The New Totalitarians Are Here

From The Federalist.com (July 6):

There’s a basic difference in the traditions of political science between “authoritarians” and “totalitarians.” People throw both of these words around, but as is so often the case, they’re using words they may not always understand. They have real meaning, however, and the difference between them is important.

Simply put, authoritarians merely want obedience, while totalitarians, whose rule is rooted in an ideology, want obedience and conversion. Authoritarians are a dime a dozen; totalitarians are rare.  The authoritarians are the guys in charge who want to stay in charge, and don’t much care about you, or what you’re doing, so long as you stay out of their way. They are the jefe and his thugs in a brutal regime that want you to shut up, go to work, and look the other way when your loudmouthed neighbor gets his lights punched out by goons in black jackets. Live or die. It’s all the same to the regime.

Totalitarians are a different breed. These are the people who have a plan, who think they see the future more clearly than you or who are convinced they grasp reality in a way that you do not. They don’t serve themselves—or, they don’t serve themselves exclusively—they serve History, or The People, or The Idea, or some other ideological totem that justifies their actions. [read more]

In the past the totalitarians, were the Communists, the Fascists,and the Nazis. Kings and emperors were for the most part authoritarians.

Now, you have the far Left ideology and Muslim theocracies like Iran. Although the Ottoman Empire was a Muslim theocracy in the past. It’s basically what ISIS wants to recreate.

Socialists have always been around.

Cults are totalitarians in principle.

The big difference between authoritarians and totalitarians is the latter have manifestos to spell out their grand vision and philosophy of life. Marx, Mao, and Hitler had manifestos. Cult leaders have manifestos. Jim Jones was a Communist. The Progressives manifesto is the Humanist Manifesto. It’s the manifesto that the totalitarians want people to believe with their hearts and minds. In certain totalitarian societies the leader wants to be omnipotent and omniscience. In other words, God-like.