doublem wrote:It doesn't make you independent to make a point that tries to connect the Nazi's to 21st century America. I really don't think the Nazi's and communist are that much different in how they turned out, but the Nazi's hated the communist. Communism was influenced by Marx which is different then National socialism, but largely didn't follow that much. The point is most scholars agree that the Nazi's are to the right, not just becasue it's always been, but becasue that is how the terms have been defined. Every argument doesn't boil down to how it relates to Libertarianism, there is a big world outside of the Libertarian bubble.
National Socialism—the Nazi party platform—was a close cousin of socialism and fascism and carries most of the same beliefs. They all have essentially the same policies and beliefs, but differ in terms of the unifying focus. In socialism, the central focus is
class and the struggle of the working class against the aristocrats and bourgeoisie; “Workers of the world unite!” and all that. In Fascism (specifically the Italian version) the focus was the
state, not class. It was a struggle of the Italian state against the world. One of Mussolini’s favorite lines was “all within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” Under National Socialism, the focus of the movement was the
race. The movement united the German
Volk against Jews and other “inferior” peoples.
All three movements are fundamentally socialist in terms of belief however. Go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Program and read the 25-point platform of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party. If you look past the overt racism—the focus is the
Volk, remember—you will note such demands as (i) nationalization of all industries, (ii) expansion of old age welfare, (iii) seizure of private property for distribution by the state, (iv) seizure and redistribution of businesses, (v) mandatory schooling for children by the state, (vi) equal rights and
obligations for all citizens, and (vi) “that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens.” Do those sound like right-wing principles?
Nazis and Fascists were left-wingers, not right wing. Hitler and Mussolini were both avowed socialists before they branched off with their own variants. People think Nazism and Communism are opposites mostly because they ended up on opposite sides in WW2. And the reason most “scholars” label Nazis as being right-wing is because most of them are left-leaning themselves and don’t want to believe they share many of the same beliefs as the National Socialists.
