Aren't socialism and Nazi fascism both forms of liberalism?

Question

Most reasonable people agree that liberalism and socialism are approximately the same. As a retort, liberals often say that fascism is the polar extreme of conservativism.

Since true conservatives believe in individual freedom and minimal government, wouldn't fascism also be a liberal form of government?

Hitler was very much like a modern liberal inasmuch as he supported government regulation of business, centralized power, promiscuity, anti-religion and gun control.

diogenese19348 -

I do not entirely agree with your assessment. I think that modern libertarians are the legitimate children of traditional conservatism. Modern conservatism has been watered down by too much political compromise with liberal socialists over the years. I think your answer is well thought out and worthy of consideration. Thank you.

Leftist1234-

"Left wing socialists want socialism to aid society and provide for enhancing life for everyone."

That sounds so warm and fuzzy, but isn't it odd how this same ideology is responsible for more misery and death than any other in all of history.

Remember this - capitalism is the unequal split of blessings while socialism is the equal split of misery. It is you that needs to review politics and history!

Answer 1

i love how, in the answers, the liberals only focused on the FASCISM part of your question, but theycompletely ignored the SOCIALISM part of your question. Because they are socialists. And I also love how, they ignore the NAZI Fascism, which is, infact, Socialism and not pure fascism. Yes, Fascism is conservative. But NAZI Fascism is not. it was extreme liberal, or socialist. people never check their facts before posting their stupid little opinions.

Answer 2

Communism is big government! Capitalism isn't an -ism, it's simply freedom to do what you wish as long as you are not hurting anyone elses freedoms. Unfortunately government has many inefficiencies that are inherited. Because the private sector thrives on competition of firms, these firms most pay close to minimize cost while keeping the best employees(higher wages), to fight for our dollar, minimizing price and increasing quality. Every day we make a vote with our dollar but when the government evaporates 35% of your economy economic growth is hard. Less goods(money) to trade for healthcare, cars, gas. They cause higher inflation rates and use minimum wage as a political tool when they are really just rising the price index! Government has no money. It just legally steals it from the economy("in order to help the economy") which has truly been shown disasterous! There is a reason that we privatized in the first place and why government doesn't control everything! Mixed economies lead to socialism and a loss of political rights. It's not that capitalists don't want to be a part of one system, actually, we all are! We are a part of the free market. We can do as we choose. To grow wealth to give our kids a better life, to donate money to what charity we believe is the most efficient! Have you ever seen anybody freely donate to welfare? They know that charity is inefficient. If you are going to enslave the people into your game then at least let them choose which charity they can donate to! But no, the democrats and republicans are high and mighty! Freedom doesn't matter anymore to them, not the the guys up top! They get votes and money from special interest groups to drain your money. The government has the worst pollution track record, and what is sad is this is true! I would vote for a system that was efficient but the human race doesn't work that way. Government help almost always leads to an efffect far from what was desired in the first place! Please listen to the LIbertarians, understand both sides, the Republicans and Democrats, the LIbertarians and the Communists. Please look up the heritage index of freedom on google! Study the ways economic freedom has helped feed and cloth people, as well as allowing aircrafts, air conditioners, phones, computers, and every other good that is made by the people in these competitive markets! Understand why giving aid to Africa's government is not going to help the people. These people need freedom! There government controls have given them guerilla and class warfare! You just can't trust a politician, even if you know him, you don't really know him! His family is more important than yours!

Answer 3

"Most reasonable people agree that liberalism and socialism are approximately the same. As a retort, liberals often say that fascism is the polar extreme of conservativism."

Most reasonable people do not agree that liberalism and socialism are approximately the same... unless your definition of "reasonable" is uneducated or insane.

Liberalism and Socialism are entirely different ideologies. And while most modern Socialists (as we use the term) are leftist Socialists... Socialism as a system isn't a leftist ideology.

Fascism, on the other hand, *is* a conservative movement by definition.

"Since true conservatives believe in individual freedom and minimal government, wouldn't fascism also be a liberal form of government?"

No. You're making the mistake of believing that how you define conservative in our government is the universal ideological definition of conservativism. (I don't agree with your definition, regardless.)

Probably more appropriately fascism should be called a right-wing ideology, but most people use the catch-all of conservativism to describe that.

Political liberalism has no similarities to fascism whatsoever. Neo-conservativism on the other hand...

"Hitler was very much like a modern liberal inasmuch as he supported government regulation of business, centralized power, promiscuity, anti-religion and gun control."

Please. That's insulting.

Hitler was a national socialist, but not a liberal by any stretch. Fascism is a form of right-wing socialism. What defines whether socialism is right-wing or left-wing, you may ask? (assuming your being honest)

Intent.

Left wing socialists want socialism to aid society and provide for enhancing life for everyone.

Right wing socialists want socialism in order to establish statist economies for their own purposes and profit.

This puts Hitler clearly in the right-wing socialist camp.

I think you need to forget what you think you know and go and take a real course on political history that actually explains these issues and systems without a right-wing bias.

Answer 4

truthfully i'd argue that the two socialism and fascism are the two interior the comparable realm of ideology, quite the statist quadrant. Liberals generally prefer social freedom and fiscal regulation. you may think of that, on an ideological point, that the severe of that philosophy is socialism, quite a thoroughly regulated economic equipment. yet the place they diverge is interior the social factor. a thoroughly controlled economic equipment can in trouble-free terms be attained via thoroughly controlling the society. As such there is little if any very own freedom in a strict socialist state, and any such government would be considered statist. Now permit's look at fascism and conservatives. A conservative believes that we choose social regulation yet could have financial freedom. And to three extent that fits in with fascism. see you later as you're helping the state and residing in an outstanding upright way you're loose to do enterprise as you please. as quickly as back, whether, we run into the actuality that for the time of a fascist state the place the sturdy of the country takes prominence you quite have no financial freedom. sources rights are in trouble-free terms allowed see you later via fact the state deems them ideal, meaning they do no longer look to be rights in any respect. If the state needs to nationalize a service for the sturdy of the country they'd. meaning there is not any social or financial freedom, which places them interior the statist quadrant of ideologies. Socialists and fascists would variety interior the how and why of their ideologies, however the top consequence is government administration of the two the social and fiscal aspects of the custom. And finished administration fits into neither conservative nor liberal faculties of concept. that's a topic with the left/amazing version of political concept. What do you do whilst a cornerstone of liberal concept is trampled interior the call of yet another liberal cornerstone?

Answer 5

Um, no. Libertarians believe in individual freedom and minimal government, not conservatives.

The scale of loonyness is as follows:

Conservative-->Authoritarian-->
Fascist-->Dictator

Liberal-->Socialist-->
communist-->Communist Dictator

Libertarian-->Anarchist

Communist Dictators are hard to tell from Fascist ones, the effect is the same, but they have different motives getting them there.

I am a Libertarian, and the extreme end of my group is just plain nuts, so I am not claiming to be any better than the other two, just that they are not the same. Libertarians due tend to get grouped in with Conservatives more than Liberals.

-Dio

Answer 6

Facisim is certainly more compatable with liberlisim than conservitisim. Facisim seeks to elevate the state above the individual much as socialists do. Large government organs are needed in both facist and socialist government. I would say on whole facisim and socialisim are two sides of the same coin, it just depends on how things work out. Once a state goes down the collectivist road you either end up with Sweden or Nazi Germany. Conservitives could not concive of a government that was so all envasive as either of my examples

Answer 7

Socialism was, in it's modern European and American sense, developed (at least the theory of it) in the French revolution. French liberalism grew into modern European socialism. Marxism, a later and more radically liberal ideology developed later, in reaction to the lack of Liberalism in government in monarchist Europe. Liberalism is the foundation of French socialism. However, Fascism, the ideology of Mussolini was founded in reaction to the left wing ideologies of socialism and marxism. Look at the writings of Mussolini, and the writings of Marx and the French liberals, Fascism is a reaction to these ideologies.

Answer 8

Both fascism and communism result in totalitarianism. But the means through which totalitarianism is achieved by each are very different....Fascism uses the middle and upper classes feelings of national, economic, moral and/or racial/ethnic superiority to gain control resulting in anti-liberal sentiment, while communism uses the lower and working classes feelings of being exploited by the wealthy elitists to gain control resulting in anti-capitalistic sentiment.

Answer 9

Au contraire, modern conservatives support minimal economic control, and more social control. Nazism is a very extreme form of this. So Nazism/fascism as a form of extreme conservatism (Coulterism) is an adequate example.

You describe conservatives as if they were libertarians, which the base of them are not.

Answer 10

Where are you getting that Hitler was anti religion?
Every three days or so a conservative answerer comes on YA and tries to paint Hitler as a liberal socialist. Those questioners should read up on the night of long knives on wikipedia.