No, no, no, no , no. For the last time, NO!!!It seems that every few months or so, the right wingers in this country need a world history refresher course. In particular, they keep forgetting that WWII-era fascism was a distinctly right-wing movement, and instead go about attacking Democrats by comparing their policies to those of fascist regimes like the Nazi party. A year ago, when election season was in full swing, these attacks were running rampant, inspiring me to author the post Right-Wing Delusions: The Liberal Nazi, debunking an idiotic viral email that was circulating at the time.
Well, the Right is at it again. President Obama and the Democratic majority in congress are attempting to make some long-awaited and much-needed changes to the country. Unfortunately for Democrats, we live in a country where people don't know their history and can only make superficial historical associations. The above picture, for example, illustrates this concept. Any kind of social reform in the U.S., whether it is welfare, Medicare, education grants, food stamps, or Social Security, is going to be labeled "socialism" by the right. That's just the way it is. The problem is, the righties don't just stop there. Almost a soon as they hear the word socialism, a few tenuously connected neurons in their brains tell them that socialism sounds an awful lot like "National Socialism," i.e. the Nazi Party. "Hey, the Democrats are Nazis! Obama is a Nazi!"
Hold on.
Let's take a brief time-out to re-educate the Right about National Socialism. The Nazi Party was a fascist regime. The party was anti-Communist, anti-liberal, and anti-intellectual. They were characterized by extreme nationalism and militarism, and religion was used as a way to control the masses. The Nazis were also clearly anti-Semitic and anti-homosexual. Hmmm.... Sound like anyone we know? The idea that the Nazis, and fascism in general, were far-right movements is hardly a matter of debate. As the following diagram of political ideology illustrates, fascism was not only a right-wing movement, but a "double-right" movement, residing on the extreme right of both the social and economic axes (and you'll note, fascism is only slightly more extreme than modern conservatism.)
The one area where Hitler shared an ideology with the left was his anti-corporate view that sought to end huge salaries for the wealthy in order to boost the economic fortunes of Germany's poor. Of course, this anti-capitalist ideology was driven in large part by Hitler's disdain for the Jews and what he saw as their hoarding of capital. Hitler was clear to distinguish between this kind of "socialism" and the Marxist ideology of ceding personal property to the state. And Hitler's means of creating equality and high employment was quite unlike modern Democratic Socialist movements. Democratic Socialism (which I will discuss further) is practiced in modern Germany and throughout much of Western Europe today. It seeks to improve economic equality through, among other things, state-sponsored education and health care, support of labor unions and a robust minimum wage. Hitler tried to achieve economic equality by seizing Jewish-owned businesses, encouraging women to stay out of the workforce, and by employing millions in an enormous military and military industrial complex.
Oh yeah. Ever heard of the Neo-Nazis? The unequivocally right-wing hate group dedicated to helping White Aryans prevent the United States from becoming "a wilderness teeming with savages," to quote the website of the American Nazi Party.
Of course the modern Nazi movements aren't so concerned with bringing about economic equality, nor is it Hitler's economic policies that right wingers are hoping to invoke when they compare Democrats to Nazis. The modern Republican Party has become a herd of sheep capable only of making simple associations and knee-jerk reactions. My theory is that when Republican politicians and talking heads continually talk down to their underlings, many of them simply flee the party. Those that remain never realize their intelligence is being insulted. So when Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh equate the Democratic Party with Nazism or fascism, the validity of such a comparison is rarely evaluated. It is simply accepted as fact, even though National Socialism and especially fascism are just about as diametrically opposed to the Progressive Democratic ideology as is possible.
It helps to understand that when Republican Party leaders compare Democrats with Nazis, they know it is a ridiculous claim to make, but they also know that their followers will not question it. What better way to discredit a political party than by equating it to one of the most oppressive, murderous and purely evil regimes in human history. As a political strategy, it is little more than very well-organized name-calling, yet it's surprisingly effective.
As we saw last summer, when the economy was in free fall and the GOP's chances of winning in 2008 were plummeting, Republicans will almost always play the Nazi/fascist card when backed into a corner. Take our current debate on health care reform. I'm certainly not opposed to debate on this issue because it is complicated and it effects many people very differently. However, in any debate, the opposing arguments must first be clearly defined. If President Obama's message is (or should be): "Healthcare costs are out of control," "Insurance companies are profiting by not treating you" and "People being bankrupted by hospital bills is un-American," then what is the opposing viewpoint? Healthcare costs are just fine, thank you? Healthcare-induced bankruptcy makes me proud to be an American? Well, no. Of course those are not the arguments being pursued by the Right. That would be insane. In their place, the right has peddled lies like "Death Panels," "government-sponsored abortion" and "euthanasia." And the Right's weapon of choice: Claims that Obama's rather modest healthcare proposals are essentially America's descent into Soviet-style socialism. What Obama and Democrats in congress are proposing is in reality a compromise between what we have now (a private insurer-dominated marketplace) and what modern capitalist nations like Canada, France, the UK and Sweden already have, a single-payer system. Essentially the current healthcare reform simply aims to extend the current Medicare system to people other than seniors, and enrollment would be completely voluntary.
According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research poll, roughly three-quarters of Americans feel major changes are needed to bring down healthcare costs and to insure the uninsured. Given that the proposed changes to healthcare are necessary, just, beneficial, cost-effective and popular, righties are again backed against into a corner. Time to play the Nazi card:
- Last week Rush Limbaugh said the Obama health care logo looked eerily similar to the Nazi Party logo. He even posted a graphical representation on his website, which bears the question, "Who's similar to Nazis?" The healthcare "logo" on Obama's website is essentially the standard Obama campaign logo with a caduceus on top of it. Of course the Obama logo just as easily resembles the U.S. Marines logo, but don't expect Rush to be comparing Obama to the Marines any time soon.
The Obama Healthcare logo
The Nazi logo from Limbaugh website
Marines logo- On August 6, Limbaugh went on a diatribe claiming that the Democratic Party, modern Democratic socialism, and the Nazi Party are "all bundled up under the socialist banner."
- For several days, Glenn Beck has been pushing the eugenics angle. Somehow he has determined that Obama's health care reform will lead to the government essentially weeding out the weaker Americans as a cost-cutting measure. The whole rationing argument is so wholeheartedly stupid and irresponsible that it makes my brain hurt. As if private health insurers just treat anyone at any time for any condition. If anything, a government health program could offer more care because they aren't making a profit on your health. And what would you call leaving the poor, uninsured and underinsured to go broke or die because that's what the free market dictates? I know there's a word for that somewhere, you know, allowing the weakest of the species die off.... Damn! What is that word????!!!!
- Taking their cue from Beck and Limbaugh, right-wing protesters carried signs bearing swastikas and other Nazi comparisons, as blogger Motor City Liberal detailed in a recent post.
A day after appearing on Glenn Beck's TV program, U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-GA) had his congressional office vandalized with a large swastika.
The list goes on and on. All this because Obama and the Democrats are seeking to fix a broken healthcare-for-profit system, for seeking to provide a basic human right. After all, it's illegal to refuse to treat a sick or injured person but it is perfectly legal to refuse to insure them. I'm sure there are elements of the proposed bills that are less than perfect. But to make up things about the bill that aren't there and to compare it's sponsors to murderous, fascist regimes is almost inhuman. Again, there are elements of Nazi Party socialism in nearly every modern socialist movement. But let's be honest. No one remembers Hitler for building the Autobahn or sponsoring great feats of German architecture. They remember him - as he should be remembered - as an egomaniacal, power-hungry propagandist who nearly exterminated a race of people and almost single-handedly started the most violent conflict in the history of the world. It is this impression of Nazism that is indelibly burned into the minds of millions of right-wing automatons when the Becks and Limbaughs of the world belittle the efforts of Democrats to bring about a more civilized America.
I will say this, though. If Obama wants to steer clear of all fascism and personality cult comparisons, he may want to tone down the whole propaganda poster thing.
