Reply #19: I think you proved my point -

[RaleighNCDUer]

you might note that I was specifically referring to my own use of the term, not anybody else's. I know a fair number of lefties who are injudicious about the term 'Nazi' (though not to the degree that righties are with 'communist' and 'socialist'), but when I use that term I am not speaking about run of the mill authoritarians, but about those whose authoritarianism is rooted in racial hatred, who elevate themselves above other races and cultures, and who have a disregard for those people which can, and does, lead to murderous excess.

The American soldier you spoke of was not a Nazi - he was an ignorant, authoritarian boor. And your grandfather, though wearing the Wehrmacht uniform, was not a Nazi as he did not espouse the core principles (if you can call them that) of the party. I will even go so far as to say that some few who had party membership were not Nazis, being forced to join the party to continue in their professional careers while privately holding no such beliefs.

But Nazism is not just a movement relegated to one particular time and place. There ARE Nazis in America who have never had any connection with Germany. They may go by different names - KKK is one - but they are Nazis and need to be recognized as such. Relegating Nazism to some point in the dead past is an invitation for it to rise again.