Reply #2: The Conclusion Of The Piece Is Good [View All]

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But one should remember that Hitler's policy was not just gas chambers and millions of slaves, but also a variety of sound social-economic arrangements that made it possible to fight, and almost win, a war against the majority of the world's population.

Hitler, while not discarding private property, understood that a long, global armed conflict could not be carried out on the basis of privatization, social/economic deregulation and mercenary armies, with the assumption that casualties would be low. Strict government control went along with a strong safety net, and the wounded soldiers from the Waffen SS in World War II did not need to engage in long litigation with the Reich to get decent medical service, housing and food. Their trust that the state would never abandon them contributed greatly to their fighting spirit. And, of course, there is no doubt that Hitler's kind of bureaucracy would work much better in dealing with natural disasters such as Katrina.

There is no way that Bush or any democratic president could change US social/economic arrangements in radical ways. Thus, "fascistizing" America, transforming it into a militaristic empire poised for global conquest, is out of the question.

But this does not mean that American rivals should be cheered up. The point is that the conflict between what the American elite and the public want and what they can do might well lead to increasing irrationality in the elite's behavior, as is reflected in recent changes in military doctrine, which now authorizes preventive nuclear strikes.