Posted on 06/21/2010 4:17:55 PM PDT by Kaslin
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
I would love to see a pay per view debate between Thomas Sowell and 'The W0n'. It wouldn't even be a contest since Barry's pretty much intellectually unarmed.
No slippery slope. America is already ruled by a tyranny of lawyers.
The law is whatever they can make a judge believe
This was why the founders originally only allowed property holders to vote. With their taxes it was felt they had a stake in the outcome of an election (remember no income tax back then). I'd like to extend that to all those who pay income taxes for the same reasons. If you're on a program or a government employee you can't vote. Under that rule I'd be ineligible until I found a job, but I'd take it over the mobocracy we currently have.
'Course we can. We did to a certain extent when literacy was required. Now that's racist.
ML/NJ
Provided, of course, that neither debater could use a teleprompter.
Thanks for the ping jaz.
On June 19th I emailed the following....
To the Minority Leader:
Rep. Boehner - Joe Barton was absolutely right in apologizing to BP. WTF ever happened to the rule of law in this country? I have never seen anything like the runaway lawlessness as displayed by the present administration. Twist arms until people cave in to their demands - that’s now the rule. And you candy-ass Republicans stand around and watch. Now you force one of your own to apologize for pointing out this lawlessness!! Well bite my butt!! Why don’t you get a desk set up in the oval office so you can apologize and kiss ass at the first hint of criticism from a Republican. WE NEED PEOPLE IN CONGRESS WHO WILL FIGHT THESE THUGGISH BASTARDS!!! You apparently don’t want to. You want to check to see which way the wind blows - just another goddamn political hack!!!
(my full name and address)
FReepmail.
Actually no, we already have tyranny, we have already slid down the slippery slope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1AlUE33M5Y
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
Yes they are not listening. We are no longer a government of the people. They are trying to Rule.
zero, nanzi and hairy think they are dictators.
Yes. We have been headed towards tyranny for a long time.
But the people who tried to point it out were drowned out in a chorus of jeers of “kook” and “crazy”. Even around here, it was common to point out how government was abusing its power and people would shrug and assume growing government was fine because it would never be used against them, but just against the people they considered “bad people.”
You grew the beast. It’s just poetic justice when it turns on you.
You grew the beast. It’s just poetic justice when it turns on you.
Well said. Worth repeating.
Agree 100%.
Excellent, as always.
There have been many examples of Obama assuming authority beyond the Constitutional provisions. One egregious example is the treatment he gave bond-holders in General Motors in order to save his precious union votes.
Yes, but in actuality the slipperiness of all of this probably began around 1930 or so. (This is where I like to point out the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act of that year, but that’s a thread for another date and time).
So really you figure, what, 80 years of this slope has brought us to this point?
If that's true, we're f#@%^$&@.
Consider for a moment how many people voted for 0 and how many of them are convinced that the economy, among other things, are getting better. That's a lot more true than we may soon realize and that to me is the indicator that we are f#@%^$&@.
A lib friend was visiting a couple of weeks ago, very little politics gets discussed because she goes ballistic immediately.
However, when the subject of my silver bullion came up, I pointed out that there is no record of my purchases because I’m not letting it be confiscated. She laughed at me. I then pointed out that her hero FDR did just that & asked why did she think it couldn’t happen again. Well, I was accused of paranoia and told that “we’ve grown since then, no way it could happen”.
Ha, bloody ha. Useful idiots indeed. We are outnumbered by them.
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