You might have heard conservatives and those on the political right called “fascists”. It’s evident that the term fascist in this context is used as a snarl word to be hurled at someone the user strongly disagrees with, and is not a proper use of the word to describe the target’s political ideology.

Put simply, fascism is a brand of authoritarianism with an emphasis on collective action. Putting that difference aside, any generality that applies to authoritarianism applies likewise to fascism.

The word fascist originated from the Italian word, fascio, which means, “a bundle of sticks”. The implication is that a stick on its own is weak, and prone to breaking easily. However, when a bunch of sticks are bound together, they’d be a lot stronger than they would be separately. The implication is, stronger together.

Let’s make some direct comparisons in an effort to figure out just how fascist conservatives really are.

• Conservatives favor a free market, while fascists favor a command economy.
• Conservatism is driven by individual interest, while fascism is driven by collectivism.
• Conservatives believe in the rule of law, while fascists believe the government can be above the law.
• Conservatives believe a constitution should provide the framework for how the government operates, while fascists oppose such a solid framework.
• Conservatives favor individual liberties, while fascists believe government has the final say.
• Conservatives are free speech advocates, even if it doesn’t favor their ideology, while fascists favor the suppression of dissent.
• Conservatives favor religious liberties, while fascists usually only favor ideologies useful to them.
• Conservatives are capitalistic, while fascists are socialistic.
• Conservatives believe in limited government, while fascists prefer that government should impact every aspect of one’s life.

From everything we see above, it should be evident that not only is conservatism not fascist, everything about conservatism makes it fascism’s mortal enemy. This would explain fascism’s historical efforts to wipe conservatism out, along with anything resembling a constitutional representative republic.

Understanding this, it’s ironic to consider Antifa’s origin as an arm of Communism, and that their insistence on collectivist socialism makes them the fascist authoritarians they pretend to fight against.

No one can govern you unless you let them.