I think the thing I was the most surprised about in the third Chapter of Liberal Fascism is how much about President Wilson I had never heard.  In school I was taught that Wilson was President during the first world war, and created the League of Nations.  Then we skipped to FDR.

Reading Mr. Goldberg’s book opened a whole new world to President Wilson.   It’s interesting to compare the things Wilson did during his administration to the liberals use of the word fascists today.  A sampling of the list of Wilson’s actions:

• The War Industries Board, a ,”…an industrial dictatorship without parallel — a dictatorship by force of necessity and common consent…”
• Wilson’s Sedition Act,”…banned,’uttering, printing, writing or publishing any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States government…”.
• Goldberg says that between the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act, “…any criticism of the government, even in your own home, could earn you a prison sentence…”.

Compared to the things President Bush was accused of, Bush was a boy scout.  I don’t begin to claim that Bush was perfect, but he wasn’t near the tyrant Wilson was.  And the left accused Bush of fascism. I wonder if the left has simply forgotten their history, or never bothered to study it in the first place.