Reader SJ writes: I have seen you use the “Nazi Party /Communism liked that policy so it must be bad.” argument before more than once. It is faulty logic. It does not follow from “a political movement is evil” that “every single idea recommended from that party is evil” There is no idea so flawless that some wrong minded organization hasn’t used it, to restate Cicero.
I agree with the broader point, but take total exception to the conclusion. It is of course absurd to argue that since Hitler loved dogs, everyone who loves dogs is a crypto-Nazi. But we’re not talking about minor idiosyncracies of correlation here, we’re talking about direct ideological kinship wherein both political strains hail from the same intellectual seed – Platonic elitism – and have many, many policies and goals in common. My question to those of SJ’s mindset is: “what percentage of policies and positions must be in perfect accordance before you will admit the ideological kinship between X and Y? Thirty percent? Fifty percent? Eighty percent? If you eliminate those policies which are no longer applicable due to the 70 years that have passed – is there a single political party anywhere in the world that has a position on the particulars of the treaty of Versailles? – the concordance between the current Democratic party and the historical Nazi party is so high that it should be extremely worrisome to any thinking, historically cognizant individual.
Would SJ or anyone else agree with the statement that: a political movement is evil, so any political movement which shares a large percentage of policies and goals in common with that evil movement is also evil? Because that’s what I’m saying. It’s not just a random notion cherry-picked here and there, it is the majority of specific ideas as well as the overall attitude towards society that are identical.
Take public education, just to cite one supposedly innocuous correlation. The Nazis viewed it as an integral tool in preparing future generations for a new world order. Is there any serious doubt that this is precisely what the public school system in America is being used for now? If you don’t believe so, I recommend reading the latest educrat literature from the NEA, which will soon set you straight on the purpose of the modern educational system.