Arrogance of the Left

A little noticed, or mentioned, fact is that the most brutal and savage regimes of the 20th century; Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, were both left wing regimes. Although Nazi Germany is often viewed as a right wing regime, this is an error. "Nazi" was an acronym for the National Socialist Worker's Party (the key words there being "socialist workers"). Both regimes believed that it was possible to remake society. Under both regimes, society was measured against an ideal. For the Soviets, it was a social ideal. For the Nazi's, it was a racial ideal. In both cases, when measured against the ideal, society was found wanting. The violence and brutality of those regimes was the result of them trying to remake society to match the ideal.

It is a characteristic of the Left to latch hold of an ideal, be it economic, racial, social, sexual, etc, and measure society against that ideal. And when society is found wanting, as it inevitably will, the advocates of the ideal will take upon themselves to remake society in the image of that ideal. And when society proves resistant to the efforts to remake it, pressure will be used to bring it into line. This pressure need not be stormtroopers or secret police. It can also be applied more subtly through economics and law. This is the nature of the pressure brought by the left in it's unceasing efforts to create, if not the "perfect" society, at least a "better" society. It is the belief that society can, and should be remade and perfected according to their ideals that constitutes the arrogance of the left.