destructionism

English

Etymology

From destruction +‎ -ism.

Noun

destructionism (uncountable)

  1. (theology) A belief in the final destruction or complete annihilation of the wicked.
  2. (politics, chiefly derogatory) advocacy or policy that purportedly destroys (or will destroy) an existing social, economic or political institution.
    • 1843, Samuel Cram Jackson, Religious principle—a source of public prosperity‎[Archive.org], page 22:
      Destructionism is a science which does not require an ability to read and write to understand it. Its dogmas are short and simple. '"Down with the rich—abolish hereditary property—away with chartered rights—the many are slaves to the few—agitate and overturn till the fortunes of men are equal." 'This was Jacobinism in Europe a half century ago; it is Chartism in England, and Destructionism in the United States now.
    • 1871, John Augustine Marshall, “James Corban Naylor”, in American Bastille‎[Archive.org], page 213:
      Abolitionism (or destructionism, as he called it) never received a smile from him, and he lost no opportunity to denounce it in the roundest terms. While this endeared him to his political friends, it raised a storm of opposition on the part of his enemies, which came near ending in the destruction of his life. Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln, he prophesied war, but declared himself opposed to both secession and disunion, and in favor of compromise.
    • 1936, Ludwig von Mises, Socialism, page 458:
      Since a socialist order of society cannot exist, unless it be as a fragment of Socialism within an economic order resting otherwise on private property, each step leading towards Socialism must exhaust itself in the destruction of what already exists.
      Such a policy of destructionism means the consumption of capital. There are few who recognize this fact.
    • 1985 August 31, Ronald Regan, 1:18 from the start, in Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade‎[National Archives Catalog]:
      Protectionism almost always ends up making the protected industry weaker and less able to compete against foreign imports. Between 1977 and 1981, U.S. footwear manufacturers received protection from foreign imports, but at the end of that time they were more vulnerable to foreign competition than before. Instead of protectionism, we should call it destructionism.
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