FLASHBACK: Bernie Sanders Attempting to Deny Hitler Was a Socialist

Many people do not care for the loose association of the term "Nazi" with certain political groups, primarily because of the horrific acts the Nazi party and its founder, Adolf Hitler, committed. Nevertheless, there are certainly some modern-day comparisons we can make between National Socialism – the underlying political philosophy of the Nazi party – and today's "socialist" politicians, nearly all of whom associate and vote with the Democratic Party.



Writing in his blog, End of the American Dream, Michael Snyder laments that America today looks a lot like Nazi Germany did in the 1930s:



Once upon a time America fought a great war to rid the world of the Nazis, but now we have become just like them. In fact, I would venture to say that the Nazification of the United States is pretty much complete. ...[W]e have a heavily socialized economy where tax rates are out of control and lots of freebies are given out just like the Nazis did. And just like the Nazis, our society has become highly militarized and our government has become increasingly obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and controlling the general population.



Moreover, Snyder says that for all the "pageantry and beauty" of American society, there is an underlying evil that he describes as nearly "unspeakable."



Nazis were not far right



"The other day, my wife and I were watching some footage of the beautiful parades and celebrations that were held in Germany before World War II, and they certainly were very impressive," he writes. "But under the surface, a great evil was growing."



History, of course, would bear that out. Just like the Nazis, Snyder continued, American society is on course to learn very painful lessons, starting with the economy.



Although most people have associated Hitler's regime with the "far right," Snyder points out that in reality, Hitler's government was a socialist government. "By heavily taxing and spending," he writes, "the Nazis were able to temporarily restore economic prosperity after the great economic crisis that occurred under the Weimar Republic" after World War I, "and this helped fueled their wild popularity". Hitler's great oratory also helped re-inspire a defeated people. The extensive public works projects undertaken by Hitler after coming to power in the early 1930s included domestic infrastructure such as the construction of autobahns (highways) and, of course, military spending.



If anything, today's Democratic Party is certainly the party of Big Government, big spending, and authoritarianism. Senator Bernie Sanders, the "Independent" from Vermont who currently leads at least some of the Democratic presidential polling, is the embodiment of the Nazi brand of ideology.



Snyder notes that many people who were alive during the Nazi reign, even those in countries where the Nazis invaded and dominated, recounted programs similar to those advocated by Sanders today: free education at all levels, free housing and health care, and subsidies for almost everything else. Of course, such largess comes at a hefty price tag that is paid for by higher taxes. This is something the Nazis implemented and something Sanders has repeatedly said he wanted, especially for "the rich".



Identical policies



"There is no way that you can get around it. The Nazis were never on the far right,'" Snyder notes. "The were always leftists, and they always hated capitalism."



He also cited National Socialist theologian Gregor Strasser as once making the statement:



We National Socialists are enemies, deadly enemies, of the present capitalist system with its exploitation of the economically weak ... and we are resolved under all circumstances to destroy this system.



While Sanders, along with President Obama, would never blatantly state in public what Strasser said, there can be little doubt that given the policies Sanders would pursue and policies Obama has pursued (Obamacare, expanding entitlements, massive government spending, enlarged national debt, war on coal and energy, reams of new regulations on existing American business and industry), they mirror what the Nazi national socialists believed.