Under Donald Trump, the
Republican Party is racing toward a transformation that mimics the
greatest evil of the 20th century. Long before the Nazis fully engaged
with genocidal murder against the Jews, there
were persecutions of people deemed "unfit."
These were people whom Adolf Hitler’s extremists arbitrarily deemed
insufficiently able to contribute to the greater German society. They
included the infirm, people with learning disabilities, the mentally
ill, those suffering from epilepsy, the physically disabled, and those
struggling with alcohol issues.
According to the Nazis' white supremacist ideology, those
people were not only impediments to their quest in perfecting their
master race, but were also economic burdens to society. The Nazis
started a campaign of propaganda to mock them. They were called
"unworthy of life” and labeled as "useless eaters." The propaganda even
expanded to math textbooks, which were
revised to include arithmetic problems on how much it costs to care for these undesirables. This was the first stage.
hen the Nazis moved to the next stage; they worked
with political and medical authorities to divide communities between
who they deemed as the “fit” and “unfit” members. The arbitrary
classification system would serve a deadly purpose.
This ultimately led to the final stage: the systematic,
targeted killing of those labeled as a burden. At that point, the Nazis
had groomed the German population by getting a little bit worse every
single day—just enough to normalize the inhumanity. By the time the
Nazis reached this stage, the populace had gotten so used to the
cruelties, it seemed like murder of “the weak” was simply the next
logical step. They had justified it in their minds.
The concept of social Darwinism and arbitrary human classification is based upon Friedrich Nietzsche's
Übermensch
theory of superhumans. These are people not impeded by the needs of
others deemed inferior. The weaker humans—characterized as the burdens
of society—are to be left to fend for themselves. Hitler used this
theory as the ideological foundation for his belief in a master race.
Another person known to borrow heavily from this theory is the prophet
of American conservatism, author Ayn Rand.
Born, raised, and educated in Russia, Rand’s entire philosophy
is centered around the concept of individual supremacy and radical free
market fundamentalism.
Rand and her ilk applied the Übermensch theory to capitalism, which justifies the wealthy’s belief that they have an absolute right to plunder. She called it
”the virtue of selfishness.” Her
philosophy was simple: The weak are weak and should be taken advantage
of, because it is the natural order of things. Therefore, society needs
to focus only on developing the strong, and allow the weak to suffer or
die.
Rand’s theory did not spare anyone, even children. Two years
before her death in 1982, she appeared on Phil Donahue’s eponymous talk
show to explain why it was wrong for our government to ever consider the
needs of “subnormal” children and the “handicapped.” I encourage you to
watch the whole clip. In case you can’t view it, here’s a glimpse of
the beginning.
The concept of social Darwinism and arbitrary human classification is based upon Friedrich Nietzsche's
Übermensch
theory of superhumans. These are people not impeded by the needs of
others deemed inferior. The weaker humans—characterized as the burdens
of society—are to be left to fend for themselves. Hitler used this
theory as the ideological foundation for his belief in a master race.
Another person known to borrow heavily from this theory is the prophet
of American conservatism, author Ayn Rand.
Born, raised, and educated in Russia, Rand’s entire philosophy
is centered around the concept of individual supremacy and radical free
market fundamentalism.
Rand and her ilk applied the Übermensch theory to capitalism, which justifies the wealthy’s belief that they have an absolute right to plunder. She called it
”the virtue of selfishness.” Her
philosophy was simple: The weak are weak and should be taken advantage
of, because it is the natural order of things. Therefore, society needs
to focus only on developing the strong, and allow the weak to suffer or
die.
Rand’s theory did not spare anyone, even children. Two years
before her death in 1982, she appeared on Phil Donahue’s eponymous talk
show to explain why it was wrong for our government to ever consider the
needs of “subnormal” children and the “handicapped.” I encourage you to
watch the whole clip. In case you can’t view it, here’s a glimpse of
the beginning.
Last month, White House National Economic Council chairman Larry Kudlow
claimed
in an interview that “The cure can’t be worse than the disease, and
we’re gonna have to make some difficult trade-offs.” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan
Patrick said on live television that “
lots of grandparents” are willing to “take a chance” on their survival for the good of the economy. Brit Hume of Fox News said it’s “
entirely reasonable” to let family members die for the stock market.
The nation’s billionaires, along with other members of our
elite, who have the luxury of being able to socially distance while
making money, are almost unanimously in favor of getting people back to
work. After all, they are dependent on the workers making them money if
they want to keep their lifestyle intact. Who cares if health officials
say it’s unsafe? If workers die, they can be replaced.
I can’t believe they say things like this out loud:
“We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know. “
—Dick Kovacevich, former CEO of Wells Fargo
“The damages of keeping the economy closed as it is could be worse than losing a few more people.”
—Tom Golisano, the founder and chairman of payroll processor Paychex Inc.
Putting aside the immorality that making money for rich people
should take precedence over a public health emergency, the very concept
of allowing vast numbers of Americans to die to “save the economy” is
completely illogical. By relaxing social restrictions too soon, the
death rate will skyrocket. Our
extremely fragile healthcare system will then collapse, and more
businesses will crumble. Ironically, opening prematurely won't just kill
more people, it will cause even more devastating economic harm.
At least one billionaire, Mark Cuban,
was honest about billionaires’ intentions: "Ignore anything someone like me might say … lives are at stake.”
For all of the screaming about individual freedom that the
right does, including attacks on our party for being “socialist,” I find
it ironic that the Trumpian right-wing is now demanding that people
submit to death for the state: the expendable workers, the sick, the
grandparents and great-grandparents who have already lived their lives.
All should sacrifice to serve for Trump’s reelection bid.
Read more at:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/1/1934455/-Trump-s-Nazification-of-the-GOP-is-why-there-s-serious-discussion-of-killing-off-the-unfit#read-more
