They did....however, Hitler is an example of one that went off the deep end.
Hitler's main points where extreme nationalism, hatred of the Jews and other "inferior" people, and aggressive expansion of the state both in terms of its power within the country, and by invading other countries.
Yes and those main points originated in conservatism. Before WWI, Europe was carved up into large nation states.....Germany was one of them, Austria-Hungary another. They had been in power for a number of years. He wanted to return to that era when the germanic peoples ruled. To another time, when there were less semitic and gypsy people living in Austria and Germany.
He grew up in one of the most conservative nation states in Europe.........Austria, and came to power in one the most conservative states of Germany. He built monuments to the military, he strengthened that same military into a major power, and built buildings intended to invoke patriotic fervor. He brought back old German traditions.
His roots were in conservatism .....he came from the same seed as Gingrich but that's where the resemblance ends. Hitler was insane, Gingrich is not. His brand of conservatism went amok.
Gingrich did not focus on nationalism, or against particular ethnic or religious groups. He did not support wars of conquest and he aimed to reduce the role of the federal government. If you examine their ideas and actions they are directly opposed in many areas. In no significant area is Hitler just a more extreme or "off the deep end" form of Gingrich. In some ways Hitler is closer to someone like Ted Kennedy who would have more power at the level of the central government, and less in the states (laander in Germany) or individuals, the exact opposite of Gingrich's main theme.
I am not sure that Gingrich is a traditional conservative. But once again, Hitler was a nut case........of course, his model will not follow the traditional conservative model. Plus conservatives of the 21st century have changed a lot since those of the early part of the 20th century.
ted |
