TheyLovedBloodand Soil but Not the Mind 217the threatof government-imposedviolenceremainsa commonthreadin eachof these
measures.No matterthe degreeof severity,spoliationrunsrampantthrougheveryas-
pect.Yes,Nazi-imposedtaxationwasa smallnuisancerelativeto the actionsfor which
the Nazisare mostinfamouslyremembered.But the massabductions,enslavements,
murders,and otheratrocitiesthe Naziscommittedmustbe recognizedas Nazigovernist
spoliationtakento its finalextreme.Andthat otherformsof governmentalspoliationmay
be minorin comparisonto othersdoesnot renderthe tamerspoliationwhollyunimpor-
tant.No formof spoliationis ultimatelyacceptable.
Definitely,thereare numerableominousparallelsbetweenNazi’s domesticeconomic
policiesand the modernU.S.progressiveideology.Thisis not on accountof U.S.progres-
sivesreadingup on Nazihistoryandthenself-consciouslycopyingthe Nazis’ policies.
Rather,bothNazipolicyandmodernU.S.progressivismare logicalextensionsof the
animatingphilosophyof the SecondReich—of nineteenth-centuryGermanyunderOtto
vonBismarck.Bismarck’s regime,notesFareedZakaria,wastypifiedby “government
subsidies,regulations,and tariffs.”^119
Nineteenth-centuryGermany,to be sure,wasnot completelydevoidof economic
freedom.In spiteof the massivecontrolsin placein thisregulatory-entitlementstate,
therewasenoughwiggleroomfor entrepreneursto innovate.Hence,GottliebDaimler
and CarlBenzpioneeredin automobiletechnologyin this era.^120 The relativelibertyalso
allowedfor the breakthroughsof FritzHaberandCarlBoschin synthesizingnitrogen
fertilizer.^121 Thezealfor freethinkingmotivatingthesescientists,engineers,andentre-
preneurs,sadly,wasbeingeclipsedby whatbecameGermany’s twomostprominent
philosophies.
The firstof thesetwo philosophieswasgovernism.In the Enlightenmentperiodthere
wereindeedsomeGermanphilosopherssympatheticto laissez-faireliberalism,suchas
FriedrichSchillerandWilhelmvonHumboldt.^122 Yet the governists,whoheldmuch
greater influenceoverthe intelligentsia,greatly outnumberedthem. Muchmorere-
nownedGermanphilosophers,exemplifiedby GeorgHegel,heraldedthe transmutation
of generallyless-regulatedcapitalismintoa newgovernistregimewherethe Statecon-
trolledminuteaspectsof everyone’s doings.The crudeconsensuswasthat the individual
existsfor no purposehigherthanservingthe socialcollective,oftenembodiedin the State.
Marxismwasmerelya highlypedanticandspecializeddoctrinethatbranchedoff from
this moregeneralgovernistcollectivism.
At this moment,mostgovernistsstill nursedan overallpositiveattitudetowardindus-
trializationandtechnology.It wasnot theirdesireto prohibitparticulartechnologiesor
pushanylegislationto discouragethe usageof sometechnologies.KarlMarxmerely
wantedownershipof existingindustrialtechnologiesto changehands,beingforcibly
transferredfromcontrolby privateindustrialiststo collectiveworkercommittees.More-
over,despitetheirirrationalappealto force,the Marxistsand the pioneeringnineteenth-
centurysocialistsbrandedthemselvesthe foremostadvocatesof reason.Theywouldnot
acknowledgethat fideismwas integralto theirphilosophy.
Alsoreigningin this era wasthe philosophyof Romanticism,^123 whichI discussedin
chapter3. JohannGeorgHamann(1730–1788),FriedrichHeinrichJacobi(1743–1819),Jo-
hannGottfriedHerder(1744–1803),andJohannGottliebFichte(1762–1814)wereamong
the earliestof the Germanromantics.In spiteof theircriticismsof ImmanuelKant—they
believedhe wastoo individualistin suchwritingsas “WhatIs Enlightenment?”—Ha-
mann,Herder,Fichte,andJacobiwereneverthelessinfluencedby Kant’s criticismsof
sensoryperceptionandinductivereasoning.Thesefourrealizedthatinsofaras Kant
continuedto acceptthe ideaof eachpersonbeingan individual,he hadcontradicted
himself,for individualismcouldbe premisedon nothingbut confidencein the individu-
al’s inductivereasoningabilities.^124 As FichteandJacobiargued,it is throughobserva-