In the 20th century, both liberal democracy and communism were Enlightenment-inspired, progressive ideologies promising a new world based on a rejection of the failures of the past. Fascism, on the other hand, rather quickly devolved into reactionary, sentimental thumb-sucking and whining about how the world used to be better.
Is this development inevitable? Early fascism was influenced by Futurism, which shared fascism's love of war, nationalism and masculinity while not being so keen on the whole Roman Empire-fetish the Italian fascists had. Many kinds of fascism were also very Catholic, while early fascism was distinctly anti-clerical.
Could fascism have developed into a more technocratic, Futurist-inspired, anti-religious, anti-monarchical, progressive ideology glorying in Science!, Technology!, The Future! and Fast Cars! while keeping the totalitarianism and militarism?
Maybe it's just because I hate Neoclassical architecture and love Art Deco, but I'd very much like to see a fascist movement which presented its own (most likely rather unpleasant, but hey) vision of the future instead of just aping the past.
While we're at it, could fascism have dropped its horribly inefficient autarky-ideal? I could easily see fascist economic policies be closer to the "Nordic model", with an extensive welfare state and "class collaboration" instead of a completely state-run, "self-sufficient" economy. A strong, interventionist state does not
have to mean complete idiocy.
Just so I'm clear, I'm thinking of all kinds of fascism, not only the Italian kind, but I don't consider Nazism fascism for the purposes of this thread.