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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Father Terrence who wrote (49242)	8/5/1999 3:08:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

You are right about the historical "statism," Terrence, but there is more to both Nazi fascism and Soviet communism. In theory, the state is supposed to "wither away" ultimately, in a communist society. And "statism" is supposed to be characteristic only of the "socialist" phase. Khrushchev was said to have prematurely declared the advent of communism; in Brezhnevite orthodoxy, the Soviet Union had only entered the phase of "mature socialism." In any event, the theoretical goal remained the disappearance of the state altogether... So much for theory... The Communist approach is supposedly "scientific"; everything is said to proceed according to rationally analyzable laws. The individual is seen in a class context. Historically, fascism, especially Nazism, has exalted The Irrational -- the Volk, the Blood, Whatever...The individual is seen in a racial/ethnic context. And so forth... Both Fascism and Communism are "totalitarian" ideologies, meaning that they embrace the whole of life, not just the specific organization of the state. And their overall Weltanschaungen are decidedly different.

To: Father Terrence who wrote (49242)	8/5/1999 6:01:00 PM
From: MNI	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Your reasoning only shows that the US democracy is not in the middle between the 'extreme right' (Nazi Germany) and the 'extreme left' (Communism). This fact is true. The difference between the US and both totalitarian systems cited is on another coordinate than the divide between the two of them. Consider a pyramide, the peak being the US, one extreme end of the bottom being Nazi Germany, the other extreme end Russian Communism. This little additional complexity allows to differentiate between the both totalitarian systems while still making sure of their fundamental difference to the US (and any state that would be called democratic). To give more ideas, notice also #49267. BTW it may be of interest that 'Weltanschauung' actually features a double-'u'. MNI