2. **Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism. Both Fascists and Nazis worshiped technology, while traditionalist thinkers usually reject it as a negation of traditional spiritual values.** However, even though Nazism was proud of its industrial achievements, **its praise of modernism was only the surface of an ideology based upon Blood and Earth** (Blut und Boden). The rejection of the modern world was disguised as a rebuttal of the capitalistic way of life, but it mainly concerned the rejection of the Spirit of 1789 (and of 1776, of course). **The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.**
## Commentary
The Enlightenment made a big deal about individual rights. American fascism retains the rhetoric, but in effect rights are not considered inherent but rather *granted* by the government to favored groups. Influential-on-the-right scholars like Adrian Vermeule 
favor flavors of "common good constitutionalism":
> the principles that government helps direct persons, associations, and society generally toward the common good, and that strong rule in the interest of attaining the common good is entirely legitimate. The government is specifically in the business of enforcing morality.
See also the Dark Englightenment , with influential advocates like Peter Thiel and the Vice President:
> The ideology generally rejects Whig historiography, the concept that history shows an inevitable progression towards greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy, in favor of a return to traditional societal constructs and forms of government, including absolute monarchism and other older forms of leadership like cameralism.
"The Enlightenment" is a complex and contested category, but religious toleration was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment#Religion] central:
> Enlightenment era religious commentary was a response to the preceding century of religious conflict in Europe, especially the Thirty Years' War. Theologians of the Enlightenment wanted to reform their faith to its generally non-confrontational roots and to limit the capacity for religious controversy to spill over into politics and warfare while still maintaining a true faith in God.
The Christian nationalism central to American fascism is not about that *at all*. The government enforces morality, but religion – specifically Christianity – defines it. (Which *version* of Christianity defines it is a problem whose resolution has been deferred. "Trad Caths" may be in for a surprise.)