Philosophical similarities between modern liberalism and conservatism and brutal communist regimes

Posted on by

Most of the public think that modern conservatism and liberalism have nothing to do with the regimes of Stalin and Mao.  This is simply not true.  There may not be mass death in the United States and Europe by brutal governments but, philosophically there are many disturbing parallels.  This can most obviously be seen in the modern left by many of the modern liberals portraying communist dictators as revolutionary heroes.   This can be seen by the popularity of Ché and Hugo Chavez within the modern left.  If any of these people do things that are morally repulsive, the modern liberal gives them a pass and says that such behavior is “unfortunate but the ends justify the means and who are we to judge anyway.” No matter how many people are brutally killed by communists, the left never sees the ideology of collectivism and egalitarianism at fault.  It was simply that the wrong people were running things.  Many believe that if Trotsky took over rather than Stalin, Soviet Russia would have been some kind of paradise (this includes the founders of the neo-conservative movement and the National Review who were all former Trotskyists to include Irving Kristol, Bill Kristol’s father.)   The ideology is never questioned because it is considered a moral axiom that all people should be equal.  This idea of equality goes against the reality that each human is different. It is also against human nature.  So what does the modern leftist question?  Certainly not the moral righteousness of his cause! No, certainly not.  Egalitarianism is beyond reproach.  Reality must therefore conform to their ideas.  Thus, it is reality that must be at fault.  If you think that this is an exaggeration, ask a leftist (or a neocon) whether the universe is understandable by the human mind and concrete or whether everything is relative and we truly cannot understand anything.  They will tell you that the universe is relative and  1+1 may equal something else besides two; that we simply can’t know anything for sure.  This is obviously a contradiction because this simple statement, that the universe is relative, is concrete, implying that knowledge is possible.   So what happens at this point?  Does the modern egalitarian reject his philosophy because of the obvious flaw?  No, of course not.  His reasoning is not wrong.  Reason itself is wrong and it must be modified to fit his moral axiom.  In this way, every egalitarian at some level knows that his ideas go against reason itself.  So there is a new oppressor on the scene.  It is not just the capitalist class oppressing mankind but, reality and reason itself are oppressors as well.   To such a degree, reason and reality are rejected for a “new kind of reason” where two contradictions could now exist.   So the old ideas of the shaman and the mystic are revived in the new garb of secular Marxism.  The idea was that our reality was just a shadow for some kind of super reality that was unknowable like Plato’s famous short story about the cave.  Aristotle rejected this and said that the universe was knowable while Plato and his followers claimed that the universe was beyond the grasp of human beings.  To Plato and his followers, science was the study of appearances while to Aristotle and his followers science was the study or reality and truth.

Ever since the Greeks, all philosophies have either been Aristotelian in nature or Platonic in nature.  When looking at history, the times in which Aristotle had dominated a culture were ages of tremendous progress in all fields. Cultures that believed in an Aristotelian universe accomplished great things in physics, human rights, political science, economics and every other aspect of human knowledge. The renaissance and the enlightenment were ages when Aristotle and reason were the dominant philosophies. During all this, Plato and his ideas were always in the background waiting for their opportunity to return.  The old Platonic philosophy of self doubt and an unknowable reality began to rise again in the middle of the 19th century and eventually completely took over by the early 20th century.  Plato and his philosophy that reality does not exist except in some other reality began to dominate.  Reason was rejected.  There was no such thing as truth any more.  The Nazis believed in racial truth, the communists believed in proletariat truth as opposed to the bourgeoisie truth.  One thing was certain for all these groups, reason was to be rejected as well as any idea of singular truth.   When Platonic philosophy rules, it results in mass death and humanity’s loss of confidence in itself.

The “Black Book of Communism” describes the crimes that the communists committed in the 20th century.  The crimes were just as evil as Hitler but, it was done on a scale much larger than the Nazi sociopath could have even dreamed.   I have not read the whole book but, what I have read is sickening and disturbing to the extreme.  Americans today may think that such things can never happen here, but this is the same thing that every other culture said before they were led to the concentration camps and the ovens.   I don’t think it will happen here either. But, it’s not because I’m complacent like most people. It’s because America has enough old classical liberal traditions deeply embedded into it’s culture. These have not been uprooted by the intellectuals yet and as such, will keep these occurrences from ever happening.  If the intellectuals ever do succeed and uproot the last vestiges of the classical liberal tradition, these evils will certainly happen here.  Not because collectivism and egalitarianism sometimes accidentally result in mass genocide but, because it is fundamentally necessary to the philosophy.  Egalitarianism itself implies the dehumanization and mass death of human beings.

Here is a brief article on mises.org about the “Black Book of Communism” and its similarities to the modern liberal and conservative movements.

1,256 thoughts on “Philosophical similarities between modern liberalism and conservatism and brutal communist regimes”

  2. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four
    emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
    Thanks a lot!

    Reply ↓

  8. Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa?
    My blog covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I believe we could
    greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested
    feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward
    to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the way!

    My blog post; shihan.com.ru

    Reply ↓

  9. Hi! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering
    which blog platform are you using for this site?
    I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and
    I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the
    direction of a good platform.

    Feel free to visit my homepage – TactLine M1000 Reviews

    Reply ↓

  11. Good day! I could have sworn I’ve visited this blog
    before but after going through some of the posts I realized it’s new to me.
    Regardless, I’m certainly delighted I discovered it and
    I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!

    Feel free to visit my blog: Hamish

    Reply ↓

  14. I almost never leave comments, however i did a few searching and wound up here Philosophical similarities between modern liberalism and conservatism and brutal communist
    regimes | FreedomOmaha.com. And I actually do have some questions
    for you if it’s allright. Could it be just me or does it look like a few of the comments come across like they are written by brain dead individuals?
    😛 And, if you are writing at other places, I would
    like to keep up with everything fresh you have to post.
    Would you make a list of the complete urls of all your social sites like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?

    Feel free to visit my homepage; http://www.apparent.bookmarking.site

    Reply ↓

  19. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was
    wondering what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?
    I’m not very web smart so I’m not 100% sure.
    Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Many thanks

    my web site: Fast Action Keto Pills

    Reply ↓

  21. I’ve been surfing on-line more than 3 hours lately, but I
    by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours.
    It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made excellent
    content material as you probably did, the web might
    be a lot more useful than ever before.

    Reply ↓

  28. Howdy would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing?
    I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most.
    Can you recommend a good web hosting provider at a reasonable price?
    Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

    Check out my webpage Air Cooler Pro Reviews

    Reply ↓

  34. It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy.
    I’ve read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or advice.
    Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article.
    I wish to read even more things about it!

    Here is my blog post :: mpc-install.com

    Reply ↓

  37. I do not even know the way I ended up right here, however I
    assumed this post was once great. I do not recognise
    who you are but definitely you’re going to a well-known blogger
    if you are not already. Cheers!

    Feel free to surf to my homepage; Anibal

    Reply ↓

  38. I had been honored to receive a call from my friend when he discovered
    the important suggestions shared on your site.

    Browsing your blog post is a real wonderful experience.
    Many thanks for thinking of readers just like me, and I desire for you the
    best of success as being a professional in this topic.

    Here is my homepage … Keto Lite Keto

    Reply ↓

  39. After checking out a handful of the articles on your site, I honestly like
    your technique of writing a blog. I book-marked it to
    my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back in the near future.
    Please visit my web site too and let me know how you feel.

    Feel free to visit my web-site … Keto Lite Keto

    Reply ↓

  49. I do not know whether it’s just me or if everyone else encountering issues with your website.
    It looks like some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
    This might be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen previously.

    Many thanks

    my blog Pure Form Keto Review

    Reply ↓

  50. Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative.
    I am going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future.
    Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
    Cheers!

    Here is my web blog; Lithederm Reviews

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *