Do US Conservatives Resemble Nazis?

The short answer is no, they do it. This is tough to swallow, because we on the Left love to call the US Right Nazis, but we really need to stop doing this. I’m tearing Johnny B. Goode apart in the comments, but let’s give some credit where it’s due. Certainly Johnny is correct when he says that the extreme statism of the Nazi regime is anathema to US conservatives, who, for better or for worse, buy into the the “limited government” thing in terms of democracy vs dictatorship. As proponents of limited government, US conservatives in general are not very authoritarian, though Bush was getting a little close. Nevertheless, the case is harder to make on repression grounds, though there the Nazis have US conservatives beat. US conservatives like to ban books from school libraries, but they don’t set them on fire. They don’t run concentration camps or execute dissidents. They don’t even imprison them, though the FBI gets pretty weird towards strong dissidents at times. The no-fly lists, the Patriot Act, widespread wiretapping, “free speech zones” far away from candidate appearances, detention of suspects without trial or even charges, trial of suspects in kangaroo courts, etc. are all examples of how US conservatives love repression and hate freedom when it comes to the law and order and national security stuff. Nevertheless, they’re still a long ways away from Nazis. The Nazis’ extreme intervention in the capitalist economy of Germany surely would be anathema to US small government conservatives, as would the euthanasia, animal rights, anti-smoking, abortion rights, generous pension, full employment, guaranteed employment, Keynesian deficit spending, public works, public education spending, national health care, secular separation of church and state and gun control projects. So in economic and social terms, US conservatives in many ways resemble more the extreme opposites of Nazis. It’s almost as if on economics and social stuff, no one could be further from a Nazi. As such, it’s wrong of those of us on the Left to call US small government conservatives Nazis. Sure, US conservatives suck, but Nazis they ain’t. They’re another critter altogether.

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0 thoughts on “Do US Conservatives Resemble Nazis?”

  1. robert lindsay, my question for you is in what kind of society would you be in favor of the status quo? in what country would you be proud to be a conservative in the literal sense of the word? economically, racially/demographically, drug laws, social policy, and welfare and gun laws? what is your ideal? i ask because you have a variety of seemingly conflicting political ideas.

    1. I would like to live in any of the wealthier social democracies, assuming I could speak the language of course. Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe, Russia.
      What exactly are my political ideals that are so conflicting? Can you explain please.

  2. To Rob:
    US conservatives like to ban books from school libraries, but they don’t set them on fire.
    And of course censorship in the US is certainly not just practiced by conservatives.

  3. To Rob:
    The no-fly lists, the Patriot Act, widespread wiretapping, “free speech zones” far away from candidate appearances, detention of suspects without trial or even charges, trial of suspects in kangaroo courts, etc. are all examples of how US conservatives love repression and hate freedom when it comes to the law and order and national security stuff.
    There’s no shortage of so called right leaning people (they tend to lean towards Libertarianism..) who are against the Patriot act etc. Certainly Ron Paul, so is Paul Craig Roberts, a former member of the Reagan administration. The so called left (not people like Chomsky..) have their sacred cows. Bring up certain subjects (or try to give a speech..) on a college campus and see how long it takes to get you chased off.

    1. Good point, Uncle Milton.
      The likes of Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis, Paul Craig Roberts, and other right leaning people opposed the war in Iraq, opposed the Patriot Act, are opposed to American militarism and globalization, are opposed to outsourcing, etc.
      In other words, it seems that paleocons/pseudo-white nationalists seem to know what’s going on, and in fact often adopt political positions that the left can agree with.
      It’s those neocons and establishment conservatives you have to worry about.
      And yeah, the left is hardly a saint when it comes to censorship.

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