Quickie Quiz

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What famous person from history said this?

“We stand for the maintenance of private property… We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order.”

Note that this quote is translated from another language, so other translations might not be word for word.

Update: The best source I could find for the quote was a book by Derrick Jensen and published by Chelsea Green Publishers in 2004. Apparently Hitler said this in the 1930s to reassure American business that they could invest in the Third Reich.

30 thoughts on “Quickie Quiz”

  2. Pingback: Tweets that mention The Mahablog » Quickie Quiz -- Topsy.com

  5. Could it be … SATAN?!?

    I know who it was, too, but I don’t want to call him forth by invoking his name (the other side does that all the time).

  7. Oops – I cheated – I googled it. Interesting… But I thought their was no difference between fascism and socialism?

  9. Without looking, I’d guess Mussolini. But the answer is supposed to be a surprise, right?

    • Without looking, I’d guess Mussolini. But the answer is supposed to be a surprise, right?

      Very close. It was an associate of Benito’s, a fella named Adolf.

  12. The first Google result was rense.com, which offered several thought-provoking quotations. The one that I noted as especially current was: “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” – Thomas Jefferson

  13. Dear Maha,
    I object to the use of the word “Quickie” in the title of this aren’t we above innuendo here. Have we descended to the level of the hyenas on the other side of the aisle? They started it. “My brother made me break the cookie jar.” Below is a post to the Whitehouse.gov website.

    Dear Overworked/Underpaid Staffer
    I object to the proposal to remove Grant’s portrait from the fifty dollar bill. Ronald Reagan is NOT an appropriate substitute. I believe in the spirit of TRUE bipartisanship that the president should INSIST that Sarah Palin’s portrait should be used. This should satisfy all concerned. Also “It’s all about the Benjamins” will be replaced by “It’s all about the Palin’s” also, too. These bills will be instant collectors items and very few will actually circulate. (Happy Trails”) plays in the background.

  14. YES! I knew it was Mr. Hilter. I believe he said it in 1938 or so; didn’t want to piss off Siemens, Krupp, or any of the other German heavey industry, though he had to keep it on the down-low. Hard quote to find, by the way. Conspicuously absent from the Wikipedia entry on “Fascism.”

  15. Here is an excellent article on the dimwitted teabaggers.

    As far as the quote you’d be hard pressed to convince any of the new right wingers of the truth. That asshat Jonah Goldberg and FAUX news have all their sheeple convinced Hitler was a flaming liberal, too funny!

  18. No! Not attacking Poland at all! It is a joke!
    Joan, thanks for the memory. That was a great sketch.

  19. I was wondering: does this post automatically trigger Godwin’s Law or not? Or, since some might not recognize it right away, is it only AFTER they’ve figured it out that it becomes a Nazi comparison? Hmm.

    BTW, it’s knowing about statements like the one quoted that make me so crazy when the Tea Partiers use the words “fascist” and “socialist” interchangeably, or additively.

  20. joanr16,

    Sharp eyes! “The North Minehead Bye-Election” is one of MP’s unsung high points.

    Maha, do you have a quick and ready link for the quote? Or, failing that, a bibliographic reference? I feel a Facebook status update coming on…

  21. Is there any evidence to prove that Hitler actually said this? References anyone?
    Buzz

    • I got the quote from Gregory Wonderwheel, so it must be legit. -) Seriously, I can’t confirm it with 100 percent certainty, but in light of the real A.H. and his actual policies (as opposed to the revisionist A.H. of wingnut fantasy who somehow morphed into being a socialist) it’s very plausible he said that.

  22. It’s hard to explain what a great storyteller Al Stewart is. You say “Year of the Cat” and people say. Barracuda? You say Cavalier or Roundhead? People say – what are you – some kind of Freak? And I say “Google Third English Civil War Bitchez.”. Anyway if you’ve never heard the song “Nostradamus” fellow Cavaliers, please click on the below link.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa89bt0GZvQ

  23. Joan,
    “I don’t know, I don’t like the sound of them Boncenbration Bamp’s.”
    My first guess would have been Glenn, my second Rush. Will THIS finally put an end to the “Liberal Fascism” meme? NAH!!!

  24. Some facts from Snopes on dear sociopathic Adolph – He was a decorated war hero, he was primarily a vegetarian throughout the latter part of his life; however, he didn’t adopt a vegetarian diet for moral reasons, but because he suffered from gastric problems. Hitler had affairs with several women (some of whom died under mysterious circumstances) They weren’t technically extramarital affairs because he wasn’t married. He didn’t smoke. He drank an occasional beer. (Imported? – Budweiser would be imported, but I doubt that Germans would consider it beer)

  25. Maha, thanks for the update. Here’s some corrobative evidence, in a speech Hilter made on March 23, 1933 that expresses much the same sentiment:

    “In principle, the Government will not protect the economic interests of the German people by the circuitous method of an economic bureaucracy to be organized by the State, but by the utmost furtherance of private initiative and by the recognition of the rights of property….”

    http://www.hitler.org/speeches/03-23-33.html

    I suspect Righties will cite the preceding passage as evidence that Hilter is some sort of “socialist”:

    “Here all action must be governed by one law: the people does not live for business, and business does not exist for capital; but capital serves business, and business serves the people.”

    But this makes no difference: being a “statist” doesn’t disquality one as a capitalist. Even if “private initiative” and “the rights of property” are a means and Fascism is the end, the point is that Hilter here upholds them, and offers a decidedly capitalistic denunciation of “big government” managed economies along the way. This establishes the absolute opposition of Fascism to communism of any sort, and to some varieties of socialism.

    Takeaway: the rebranding of Fasicsm as a phenomenon of the Left is Jonah Goldberg’s own perfectly Goebblesian “Big Lie.”

  26. Rebranding the Nazis as a phenomonon of the left is a brilliant strategy, since it means that the left was responsible for both Communism and Fascism, i.e. every bad thing that has happened for the last hundred years.

    We need a strong dose of truth to counter it, like pointing out that one of Hiter’s first acts upon achieveing power was to ban trade unions. Does that sound like a leftist?

  27. Dear Virginia (there is a Santa Claus)
    Ingrained in all of us from childhood on were certain principles. All men are created equal – some are more equal than others.
    Liberty and Justice for all – as long as you have coin for a lawyer.

    We The People – When Bush was pushing renewal of the Patriot Act, according to numerous reports he laid out his strategy. Simply put, he was going to continue to ignore the constitution. His brilliant analysis summed up his approach to this complex area of law.

    “I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

    “Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

    “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

    I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

    If all you have for dinner is a can of pork and beans, at least you got that. If you invite your neighbor who is starving over for dinner you are a liberal. A conservative will eat dinner before coming over to steal your pork and beans. Cavaliers 4 evah

  28. Maha just Godwin’ed himself before we even got to the comments! Bad form, old boy…

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