[Senior Chief]

Marx, Mao, and Hitler all knew they could not acheive their individual totalitarian goals in one fell swoop. incrimentalism was the key. Specifically, Hitler spelled out his progressive plan in "Mien Kampf (sp)". His social arrangement...starting with the children. Cultivate the minds and the bodys will follow.

[rogerv]

I don't there was anything incremental about the way fascism or communism took control. Lenin and Hitler were fanatics who just knew what was best for everybody, and were not going to wait for the rest of the country to realize it.

But the fact that evil or bad regimes can come incrementally is not an objection to incrementalism, any more than the fact that propaganda can masquerade as education is an objection to education. The important thing is to monitor the process to make sure that we the people are happy with results so far--so we can undo what we did if things are going badly.