During the 30’s in Europe there was basically only two political and social movements that attracted European youth.
Fascism and Communism were the only options and liberal democracy was not even in the running.
People in Europe forget, or want to forget, that their were massive fascist and communist movements in most of Europe during the 30’s The fascists promised order and the communists promised a type of Utopia. The two movements were constantly at each other's throats and so weakened the European social and moral fiber of their countries that Hitler had little trouble conquering Holland Belgium and France in May 1940 and the rest of eastern Europe soon after.
In a country like Spain the results were deadly and resulted in nearly a million killed during the Spanish Civil war. Anybody interested in what could happen in this country when political movements get out of hand need only read what the state of economic and political ferment in Spain was like in the summer of 1936 on the eve of that conflict.
It is true that the Conservatives in France in 1940 would rather see the Nazis in control of their country than the Communists. Many of them considered that there was no third alternative. One can only imagine how destructive this must've been on French morale.
As the Democrats have coarsened and polarized our political discourse since Ronald Reagan but especially since George Bush, it pushes the Republic ever closer to the point of polarization in which such Hobson's choices will be forced upon us.
The Obama cult seeks to shut down two-sided debate, which is one way of solving the polarization problem. This vanity is my way of groping toward making opposition to the cult of Barak Obama respectable.
