TheyLovedBloodand Soil but Not the Mind 225amour-propre.”^179 Consistentwiththe convergenceof Romanticismand anti-capitalism,in
1980 the formerSS officerAugustHaussleiterhelpedcofoundthe GermanGreenParty.^180
Thesetwofactors—mysticismandgovernism—wereeachsystematicallyadvocated
by Plato.As Platoarguedfor mysticismand governism,AynRandcharacterizesa society
and era dominatedby themas one of “Platonism.” Andin a lectureserieson Objectivism
he deliveredwith AynRand’s approval,California-based psychotherapistNathaniel
Brandenholdsup Aristotelianismas the modelfor progress.As we discernedinThe
Freedomof PeacefulAction, Aristotlewasnot a consistentadvocateof liberalizationbut he
certainlydid betterthanPlatoon this front.Moreover,as Brandennotesin this lecture
underRand’s auspices,Aristotle’s emphasison objectivereality,practicalreason(phrone-
sis),andeudaemonia-centeredmetaethicslaidthe rationalgroundworkwherebyother
philosophers,notablyJohnLockeand AynRand,wouldlogicallyinducea consistentand
objectivepoliticsof naturalliberty.For thatreason,a cultureandtimeperiodconducive
to a greateremphasison phronesisand its consequences—rationalself-interest,liberaliza-
tion,and individualism—is one that RandchristensAristotelian.
Throughsuchterms,Brandenexplainshowthe nineteenthcenturycouldproduce
suchachievementsin liberalization,commerce,andscientificandtechnologicalinnova-
tionin spiteof the philosophicalzeitgeistat the universitylevelsimultaneouslytakinga
turnfor the worse.“Thetragicparadoxof the 19thcentury,” he sighs,“wasthatit was
Aristotelianin its actionsandPlatonistin its thinking.... Whilethe Aristoteliantrend
wasachievingpoliticalfreedomfor men,the Platonistswerelayingthe philosophical
foundationsfor the cult of the state.”^181 Nowherewasthis moreapparentin nineteenth-
centuryGermany,wherethe remnantsof libertywereenoughto ignitethe advancesin
industryand technology.By contrast,as this wenton, the governistparadigmreemerged
as a culturalforce.^182 The reasonwhythesephenomenacouldcommenceconcurrentlyis
thatthereis usuallya timelag. Ideas—whethertheyfosterreasonandeudaemoniaand
liberty,or do the opposite—startwithinthe intelligentsiaat the universitylevel,and they
graduallyfilteron downto otherlevelsof intellectuals,suchas to socialscientists,jour-
nalists,andartists.It takesseveraldecadesbeforesuchideasbecomeentrenchedat the
politicallevelandresultin unprecedentedlegislations.Thatis why,as Germanphiloso-
phersand the Americanthinkerstheyhad influencedhad cometo embraceunreasonand
governismin the 1800s,it wouldbe decadesbeforethe practicalresultsof theseideas
wouldbe seenin the USAin the realmof politics.^183
RichardGrunbergersumsthis up well—the Nazishatedthe Jewson accountof their
judgingthe Jewsto be consistentpractitionersof secularpracticalreason,peaceableego-
ism,andlaissezfaire.Theanti-Semitismof the Volkishmovement,writesGrunberger,
“wasfed by twocurrents,oneeconomic” andthe otherbeingepistemological.“In its
economicaspect,anti-Semitism... wasa defensivereaction... to the adventof full-
blowncapitalism.Jewswereagentsof change:promotingfree trade,commercialpublic-
ity, installmentpaymentsand the sale of ready-madegoods,theyintrudedbetweenpro-
ducersandcustomersandbreachedthe monopolyof specializedshopsrangingfrom
second-handstallsto departmentstores.In fact,theyprefiguredthe twentieth-century
trendtowardurbanization,commercializationandwhite-collarspecialization.. .” On
otherphilosophicalmatters,anti-Semitismamountedto “a reactionagainstsuchfeatures
of modernityas parliamentarism,”phronesis, and“enlightenedself-interest—‘alien’ no-
tions” whoseinfluencesuchVolkishcommentatorsas Langbehnand Lagardejuxtaposed
againstwhat they proposed as the morallysupremealternative:theirown “primi-
tive...völkischeideology”^184 (emphasesadded).
TheNazisthereforeopposedeverythingheldvaluableby Randandotherrational
enterprisers.In contrastto Rand’s individualism,reason,egoism,andcapitalism,the
Nazisextolledsocialcollectivism,fideism,sacrificialaltruism,and governism.Insofaras