During and after the unprecedented carnage and upheaval of World War I, many countries acquired new systems of government, whether they were imposed by foreign powers (as in the case of Germany) or created due to internal strife (as in Russia). With the war having left countries vulnerable, movements with totalitarian aspirations began to spring up. These parties sought to create and exploit scapegoats, and were more successful than ever before, as was the case with the Italian fascists and the German Nazis, and with the communists in Russia. The world was changing, though not necessarily for the better; sooner or later, confrontations would arise between the authoritarian states and the Western democracies. In the case of the right-wing fascists, the confrontation occurred quickly during World War II, while the drawn-out Cold War saw a protracted fight between Soviet totalitarianism and American democratic capitalism.

Though the methods employed by the communists and the fascists were similar, their ultimate goals were different. Both subjugated and killed people based on personal background; the communists, however, intended to create the greatest good for the greatest number, enforced by a "dictatorship of the proletariat." The Nazis, on the other hand, viewed themselves as genetically superior and wanted to create the greatest good for the select few, i.e., the Aryan race. Conquest was also a prime goal for the fascist rulers, which caused confrontations and the quick downfall of both Italian fascism and Nazism as systems of government. Communism, unlike the other two totalitarian systems, did not initially rely on direct confrontation, but rather indirect confrontation, in the form of mass communist revolution assisted by the U.S.S.R. Even though Stalin later used the Red Army to impose communism in much of Eastern Europe, communism, both theoretically and during the reign of Lenin, did not utilize direct conquest. For this reason, communism lasted much longer than either Italian or Nazi fascism.

Both Italian fascism and German Nazism used right-wing methods to achieve their goals. In 1932, Mussolini defined the vision of the fascist State "as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State" (Mussolini, What is Fascism?). Each movement also regarded both war and expansion as vital to the "sustenance of [its] people." Fascism and Nazism, however, differed in their conception of opposition. For Fascists, anyone who opposed the state was considered hostile, while the Nazis targeted people based on race. As early as 1920, Hitler claimed: "Only a member of the [Aryan] race can be a citizen," and also said that "a member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed" (Hitler, Program of the NSDAP). In this way, fascism and Nazism differed, in that Hitler often discriminated based solely on race, while Mussolini and the Italian fascists cared more about loyalty toward "the State."

Communism also relied on an oppressive state, but used such tactics for the ultimate goal of creating a workers' utopia, which theoretically would no longer need to rely on oppression. This contrasted with the fascist groups that favored a continued use of authoritarianism to suppress all opposition. During its beginning and intermediary stages-which were all that would ever come of the Communist "experiment"-force was used as ruthlessly as in the fascist nations. In creating the Bolshevik agenda, Lenin emphasized: "The real task of a revolutionary socialist party. . . [was] the organisation of the class struggle of the proletariat and the carrying on of this struggle, the final aim of which is the seizure of political power by the proletariat and the organisation of a socialist society" (Lenin, Our Programme). Even though force was the main instrument for bringing about both of their goals, Communist leaders had visions of a utopian, classless society, while Hitler had delusions of exactly the opposite: a world dominated by the Aryan race, with all other peoples having been beaten into submission. Perhaps the egalitarian vision of communism contributed to its longer survival than the fascist states.

Fascism, because it sought to oppress people in order to achieve the dominance of a very select group, was clearly in conflict with American ideals. The fascist governments assigned the dominant party absolute power over the everyday lives of its constituency, and also supported the oppression of minorities. In America, however, the people, because it is a democracy, rule over themselves, thereby allowing for a large degree of civil liberties. Federalist #10, by James Madison, elaborates on the vision of the Founding Fathers that the democratic ideals on which our country was founded also help to prevent the oppression of minorities, because it is difficult for political factions to completely unite into massive, completely unified, entities; as a result, truly oppressive majorities usually do not form (Madison, Federalist #10).

Politically, the fact that elected officials only hold temporary terms ensures that those elected will do all that is in their power to satisfy the will of their constituency (Madison, Federalist #39). In this way, as Madison stated, "ambition [is] made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man [is] connected with the constitutional rights" of his position, aligning the self-interest of politicians with the public interest (Madison, Federalist #51). In all of the totalitarian systems, those in power remained in power until death or until being forcibly removed, allowing for the subjugation and oppression of the people, as well as a disregard for popular opinion.

Furthermore, Americans, as is stated in the Declaration of Independence, hold that humans "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," while fascism and communism regard individuals in terms of their relation to the all-powerful "State." Communism's collectivist economic system also deprives people of the right to property, which is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Because its utopian vision relied on brutal terror, Communism, too, contradicted the principles of American government. In the U.S.S.R., "The Party" used brute force to suppress the opposition, under the guise of fighting for a utopia. The most infamous example of such force, Stalin's purges, was justified, according to a 1935 Soviet textbook, by the belief that by "purging and consolidating its ranks, destroying the enemies of the Party and relentlessly combating distortions of the Party line, the Bolshevik Party rallied closer than ever around its Central Committee" (Stalin's Purges, from an official Soviet Union textbook). Because "the Party" always had a premier and a Central Committee, which together wielded absolute power, the centralization of power, and the resulting lack of checks and balances, conflicted with American ideals. In our government, an elaborate system of checks and balances, which includes that the president cannot keep the legislative branch out of session, effectively prevents an over-centralization of power. Also, because the president has a limited term, just as is the case for any public official, the chief executive's political agenda coincides with the will of the populace; if the populace disapproves of the president's actions, he will be voted out of office after his term is over.

Through the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the American Founding Fathers created a democratic republic which protects the individual rights of the nation's citizens. Although authoritarian rule may appeal to a group of people at first, the government almost always eventually manages to exploit its position and create disillusionment within the people, thereby causing a widespread resentment of the government. This was clearly the case in Italy, and was also evident in the fact that Gorbachev felt pressure to relax the authoritarianism and the strict communism in the Soviet Union. In America, however, because rule is always by "we, the people" and for the sake of the same group, which has been the guiding principle of the nation since the writing of the Constitution, pressure to completely change the system of government within the nation is rarely, if ever, felt. As a result, while resentment builds up and often leads to implosion in the totalitarian nations, the will of the people is almost always satisfied in the United States.