[Finny]

Worth posting again: People didn’t follow Hitler out of respect, they followed out of fear. At first it was fear of the economic disaster of the Weimar regime, then is was fear of Hitler and the Nazis.

The 1934 election of Hitler as chancellor, was so corrupt that 96% of the inmates at Dachau voted for Hitler. No one knows what happened to the 88 who either did not vote or voted for someone else.

Up until now our constitution has protected us from this kind of fear, but Obama is rapidly doing away with the rule of law, ignoring the war powers act, using the EPA to kill off fossil fuel use with regulations and fees (180 billion on the coal industry), the NRLB ruling against Boeing, and many others.

Fear is a great warning tool, but a piss-poor guide to tactics and decisions. Conservatives, Republicans, GOPers, tea partiers, American patriots -- remember that calm and courage guide the best decisions. Let the losers panic -- leaders and thinkers, patriots, we will do better to summon courage and embrace calm and shrewd assessment of political decisions ahead.

[Eva]

I am reading In the Garden of Beasts. It's about Berlin in 1933-37 (I think, I'm only at '34.) It's so full of detail that I find myself stopping to look up more information on things that the author assumes that the reader knows, like Nazi Pagan Ideology. The racism is said to have been based on Pagan beliefs, but that sounds more like an excuse than a reality, though. Most of the Nazis were clearly nuts. It's hard to believe that so many megalomaniacs could have come together in one place at the same time. It's also enlightening to read about the lack of real moral certitude that existed in the Roosevelt administration at that time, as well.