The New Manifest Destiny?

Had a long day, I'm tired and now I find stuff that I really want to discuss. Figures. Thom Hartmann has drawn some parallels between the Third Reich and the Bush Administration and comes to some conclusions that make me go "huh?"

Now I'm not surprised that someone would try to draw parallels between the Third Reich and Dubya. From my readings on Hitler's government, there are many similarities between the Nazis and the current US administration. But that holds true for the Nazis and any government, anywhere at any time. Every government has to achieve certain goals and the Nazis were no different.

But there are also differences of which we are all aware. The end of the essay is where Mr. Hartmann discusses the differences and comes up with what I find to be an odd conclusion.

Germany's response was to use government to empower corporations and reward the society's richest individuals, privatize much of the commons, stifle dissent, strip people of constitutional rights, and create an illusion of prosperity through continual and ever-expanding war. America passed minimum wage laws to raise the middle class, enforced anti-trust laws to diminish the power of corporations, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, created Social Security, and became the employer of last resort through programs to build national infrastructure, promote the arts, and replant forests.

I find it hard to believe that we won WWII because of higher taxes. I find it incredulous that we gained national strength though planting forests or Social Security. I also have trouble accepting that the Nazis lost WWII because of privatization. After all they were the National Socialist Party.

Mr. Hartmann believes that only a continued move towards socialization can save us. "To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice is again ours." He's right. We need to stick to the free market, small government principles of the Constitution. It's the best choice we can make.