Atlas / Comparisons / American Fusionist Conservatism vs National Socialism
American Fusionist Conservatism and National Socialism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CU. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Buckley, Meyer | NSDAP | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +08 | +02 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +06 | +09 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −04 | +10 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −04 | +09 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +03 | +10 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −06 | +09 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Buckley, Meyer · AU −04
Coded −4: constitutional originalism and limited federal power.
- Documented act or statuteThe Federalist Society, founded 1982, made originalism the movement's judicial method.
NSDAP · AU +10
Every independent institution was either abolished or absorbed within eighteen months of taking office. There is no lower-scoring case available.
- Documented act or statuteThe Enabling Act of March 1933 transferred legislative power to the cabinet.
- Documented act or statuteAll parties other than the NSDAP were banned by July 1933.
Buckley, Meyer · SC −04
Coded −4: federalism domestically, and interventionism abroad.
- ScholarshipThe tension between limited government at home and global containment abroad was never resolved.
NSDAP · SC +09
Federal structure abolished outright and replaced with direct appointment from the centre, plus territorial expansion.
- Documented act or statuteThe Länder parliaments were abolished in January 1934 and their sovereign rights transferred to the Reich.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
American Fusionist Conservatism
1955–2000 · United States
Free markets, traditional morality and anti-communism fused into one movement; liberty as the political means to a virtuous end.
National Socialism
1920–1945 · Germany
A racially defined national community, hierarchy by blood, conquest of living space, extermination of designated enemies.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas