The vast majority of us know who Adolf Hitler was. Even with the slightest level of historical understanding, we know that he was an evil man with an evil ideology responsible for millions of deaths. As a result, anyone who is accused of holding even a fraction of Hitler’s political views is judged with an understandable level of scorn, and those who openly align themselves with such an ideology are rightly exiled from mainstream society.
This is an easy position to understand. After all, one only has to look at the unimaginable violence ushered in by the totalitarian fascism of Nazi Germany to know that such an ideology is based on entirely immoral principles. However, if death tolls mean that Nazism, fascism, and white supremacy are evil ideologies, why is the same basic logic not applied to the politics of the far Left?
Under the ruthless communist dictatorship of the Soviet Union alone, according to the Wall Street Journal, “victims include 200,000 killed during the Red Terror (1918-22); 11 million dead from famine and dekulakization; 700,000 executed during the Great Terror (1937-38); 400,000 more executed between 1929 and 1953; 1.6 million dead during forced population transfers; and a minimum 2.7 million dead in the Gulag, labor colonies and special settlements.”
After the murder of at least 16,600,000 civilians, surely those with even a tangential connection to this regime would be wholeheartedly rejected by a political party who claim to advocate for peace and tolerance? Quite the opposite! Bernie Sanders, who has praised dictators and leftist regimes on multiple occasions – and even spent his honeymoon in the Soviet Union – now leads the so-called “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party, which represents the party base.
If we take other communist and socialist regimes into account, including China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, and Venezuela, the estimated death count rockets to almost 100 million people. This number is more than five times greater than that of Nazi Germany, and yet the continued promulgation of the politics of communism, socialism, and Marxism is permitted in a way that would be (thankfully) unimaginable if it were applied to Nazism or fascism.
The shocking acceptance of radical Leftism simply must end if we hope to prevent continued damage in the wake of this evil ideology. When politicians such as Bernie Sanders praise or effectively apologize for the actions of murderous dictators, they should be cast out of polite society with the same fervor as if someone said, “Hitler may have killed lots of Jews, but the roads sure were pretty!”
Sanders said: “When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
This problem exists even at the pinnacle of American Leftism. The fact that a potential vice presidential candidate survived refusing to reject Marxism – while offering a disingenuous apology for praising Fidel Castro – should terrify anyone who values freedom and liberty.
The number of graves beneath history’s bloodthirsty communist and socialist regimes is staggering.
Had it not been for the United States, these numbers would have continued to rise as radical Leftism spread across the globe. The United States must continue to stand as the world’s greatest single force against totalitarianism and tyranny. This crucial moral battle will become impossible if we continue to allow these ideologies to fester within our borders.
Ian G. Haworth is a conservative commentator who provides an honest, principled, and hard-hitting insight into our politics and culture from his unique perspective as a British immigrant to the United States. Ian hosts “The Ian Haworth Show” and “The Truth in 60 Seconds.” He is a regular columnist for Townhall.com, and his work has appeared in other outlets including The American Mind, The Washington Examiner, and The Federalist. Ian graduated from Oxford University, and now lives in California. Follow him on Twitter @ighaworth
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