recipes are about to enter the public domain, citing a new formulation, a new pill form, or new packaging. When a generic drug maker tries to bring its version of a brand name drug to market, the original manufacturer sues under the Hatch-Waxman Act, which provides for an automatic 30-month delay while a court sorts out the "new" patent issues. Last summer the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) highlighted several cases in which pharmaceutical companies have brought serial lawsuits, prompting a succession of 30-month delays.

The result of such tactics, as President Bush noted Monday, is that "these delays have gone on, in some cases, for 37 months or 53 months or 65 months." Considering that every month that AstraZeneca can maintain its monopoly on Prilosec earns it $250 million, the urge to scam the system is irresistible.

Ronald Bailey
Reason
10/23/02
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