I am forever amused by the claim by progressive democrats and other left-wingers that American conservatives are somehow the Nazis (or Fascists) of modern America.  While it makes good campaign rhetoric or a bumper sticker slogan, the facts really do not support that claim at all.  In fact, the facts support just the opposite. The truth is that Communism and Fascism  are really close cousins. Despite the progressive’s propaganda, both communism and fascism are statist (large, intrusive, centralized) forms of government where the people serve the government.  American conservatives believe in limited government based on the consent of the people and that the government should serve the people (See the U.S. Constitution).  That is why they tend to support and defend  the U.S. Constitution.  Obama is an authoritarian ideologue who believes in an all powerful statist government.  It does not matter whether you call him a communist, socialist, fascist or progressive.  In the final analysis, it all mounts to the same thing.

Both Communism and Fascism find much of their ideology in the works of Hegel.  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher of the late Enlightment period and lived from 1770 to 1831.  Hegel’s philosophy was very influential to both Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler.  Marx would describe himself as a “Left Hegelian.” This meant that he adopted certain portions of Hegel’s views, such as Hegel’s views on alienated labor, the ideal state, and the “hero” of history, who Marx thought of as an engineer that could design society much like a master builder with a blueprint (Remind you of anyone?).

Hegel, along with Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner, also had great influence on Adolf Hitler vision for Germany. The “Right Hegelians” were more influenced by the necessity of “duty.  Hitler took from Hegel the notions that the state has supreme power over the individual and that historic progress demands conflict.  Hitler believed that Hegel’s “force within history” applied to the German people and he justified his invasion of Europe by using Hegel’s theory of ‘coming into being.

The only real-world difference between socialism, progressivism, communism and fascism is that in communism the state owns everything, while in socialism, progressivism and fascism, the individual can indeed own private property … the state just tells them what to do with it!