Public Opinion and Political Influence

"Or another example of the inversion: Under Nazi rule there was never any doubt about “big business” being subordinated to the political regime. In the United States, however, it has been apparent for decades that corporate power has become so predominant in the political establishment, particularly in the Republican Party, and so dominant in its influence over policy, as to suggest a role inversion the exact opposite of the Nazis’. At the same time, it is corporate power, as the representative of the dynamic of capitalism and of the ever-expanding power made available by the integration of science and technology with the structure of capitalism, that produces the totalizing drive that, under the Nazis, was supplied by ideological notions such as Lebensraum." (Inverted Totalitarianism, By Sheldon Wolin)

Sheldon Wolin is stating in this passage that inverted totalitarianism is essentially the opposite of the Nazi regime. While under the Nazi political regime big businesses were known to be subordinate, whereas in the United States that isn't the case at all. Big businesses and corporations have a great deal of influence in the United States government, this is especially true within the Republican party.

I chose this passage because Wolin provides a greater understanding of what inverted totalitarianism is and what isn't. Inverted totalitarianism isn't like the Nazi regime. Unlike the Nazi regime, inverted totalitarianism is more focused and influenced by big businesses and big corporations.