@old europe,
old europe wrote:
....
Because it seems that you use "authoritarian" and "left-wing" pretty much as synonyms. Which would mean that right-wing dictatorships, by definition, cannot exist. Or that a totalitarian theocracy would be the same as a socialist dictatorship. At least that's what you have hinted at so far.
But maybe that's the thesis you're trying to propagate here: that right-wing dictatorships don't exist. .....
I have answered this yesterday evening, but this morning I would like to add this to it.
Actually, you are touching on a very basic and real belief of conservative or right wing idealogy, at least as I understand it in today's world, and I believe as other conservatives also understand it. That is, that we believe in freedom and responsibility of the individual, which in fact does run totally counter to the entire idea of totalitarianism, it cannot exist under a totalitarian. Think about it, the root word of totalitarian, or "total," indicates something about the whole or commonality, or collectivism. This strikes at the heart of the entire philosophy of conservative vs liberal collective ideas, which require the sacrifice of individual liberty at the feet of the common good, the good of the whole, commonality, and a government to administer all of that, which implies something about the "total" or totalitarian. It would not allow for the freedom or responsibility of individuality.
As conservative people, I think the vast majority of us really do believe in the American ideal of freedom and responsibility of the individual, as described by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights says more about the protection of the individual from each other and from the government, than it does about the powers of government being protected. You see, I believe the Declaration of Independence clearly states that our individual rights are given to us by God, not man, not government. The government is only a tool to seek to help protect those freedoms and responsibilities as granted and endowed by our Creator. Every man deserves to have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we only have laws to protect those rights and to prevent us from taking those basic rights from others. We were never promised happiness or prosperity, only the pursuit of it. We should have equality of opportunity, but not equality of outcomes. Conservatism is based upon equality of opportunity, while liberalism is based upon the expectation and so-called invented right to the equality of outcome. When liberals use the term "social justice," this is often what they are talking about, it is equality of outcome.
Therefore liberalism or left wing idealogies by definition tend to gender more totalitarian, more Statist, more socialistic, more powerful central governments in order to pursue its ultimate goals, which is commonality, collectivism, and good of the "total." I do not believe there should be much argument about this, it seems intuitively obvious to me, and I think to most conservatives. True conservatives that is. I cannot speak for so-called conservatives or right wing idealogues in Germany in the 1930's. I think they were quite likely a totally different body of political thought. I think rather that this issue is better judged from today's perspective.
For all of the reasons stated above, I do not believe socialists or extreme leftists really understand the American dream, the grand American experiment, what it is to be truly American. They do not understand where individual rights and responsibilities extend to, and where the beginning of somebody else's nose is, as they should not seriously conflict, there should be an appropriate balance there. They are either knowingly or unknowingly seeking to roll back the freedoms of this country and revert back to some European models of socialism and or communism, which I believe have failed on many fronts throughout history. And I believe Hitler and Nazism, or Fascism were only misguided outgrowths or spinoffs of all of that failed portion of history in Europe, and the so-called conservative or right wing aspects of it cannot at all be likened to what we have had and what we strive for today in America. NO WAY. Hitler belonged to Europe, and he belonged to Germany, period.
