He's dead, Jim.
(Click here or on the pic).
Posted on 06/23/2004 9:18:16 PM PDT by illuminadi
BERLIN -- I can understand, my German friend said, why Germans voted for Hitler in 1933 -- though he did not receive a majority of the vote. The Weimar Republic was weak and incompetent. The Great Depression had ruined the nation's war-devastated economy. People were bitter because they thought their leaders had betrayed them in the war. They wanted revenge for the humiliation of Versailles. Hitler promised strong leadership and a new beginning. But why did they continue to support that group of crazy drug addicts, thugs, killers and madmen?
The historical question remains. I leave aside the question of the guilt of the whole German people (a judgment beyond my competence because I am not God) and ask what explanations might account for what happened. Hitler turned the German economy around in short order. He was crazy, of course, a demagogic mystic sensitive to aspirations of the German spirit. He appealed skillfully to the dark side of the German heritage. Anti-Semitism was strong in Germany, as it was in most European countries, but not violent until Hitler manipulated it. He stirred up the memories of historic German military accomplishments and identified himself with Frederick the Great -- thus placating the Prussian ethos of the German army. He promised glory to a nation still smarting from the disaster of 1918. Germany was emerging from the ashes, strong and triumphant once again. He also took control of the police apparatus. The military might have been able to dump him till 1937. After that he was firmly in power. The path lay open to holocaust.
Can this model be useful to understand how contemporary America is engaged in a criminally unjust war that has turned much of the world against it, a war in which torture and murder have become routine? Has the combination of the World Trade Center attack and a president who believes his instructions come from God unleashed the dark side of the American heritage?
What is this dark side? I would suggest that it is the mix of Calvinist religious righteousness and ''my-country-right-or-wrong'' patriotism that dominated our treatment of blacks and American Indians for most of the country's history. It revealed itself in the American history of imperialism in Mexico and after the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. The ''manifest destiny'' of America was to do whatever it wanted to do, because it was strong and virtuous and chosen by God.
Today many Americans celebrate a ''strong'' leader who, like Woodrow Wilson, never wavers, never apologizes, never admits a mistake, never changes his mind, a leader with a firm ''Christian'' faith in his own righteousness. These Americans are delighted that he ignores the rest of the world and punishes the World Trade Center terrorism in Iraq. Mr. Bush is our kind of guy.
He is not another Hitler. Yet there is a certain parallelism. They have in common a demagogic appeal to the worst side of a country's heritage in a crisis. Bush is doubtless sincere in his vision of what is best for America. So too was Hitler. The crew around the president -- Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Karl Rove, the ''neo-cons'' like Paul Wolfowitz -- are not as crazy perhaps as Himmler and Goering and Goebbels. Yet like them, they are practitioners of the Big Lie -- weapons of mass destruction, Iraq democracy, only a few ''bad apples.''
Hitler's war was quantitatively different from the Iraq war, but qualitatively both were foolish, self-destructive and criminally unjust. This is a time of great peril in American history because a phony patriotism and an America-worshipping religion threaten the authentic American genius of tolerance and respect for other people.
The ''real'' America is still remembered here in Berlin for the enormous contributions of the Marshall Plan and the Berlin airlift -- America at its best. It is time to return to that generosity and grace.
The strongest criticism that the administration levels at Sen. John Kerry is that he changes his mind. In fact, instead of a president who claims an infallibility that exceeds that of the pope, America would be much better off with a president who, like John F. Kennedy, is honest enough to admit mistakes and secure enough to change his mind.
I hope this thread is not deleted and that someone will attempt to explain the mentality of these people because I really find it facinating.
hehe! :^)
Ok, I had to register again to make my point. Minutes after I posted this article, I posted an Ann Coulter article on a left-wing website and I must say the responses were amazingly similar: A lot of name-calling and a few constructive arguments. I even got called a "traitor" over there as well. The biggest difference is that I didn't get banned over there and albeit some of the retorts were angry and crass, none were quite as hateful and violent as some over here.
So is the Hitler/Bush comparison fair? I don't know but I'm seeing and hearing it more and more from some very influential people. They are 'opinions' though, with as much credibilty to a lot of people as the opinions of Limbaugh and/or Al Franken.
I don't consider myself a liberal or a democrat. I am a pacifist. I'm a pacifist who would vote for John McCain because I believe he is a strong leader. However, he's not running for President and it's the swing voters that will make or break Bush. There are dozens of influencial folks coming out of the woodwork who are making a stand against this administration (both republican and democrat). I wonder how long it will be before they stop getting dismissed as 'has beens' and 'disgruntled ex-employees'.
If anything, this election will bring out people who normally don't vote and hopefully they will vote for the good of the country and not down party lines. Well, I hope my selfish little experiment didn't offend anyone too much. At least, I've proven to myself that the two party system is archaic, antiquated, and does more harm than good. I'm looking forward to a day when people can cast their votes based on the merits of the candidate and not tribalism.
P.S. Illuminadi? Illuminati was taken. Have a nice day.
So long. I've preserved your comment, not as a favor.
Pacifists are usually quite alarmed to find they are the first to get hit in a fight. You want to sit this out? Find yourself a desert island somewhere. We prefer to win.
hateriot
ping
Hmmm... can't take a hint, eh?
The troll are coming out of the woodwork latley. Must be too much good news for Bush.
illuminadi *LOL*
Creative spelling is the sign of a good troll. :)
Maybe just jealous that he/she didn't get invited to the build-a-burger party. Oh well.
It's "IlluminaTi" with a "T" you semi-literate half chewed blob of moose fat!
"America would be much better off with a president who, like John F. Kennedy, is honest enough to admit mistakes and secure enough to change his mind."
JF Kennedy denied his multiple infidelities to his wife, flip flopped on taking down Castro, and got himself shot.
He was also an indecisive weakling who wouldn't decide on policy until his focus grup decided it was a good idea.
John Kerry, 'change' his mind?
Try outright lies and treason.
The man is a weakling and a traitor.
America does NOT want that as a president.
Really? And how would you categorize the "Bush=Hitler" argument?
You're a liar, incidentally. You did no such thing.
What you fail to realize is that conservatives generally vote with values in mind. We vote for traditional American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, none of which the current liberal candidate has shown to embody. We also look at the nature of the men in the election. Do we want to vote for a decent man of his word, or a flip-flopping man who has historically sided with the enemies of the United States. He also wants the U.N. to have more say in our policies.
To me, the choice is clear. I don't want to live in a world where our elected leader has handed our sovereignty to a group of elitist bureaucrats who want nothing less that the complete demise of the American way of life. I don't want to live in a country in which most of my hard-earned money goes to government programs. I will vote for conservative candidates for the rest of my life, and not a thing you can say or do will make me change my mind. Why? Because I vote for values, and I believe the majority of America does too.
Tribalism? Does the phrase "Anyone but Bush" mean anything to you? The liberals don't even like Kerry. I don't think the election is even going to be close.
I'd love to check out that Ann Coulter thread you posted on a left wing website. Where's the link?
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