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Headed to National Socialism
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Lew Rockwell.com
Friday, July 10, 2009
It was common on the left to intimate that George W. Bush was like Hitler, a remark that would drive the National Review crowd through the roof but which I didn’t find entirely outrageous. Bush’s main method of governance was to stir up fear of foreign enemies and instigate a kind of nationalist hysteria about the need for waging war and giving up liberty through security.
Hitler is the most famous parallel here, but he is hardly the only one. Many statesmen in world history have used the same tactics, dating back to ancient times. Machiavelli wrote in his Art of War advice to the ruler: “To know how to recognize an opportunity in war, and take it, benefits you more than anything else.”
But what’s the point of studying Hitler’s rise to power unless it is to learn from that history and apply the lessons? One lesson is to beware of leaders who come to power in troubled times, and then use foreign threats and economic crises to bolster their own power. Unless we can draw out lessons for our own times, history becomes nothing but a series of dry data points with no broader relevance.
Certainly Bush used 9-11 to consolidate his power and the neoconservative intellectuals who surrounded him adopted a deep cynicism concerning the manipulation of public opinion. Their governing style concerned the utility of public myth, which they found essential to wise rule. The main myth they promoted was that Bush was the Christian philosopher-king heading a new crusade against Islamic extremism. The very stupid among us believed it, and this served as a kind of ideological infrastructure of his tenure as president.
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Then it collapsed when the economy went south and he was unable to sustain the absurd idea that he was protecting us from anyone. The result was disgrace, and the empowering of the political left and its socialistic ethos.
The talk of Hitler in the White House ended forthwith, as if the analogy extended only when nationalist ideology is ruling the day. What people don’t remember is that Hitlerism was about more than just militarism, nationalism, and consolidation of identity politics. It also involved a substantial shift in German domestic politics away from free enterprise, or what remained of it under Weimar, toward collectivist economic planning.
Nazism was not only nationalism run amok. It was also socialism of a particular variety.
Let’s turn to The Vampire Economy by Guenter Reimann (1939). He begins the story with the 1933 decree that all property must be subject to the collective will. It began with random audits and massive new bookkeeping regulations:
Manufacturers in Germany were panic-stricken when they heard of the experiences of some industrialists who were more or less expropriated by the State. These industrialists were visited by State auditors who had strict orders to “examine” the balance sheets and all bookkeeping entries of the company (or individual businessman) for the preceding two, three, or more years until some error or false entry was found. The slightest formal mistake was punished with tremendous penalties. A fine of millions of marks was imposed for a single bookkeeping error. Obviously, the examination of the books was simply a pretext for partial expropriation of the private capitalist with a view to complete expropriation and seizure of the desired property later. The owner of the property was helpless, since under fascism there is no longer an independent judiciary that protects the property rights of private citizens against the State. The authoritarian State has made it a principle that private property is no longer sacred.
The rules begin to change slowly so that enterprise could no longer make decisions in the interest of profitability. The banks were nationalized. The heads of major companies were changed. Hiring and firing became heavily politicized. The courts ruled not on justice but on political priorities. It was no longer enough merely to obey the laws. The national will must trump economic concerns:
The capitalist under fascism has to be not merely a law-abiding citizen, he must be servile to the representatives of the State. He must not insist on “rights” and must not behave as if his private property rights were still sacred. He should be grateful to the Fuehrer that he still has private property. This state of affairs must lead to the final collapse of business morale, and sound the death knell of the self-respect and self-reliance which marked the independent businessman under liberal capitalism.
Price controls were next, enforced intermittently and with them grew up a large gray economy, with businesspeople spending more time getting around the rules than producing wealth. “To increase his prices a dealer must have a special permit from the Price Commissar. A request for a price increase must first be certified to by the group leader; it must be accompanied by a detailed statement of necessity and other pertinent data, such as production and distribution costs.”
State production mandates were next. Goods were to be produced according to political goals. “Backed by the General Staff of the army, Nazi bureaucrats have been able to embark upon schemes which compel the most powerful leaders of business and finance to undertake projects which they consider both risky and unprofitable.”
Bankers were required to act as state actors. “Under fascism, big bankers, formerly independent – except, of course, ‘non-Aryans’ – have become State officials in everything but name. They are often in high and influential positions, but they are all members of the compact, centralized State machine. Their independence, their individual initiative, their free competitive position, all the principles for which they once fought fervently, are gone.”
If you think that the parallels stopped after Bush left power, consider this passage from Reimann: “The totalitarian State reverses the former relationship between the State and the banks. Previously, their political influence increased when the State needed financial help. Now the opposite holds true. The more urgent the financial demands of the State become, the stricter measures are taken by the State in order to compel these institutions to invest their funds as the State may wish.”
Once the banks were forced wholly under the control of the government, they became the means by which all property became subject to the state: “The totalitarian State will not have an empty treasury so long as private companies or individuals still have ample cash or liquid assets. For the State has the power to solve its financial difficulties at their expense. The private banks themselves, the financial institutions which previously dictated the terms on which they were willing to lend money, have built up the system of siphoning off liquid funds. This financial system is now utilized by the totalitarian State for its own purposes.”
So it was for the stock market, which was regarded as a national asset. Speculation was forbidden. Public companies were entirely subject to bureaucratic rule. Order replaced the old spontaneity, while speculation of the old sort became an entirely underground activity. The largest companies didn’t entirely mind the course of events. “The disappearance of small corporations gives rise to a tendency among small investors not to risk their capital in new competitive enterprises. The larger the big corporations grow and the closer they become connected with the State bureaucracy, the fewer chances there are for the rise of new competitors.”
So too for insurance companies, which were compelled to buy government paper.
The tendency toward ever more economic regulation resulted not in socialism as such but fascist planning. “The fascist State does not merely grant the private entrepreneur the right to produce for the market, but insists on production as a duty which must be fulfilled even though there be no profit. The businessman cannot close down his factory or shop because he finds it unprofitable. To do this requires a special permit issued by the authorities.”
The national demand for “stimulus” replaced private decision making entirely, as businessmen were required to produce and avoid any economic downturns that might embarrass the state. “The Nazi government has expressly threatened the private entrepreneur with increased State coercion and reduction of personal rights and liberties unless he fulfills adequately the ‘duty to produce’ according to the State’s demands.”
But stimulus could not and would not work, no matter how hard the party officials tried, because the very institutions of private property and competition and all market forces had been overwritten. “The totalitarian regime has annihilated the most important conservative force of capitalism, the belief that private property ought to be a sacred right of every citizen and that the private property of every citizen ought to be protected. Respect for private property has penetrated the spirit of the people in all capitalist countries. It is the strongest bulwark of capitalism. Fascism has succeeded in destroying this conservative force… People still have to work for money and have to live on money incomes. Possession of capital still provides income. But this income is largely at the mercy of State bureaucrats and Party officials.”
Reimann sums up: “In Nazi Germany there is no field of business activity in which the State does not interfere. In more or less detailed form it prescribes how the businessman may use capital which is still presumably his private property. And because of this, the German businessman has become a fatalist; he does not believe that the new rules will work out well, yet he knows that he cannot alter the course of events. He has been made the tool of a gigantic machine which he cannot direct.”
The regime also dramatically increased social and medical legislation, providing lifetime pensions to friends and conscripting doctors in the service of its dietary and medical goals.
Now, if any of this sounds familiar, it is because the principles of intervention are universal. The Nazi regime represented not a unique evil in history but rather a now-conventional combination of two dangerous ideological trends: nationalism and socialism. We know both all too well.
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29 Responses to “Headed to National Socialism”
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July 10th, 2009 at 4:50 am
This future is coming. Check out this article on facing the world crisis: http://www.unconditionalfriendship.com/?p=83
pitofdoom Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 6:25 am
I calculated 2007, but additional Trillions in corruption afforded a delay.
They’ll be no further elections, even if one could dream they’d matter.
There aren’t any leaders to save the so-called future, there is NO future.
Reconcile with the fact that all are just a carbon credit ready to be cased in.
Titanic II’s about to hit the iceberg called Wisdom, survival won’t be valuable.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:56 am
2nd.
pointed Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Fascinating, Jimbo and the sage above who tells us ‘the future is coming’. No wonder the world thinks Americans have totally lost it, if this is the level of response to an intelligent guy telling you that you live under a Nazi regime – even if it isn’t true.
You live under something much worse – a small group who care not about any political system, so long as they control the money. Nazism & Zionism are their toys.
Think about it – you’re unconciously doing the bidding of 150 people max. Don’t you find that a bit weird?
July 10th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Bush like Hitler? Well, other than lacking the ability, intelligence, charisma, competence, vision, speaking ability, courage, willpower, and all-consuming love for his own people displayed by the late German leader, maybe…
July 10th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Governments are way out of control when it becomes all about profits and payoffs as our USA has become. Land of the sleaze and Home of the slave is the motto of the NWO. Pathetic how our congress sits by and actually contributes to this madness. Selling out their own country is pretty low. All who vote against the people and for the NWO agenda are treasonist following a treasonist president and ignorance is no excuse because the information is plastered daily all over the internet. Their reward is temporary but what they are doing effects the future of our generations to come. Someone needs to drill them about us being people not objects of rule. You cannot serve 2 masters and it is obvious to me most of our officials are not on our side. If they aren’t for the people they got to go. we need a very large signed petition to demand Impeachment or form a new government of our own and start over without them. Don’t say it can’t be done cos our forefathers did it with less.
pitofdoom Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 6:29 am
“Our leaders” me thinks it’s Treason into the NWO or hang?
truth911 Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 7:51 am
im in when do we start the ass kicking
July 10th, 2009 at 5:42 am
um…sun tzu wrote “the art of war” Machiavelli wrote “the prince”…do you really want to take advice from a man who can’t tell those two guys apart?
Machiavelli's Ghost Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:21 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....chiavelli)
This makes your statement rich with delicious irony.
A Patriot Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Nice!
Haw-Ha!
July 10th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Well when the MSM and democrats demonize the president beyond the pale, you have to think that when the One with hope and change came along at the perfect time with a little help from his moonbas aka George Soros minions. Many concervatives did not support Bush with everthing, yet you see all the Democrats support without fail their leaders. Conservatives on the whole are individuals are the largest minorities in the country. Conservative would like to think freedom and individual responsibilty is as important as life itself. While liberals are out to save the poor stupid (in their minds) victims and their help as made life worse for their “victims”. So for those obama moonbats you will pay dearly for your vote as well as for those too lazy to vote against him. Obama is the surpreme far left liberal and will cause the country to be weakend both militarily and economically with his madness about global warming.
Wake up Mary Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:21 am
You are right about a segment of right wingers who did not support Bush.
You could not be more wrong about ‘all left wingers’ supporting Obama.
As a left wing progressive I admire Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich.
I actually despise Obama MORE than I hated Bush! No small feat.
The problem YOU have is that you believe the absurd characterizations that corporate media put out against liberals. Dumb.
But don’t feel too bad, many of my liberal friends hate all right wingers and assume all right wingers loved Bush.
The key is to remember that real people have far more in common with each other than we do with the so called leaders of ‘our side’ be it right or left.
PS If you want to see evidence of how many progressives despise Obama, see through his shit, and call for third party options……..go to ‘raw story’ or ‘Alternet’ and read the comments on various stories. Dissent is alive and well, despite the lies of corporate media. You need to unhook completely from the NWO matrix of lies…..it sounds like you only see half the picture. Keep reading, you have much to learn.
Truthteller Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
What l am saying is that all the hatred by the MSM and democrats help elect a president so far to the left that any democrat from an earlier time would never recognize their party of the present. Corporations have been demonized, ie WalMart, ect. when they actually provide jobs and low prices for many poor people and for working families.
OBama wants to grow government and have people depend on government and keep them elected. With every election you have Democrats promising the world to voters, and they demonize people who are actually working for their money. Democrats push the race card, class envy and those people who actually believe in Christian values, such as
right to life. So many on this site want to demonize the U.S. and WEstern values so what will you replace it with?
timamac Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I agree totally.
Ronda Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Walmart is like some new age bs cult that has destroyed small businesses. How can you possibly uphold them & other corporations? Do you think they are in business because they are kind or care about people? How about the big agro companies destroying small farmers? Defend Haliburton! Big Oil! I’m certain none of them give a royal rip about Christian values. Big business has demonized itself. Christian values included sharing with those in need. Walmart needs an alms box for it’s freaking employees because they have some of the lowest wages around. It is not the liberals vs conservatives. It is the corporate governtment vs you.
Ronda Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 7:27 am
How about replacing it with the Constitution? Why not dust that off & put it back in use?
July 10th, 2009 at 6:31 am
THERE IS NO FUTURE,
or one that you’d care to part of!!
KHUFU Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I have been telling everyone I know that fact and they go back to watching the michael jackson funeral re-runs! Enjoy life while you can.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:30 am
If Truth is spoken,but has no little evidence it is truth because it is often repeated, then is it rare as hen’s teeth!? Rare,or done over!? A Hen!? Teeth!? Or, as before!? Truth oft spoken, but, rarely repeated!?
July 10th, 2009 at 8:39 am
article has many wrong facts. agree with the general thrust but the individual facts are wrong and it falls short of what is usually posted on infowars and prison planet. Many stupid statements . Example: “Many statesmen in world history have used the same tactics, dating back to ancient times” and then a reference to Machiavelli who is not from ancient times, but is from 1500’s. This is wrong. many other points are incorrect or explained in a stupid way by author.
Not dissing prisonplanet though which has lots of good info. go Jones!
kebcreation Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 9:33 am
1500’s is not ancient? If That’s the best ya got to diss this article it is laughable. What are the ‘many other points’ you speak of here that are wrong? Do tell? I notice you didn’t list but one bogus one. To me 1500 is indeed ancient.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Good article1 – don’t know what your problem is dwn…
July 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
We’re fucked. I’m in Canada and I just want everyone to know that in Canada, contrary to popular belief, not all of us love your stupid puppet president. Fuck the banks, corperations, religious institutions, media, psychologists, soldiers, police, laws. We’re free and no one has the right to do or say otherwise. Canads’s prime minister does not speak for me, no does obama, nor do you. I want MY freedom, and I’ll help you fight for yours.
Nick Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Are you commie or anarco ?
July 11th, 2009 at 7:54 am
no mater what you call our system!, it is still run by rich, greedy, lazy, lying,overpaid, useless ,old, criminals
July 11th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
For the love of god…CAN THIS SITE READ THE ARTICLES THAT ARE BEING POSTED BEFORE POSTING THEM?
Machiavelli didn’t write the Art of War…this article is full of ignorance and misleading “facts”
Once again, I think Alex Jones might be working for the government to make people panic
July 11th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Dumb article. Fascism is simply the joining of corporate interests with the interests of the state. The rest is just trappings to that end and things used to manipulate the public. Religion, Napoleon’s “opiate of the people” is particularly useful there. Communism is just a variation where the state IS the corporation. There is no such thing as pure capitalism. There are always socially agreed upon collective social programs such as infrastructure, education, defense, police, parks… Capitalism works best if strictly regulated so it isn’t allowed to become powerful monopolies, leading to fascism ( or, communism, brought on by a fed up population) Monopolies were allowed to form under Reagan, along with free-for-all deregulation. This naturally led to a swing towards fascism under Bush, along with a false flag attack and rampant war profiteering. Once you are far enough down the path of fascism, it is difficult to turn it around since the corruption is so entrenched.
July 11th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Hey, Bush is gone,
this new Zionist puppet is not better then Bush