Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: Nonplussing over Goebbels appeal to the left.

No.
Tom Brosz — (archived)

The Nazis are the extreme of conservatism, just as the Communists are the extreme of liberalism.

This is a lie, and has always been a lie. They are two sides of the exact same coin, and the leadership and believers of one movement could be easily interchanged with those of the other.

Their rhetoric aside, their basic philosophies, their methods, their anti-Semitism, and their worship of the collective are identical. For a while, they were allies (it was fun to see the U.S. Left before WWII suddenly switch from anti-war to pro-war when Stalin and Hitler had a falling-out.) I suspect that an inhabitant of a Europe ruled by Hitler would have seen very little difference from an inhabitant of a Soviet state.

From a philosophical standpoint, the "extreme" of true conservatism, or what they call "classical liberalism," might be libertarianism, but I would get some argument on that from both mainstream conservatives and some libertarians I suppose.

I note that while some conservatives have problems with centralized control of social issues, only one political movement in this country advocates collective "society-controlled" solutions for every single problem that comes up.

Does this make them communist? No. Frankly, I don't worry about modern mainstream Democratic politicians turning into Stalinists any more than I worry about conservatives turning into theocrats. Where I think the modern Democratic movement will lead us is the rot of Europe. It's worth noting that many liberals think that making the U.S. more like France is a good thing.

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