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| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Hehe that's the first time I've ever heard the US compared to Nazi Germany ... what's your factual basis for that? |
Fair enough. A difficult question to answer in brief but I shall try.
What I actually said was that both countries share an obsession with ideology which gets in the way of common sense.
Which brings the question what is eachs ideology. For Nazi Germany that is simple.
1)The will of the Fuhrer is infallible
2)Aryans, or Germans are superior to all others.
3) Arising out of 2) any ethnic groups who are not Aryans are fit only to exploited and enslaved at best, and exterminated at worst.
The Nazis viewed the world in extremely basic terms, anything that fit the Nazi ideal was good, anything that doesnt is evil.
Nazi failure to achieve success was caused by rigidly adhering to this worldview, letting planning and strategy be dictated by the ideology.
Turning to the U.S.A. The US ideology is far more complex but still the people who have an american ideology view the world in simplistic terms, we are good they are evil etc.
The ideology of the ruling elite of america, is boiled down to a nutshell one of individualism. The will of the individual is paramount. By promoting individuals ability to choose, everyone benefits. This ideology obviously benefit the people who control the wealth.
Obviously the reality of the world is far more complex, but not if you hold the american ideology. To give examples of how this ideology manifests itself in practice.
The USA is the only OECD country without universal healthcare. Why? An ideology that promotes individualism would say "why should I have to pay for someone elses health"
The USA is the only OECD country where gun control is an issue. Why?
"I as an individual have a god given right to carry a gun" This argument completely ignores everyone elses right not to get shot by the gun.
The USA is the only country in the developed world to have capital punishment. Why? "If someone commits a crime it is there weakness as an individual that is at fault" Which completely ignores the fact that crime is almost invariably linked to poverty.
The USA has the greatest wealth disparity between rich and poor of any developed country. The american working poor are the poorest, have the worst conditions and are the most numerous of any in the developed world. Why? This is fairly complex but one of the main reasons is the owners of US capital have never accepted the right of workers to take collective action through labour organisations. The individualist argument goes "why should some third party tell me how much I can pay my workers" It obviously completely ignores the benefit of having good pay and conditions for workers, people who earn more spend more.
I could go on at length, but in answer to the question, both the Nazis and the ruling elite in america slavishly follow an ideology which flies in the face of common sense.
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