It can be hard to know what to believe with all the government and press misinformation that has existed in my lifetime. Knowing that you have been lied to is a start, but there is a long way to go before you knows what to believe.
The official name of the party Hitler led was the German National Socialist Workers’ Party. The term Nazi may be an abbreviation, or it may have some other origin. “Nazi” seems to conceal more than it reveals.
National Socialist seems highly descriptive to me. It contrasts with the international socialists of Marxism. Consider the words from the communist manifesto: “Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains.” That sounds like international socialism to me.
Hitler and Mussolini pushed for socialism but with a German and Italian emphasis respectively. The words “national socialism” seem to apply.
At the local level, I’ve known one person that I would consider a Nazi. He is older than me, so I shared one of my father’s stories from WWII. He listened impassively. Then the old man stood erect, puffed out his chest, and proudly told me “When I was 17, I volunteered for Hitler’s Army.” You could have knocked me over with a feather.
As to his current views, he has complete trust in government. He is quick to label people in the private sector as “crooks.” I told him of a successful case of de-regulation under Reagan. He would have none of it. No regulations should be repealed. All existing regulations should be kept. From time to time, we should add new regulations.
Those who founded this country had a bad experience with the British government. They came to fear government tyranny. Fear of government has been lost by most Americans. They are like the nice simple-minded Nazi I met, and also like most presenters on the nightly news. In their minds, Government can do no wrong and problems only exist in the private sector.
You know who else pushed for "National Socialism"? Joe Stalin. He rejected Lenin and Trotsky's Internationalism in favor of "Socialism in One Country", he only used COMINTERN to advance the traditional geopolitical goals of the Czars, which was Russian dominance. That's why he regularly purged the members of Communist Parties throughout Europe.