Tax Breaks for Dependents=Fascism

Matt Duss dredges the depths of the Corner and finds that opposition to abortion and the taking of positive steps to encourage families to have children is the equivalent of fascism. At least, that is, if such steps are taken in Iran. President Ahmadinejad is pushing a program that would limit the work hours of married professionals. Ledeen:

For this is right out of the fascist manual. Indeed, Mussolini once wrote an impassioned introduction to a very boring book (authored by one Richard Korherr, who I do not believe was from Bologna, and called something like “shrinking population, the death of nations”) urging Italians to reproduce like Topsy. And of course Hitler had all those breeding programs, about which I will say no more for fear of being lumped in with Webb and Libby as a foul-mouthed (or is it foul-penned, or foul-keyboarded) sex fiend.

Never mind that conservatives regularly denounce Europe for having an insufficient birthrate to support its social model, or that conservatives support myriad legal and social tools designed to promote the bearing and raising of children, or that social conservatives enthusiastically denounce abortion and birth control. All of those are cool, but when Ahmadinejad does it, he’s a fascist.

There’s no doubt that it’s poor public policy to try and increase Iran’s birthrate at this point, but the tools used by governments to pursue such ends are hardly fascist, and the goals are not limited to fascist regimes.

Cross-posted at TAPPED.