I ran across this fantastic documentary about Soviet-era animated propaganda on Google Video. It’s called Animated Soviet Propaganda
Pay close attention to the words, images and arguments used by the Soviets to convince their people to turn away from individualism and independence and toward more control from a government that, supposedly, existed to take care of their every need. Look at the way businessmen are demonized for the profits they make. They’re shown as monsters, murderous slave owners and worse while the workers are shown as poor, beaten-down victims.
Now compare the Soviet message with what you hear out of a lot of Democrats today. Like Hillary Clinton talking about seizing oil industry profits for use in government programs. Or someone like John Edwards castigating the much maligned Wal-Mart for exploiting its workers. When you watch the cartoon about the rich woman leaving her fortune to her pet dog, think of the liberals and their belief that the estate tax should exist so that your wealth be redistributed to the people (by the government, naturally) rather than to your family and friends.
Granted, the Democrats aren’t as overt in their rhetoric as the Soviets were in their propaganda, but the overarching themes are the same. Both groups wanted more government control. They both push the idea that the government exists to take care of us, and entrepreneurs and business owners who make profits are exploiting the “common man.”
The similarities are, again, eerie. And I’m not saying that someone like Hillary or Edwards is the next Stalin, nor do I think they’re attempting to perpetrate some sort of red socialist revolution here in the U.S. (though some of their more extreme supporters would love that), but I think the end result of their policies is the same sort of top-heavy government totalitarianism the citizens of the USSR suffered. Today’s liberals aren’t traveling as quickly toward that as the Soviets did, but the path they’re on leads to the same place.