Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Hitler and Stalin Were Really Kissing Cousins

Even though the Nazi Party in Germany broadcast its socialist philosophy loud and clear, many of our intelligentsia and political philosophers (then and now) tend to overlook their honesty in advertising and prefer to dwell on the fascist parts of the Nazi philosophy. Nevertheless, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party) was what it was. If this sort of thing interests you at all, a recent article by libertarian philosopher Tibor Machan is a must-read: Nietzsche and the Nazis.

My father, who experienced both Communism and Nazism first-hand, through his years in Siberia, Poland, and Germany, made it clear to me that the only real difference between the two systems was the rhetoric. There was no practical difference to the average citizen. You were just as likely to be shot or persecuted (or simply just to starve to death) in one system as the other. I wish that the bozos in Ottawa and Washington, who seem hell-bent on taking us further and further to the left could understand this. The answer, of course, is not to go further and further to the right either, but to maximize freedom of both the individual and of the economy via libertarianism.

3 comments:

  1. I'm curious. What would you call the US government?

    :)


    Peace,


    ~Chani

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  2. Chani: I took the World's Smallest Political Quiz and answered it as if I were the U.S. government. The result, not surprisingly, is "Statist." Now, that doesn't distinguish between socialist or fascist, but if you read the description of 'Statist' on that same site, here is what it says:

    "Statists tend to favor a great deal of government control over individual behavior and over the economy. That's why WordIQ.com defines "statism" as "any social or political system in which state intervention plays a major role." The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines it as a "concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government."

    This belief in government power doesn't necessarily make statists undemocratic. Many statists believe government represents the collective will of the people, and they usually argue that a powerful government is necessary to build a better society. As WordIQ.com noted, "supporters of statism argue that [government power] ultimately benefits the individual himself, since the public good involves the personal good of the maximum number of individuals."

    Statists support far less individual liberty than any other political ideology. Statists tend to distrust the free market, advocate centralized planning of the economy (including high taxes, strict regulation of business, and even government ownership or control of major industries), oppose "alternative" lifestyles that go against the beliefs of a majority of citizens, and downplay the importance of civil liberties. In short, statists consistently doubt that economic liberty and individual freedom are necessary, practical, or workable in today's world.

    Some statists call their political beliefs populism, socialism, or communitarianism. At the extreme, undemocratic end of the statist spectrum, statism also encompasses communism, fascism, and other forms of totalitarianism."

    Me again:

    Interestingly, although the government itself is 'Statist' as characterized by this quiz, I don't believe that the popultation of the United States really has the government it wants. That is because there are parts of the right (economic liberty) and the left (individual liberty) that many people would like to see together, in one political ideology, but they can't really get it because the liberal/conservative, Democratic/Republican system makes them choose one or the other. Many people don't really understand libertarianism, which should be their logical choice, often characterizing it as 'far right,' a notion so ludicrous that it is difficult to respond to with a straight face.

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  3. The American political "parties" are very much a smokescreen: A cheap veneer of difference on the campaign trail that translates into the same old socialism when elected.
    Add to this convoluted structure a population that has largely been sold the lie of "dependent individualism"; the FOOL-osophy you have the right to live as degenerately as you wish on largesse from the public fund.
    At the other end of the spectrum, OMFR celebra-skanks get lauded to the heavens for drunkenness and judicial favoritism, not achievement.

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