1. Consider public spending. Bernie, who is on the left, luvs public spending, as did Benito:
A former school teacher, Mussolini’s spending on the public sector, schools and infrastructure was considered extravagant. Mussolini "instituted a programme of public works hitherto unrivaled in modern Europe. Bridges, canals and roads were built, hospitals and schools, railway stations and orphanages; swamps were drained and land reclaimed, forests were planted and universities were endowed".
[21]
That doesn't sound very right wing.
2. Next, the welfare state. Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and all of us on the far right want the welfare state eliminated completely, while Bernie, who is on the left, wants it drastically expanded. Here's what Mussolini did:
By 1925, the Fascist government had "embarked upon an elaborate program" that included food supplementary assistance, infant care, maternity assistance, general healthcare, wage supplements, paid vacations, unemployment benefits, illness insurance, occupational disease insurance, general family assistance, public housing and old age and disability insurance.
[24]
I think Bernie and all leftists would approve.
3. Bernie supports a federal jobs guarantee, which is an idea so stupid that only a leftist could support it. Mussolini loved the idea of increasing the number of people working for the state:
Larger programs began in the 1930s with the
Bonifica Integrale land reclamation program (or so-called "
Battle for Land"), which was employing over 78,000 people by 1933;
4. Next up is nationalization, i.e. socialism. Although Bernie doesn't talk about it too much today, earlier in his career he called for outright nationalization of many industries, and recently he called for nationalization of utility companies and national rent control. This of course, makes those of us on the political right vomit, but what did Mussolini think of nationalization?
By 1939, Fascist Italy attained the highest rate of state ownership of an economy in the world other than the Soviet Union,[42]
Gee, that doesn't sound very right wing.
The idea that fascism is "right wing" is simply ludicrous. I'm far right, and my political views are the complete opposite of those held by Mussolini, Bernie, and Lenin.
Mussolini was a socialist for his entire life, ffs.
