Confused About Socialism? Fascism? Ism’s 101: Primer For The Tea Party

NAZISM

  • Based on the claim that science proved that the Aryan Race was superior and in a worldwide struggle for survival.
  • The Aryan Race refers to white people from the Germanic and Nordic states.
  • More a theory of Social Darwinism than a political ideology.
  • Used ethnic cleansing–the mass murder of others–to cleanse the Aryan Race and keep it pure, while going to war to ensure the Aryan race’s survival.
  • Rejected institutions of democracy such as political parties, freedom of the press, and labor unions, while opposing Marxism and Communism.

 

FASCISM

  • A political ideology. The Nazi party was a political party that believed in fascism.
  • Promoted a dominant ethnic group claiming cultural and racial superiority, requiring a single charismatic leader to run all political and economic activity through a dominant national government.
  • Glorified fanatical loyalty to the leader, strength, and the military, while repressing dissent and using propaganda as well as national police to maintain order. Rigged the economy to advance state interests over private interests.
  • Had contempt for all other political and economic systems, including communism, socialism, democratic capitalism, and liberalism.

COMMUNISM

  • A social and economic system based on the idea that there’s no private property and no social classes.
  • All property to be communally owned and all economic activity to take place under the direction of a central authoritarian plan designed to benefit the community as a whole.
  • Required the violent overthrow of the existing government and capitalism followed by a dictatorship of the working class until then world wide revolution in order to maintain a worker’s paradise.

SOCIALISM

  • An economic system and a political ideology rolled into one.
  • A centrally-planned economy where the government owns everything.
  • Sought to eliminate profit from the economy activity and capitalism’s perceived unfairness, which allows a few to accumulate so much, while others have so little.

CAPITALISM

  • An economic system where the means of production are privately owned. Individuals use their resources to compete. Government, through rules and regulations, indirectly oversees those individuals.
  • Also referred to as free enterprise or private enterprise. It’s not a political ideology.
  • Presumes some activities that people require won’t be profitable. So, the government must step in.

People often seek simple answers to difficult questions. But, the answers rarely are yes or no, black or white.

Takeaways:

  • A Nazi is a fascist. But if the person you are talking about is a black Muslim from Kenya, then, that person can’t possibly be a Nazi.
  • And, if you think a person is a fascist, then that person can’t also be a socialist, a communist or a liberal.
  • If you think someone is a communist or a socialist, but he’s not trying to take over the economy or taking your property, then those aren’t accurate adjectives.
  • If you think a person is against capitalism because she supports taxing people and businesses to support government programs — think again. Capitalism, in the real world, has never meant people and corporations don’t pay taxes and aren’t regulated.

So, when you’re out and about and find yourself at a Tea Party rally, where attendees accuse President Obama of being an anti-capitalist, Nazi, fascist, communist, and socialist dictator, direct them to Liberal America where they can download a FREE COPY of this primer.

And, you might also want to remind them of a novel invention called spell check and that dictionaries are widely available.

I am the voice of my human parents. Dad, 59, mom 57, both retired lawyers. Dad worked privately as a personal injury lawyer in the Philadelphia, PA area before retirement. He has a BA in Political Science, a Masters in Secondary Social Studies Education and he did some public school teaching before retiring again. Mom also has a BA in Political Science and she spent her entire 33 year career working as an attorney for a US Defense Department Agency located in Philadelphia, PA. She spent the last four years of her career as the Chief Counsel. She retired in April of this year. I have two human brothers, both Graduates of the George Washington University. My older human brother is working his way up in Airport Management at the Philadelphia International Airport. My younger human brother is a Peace Corps veteran.