Published May 31, 2006
That all us lefties henceforth refer to Republicans as Franquistas. You know, as in, “those Franquistas in the GOP,” or “my Franquist opponent.”
Now, for those of you not familiar with mid-20th century Spanish history, Generalissimo Francisco Franco and his supporters, the Franquists (note the c-to-q shift there), took over Spain in the late ’30s and ran the state as a socially-conservative, politically Fascist state until Franco’s death in 1975. Now, who were the Franquists? They were:
- Rural
- Socially conservative
- Openly, and reactionarily, religious
- Not just religiously evangelical but evangelists of the idea of a greater Spain than then existed (by “greater”, I mean “more super-duper”, not “larger”), a Spain which could be a beacon for the world
- Attached to the old economic way rather than the new, disruptive industries
- Demagogic
- Prepared to do anything to “save” their country from a vicious external threat (Communism, then)
- Happy to limit civil rights to achieve their ends
- Focus on order and stability
- Intolerance towards minority groups
- A leader who is self-parodying
I think the paralells are clear. Granted, we’ll just make our super-duper special party (well, I can’t call it Grand Old, can I?) look even more like it’s run by eggheads, but I don’t think anyone seriously doubts that now, do they?
(Incidentally, it’s worth noting that, after getting the liberals to surrender, ending the Spanish Civil War, the Franquists then went and executed probably upwards of 25,000 of them).