-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 11/23/2016 07:56 AM, xorcist at sigaint.org wrote:
Zenaan Harkness: I'm -pretty- sure we're not descending into 1939, but hey, please holler if I'm missing something...
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How Hitler Became a Dictator by Jacob G. Hornberger
Whenever U.S. officials wish to demonize someone, they inevitably compare him to Adolf Hitler. The message immediately resonates with people because everyone knows that Hitler was a brutal dictator.
But how many people know how Hitler actually became a dictator? My bet is, very few. I’d also bet that more than a few people would be surprised at how he pulled it off, especially given that after World War I Germany had become a democratic republic.
The story of how Hitler became a dictator is set forth in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer, on which this article is based.
Three missing elements in this (very useful) summary: First, the rise of the Third Reich happened while Germany was in economic ruins due to the Great Depression and Treaty of Versailles, literally on the brink of mass starvation. The people were desperate and the NSDAP offered a simple explanation (Jews and Communists did it) and a simple solution (get rid of the Jews and Communists). Under these conditions the Nazis were able to organize a national militia, the SA (Sturmabteilung a.k.a. Brown Shirts) and employ terrorist tactics to help the German people vote correctly. Second, Germany had a very strong culture of obedience to authority, a moral imperative synonymous with "honor." This mind set was dominant throughout the European sphere of influence in the 19th century, and although it was in decline (i.e. the much lamented decadence of the "yellow nineties" and outbreaks of anarchism in the early 20th century) it remained firmly in place there: The older Germans I met as a child were very much "Old World" people, and even as a child I could see that clearly. Third, Herr Hitler & Co. kept their key campaign promises: They did in fact restore Germany's economy and turned the country (back) into an industrial powerhouse. This was accomplished by implementing many reforms borrowed from Roosevelt's New Deal, and with the kindly assistance of capital provided by U.S. industrialists who heartily approved of the Nazis' political philosophy and economic policies. The Nazis earned the gratitude - and compliance - of the German people. Hitler was a passionate nationalist; Trump is a vulgar opportunist. Once in power, Hitler united his nation and did, in fact, make it great again - at least in terms of economic prosperity and industrial production. Trump has already mobilized the already divided American people into warring factions: Our natural born Fascists are out of the closet, the political Left is snarling and screeching while its leadership digs in for four years of mortal combat, and "moderates" of all stripes - a sleeping demographic giant - are looking for something they can actually DO about this train wreck for the first time in generations. The Internet has broken the monopoly of Big Capital over the content mass communications, so the Nazi's famous full spectrum domestic propaganda regimen can not be duplicated here and now. Although I would much rather have seen Sanders in the White House, attempting to implement an updated New Deal solution to the ongoing collapse of the U.S. economy, a Democratic Party under the literal control of Clinton and her network stopped Sanders by every means necessary, and handed the White House to Donald Trump. So now we get to see a radical solution to the various crises presently facing the United States and the world: Four years of open warfare between the American Right Fringe and Everyone Else. Our economic power brokers are already lining up behind Trump, leaving "boots on the ground" in the form of mass popular movements as his opponents' only viable response. We have been taught all our lives that this means armed conflict, because that's an option our rulers are very well prepared to control and use to their own advantage. But economic warfare through strikes, occupations and mass non-cooperation are powerful weapons that hit a ruling class hard where it counts - in their balance sheets and quarterly reports. Mass movements using nonviolent strategies and tactics can move political mountains - or failing this, the struggle to move those mountains builds the committed support networks that must exist for a last resort armed insurgency to succeed. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux) iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJYNdeeAAoJEECU6c5Xzmuq0oQH/3FqhyYT6j8Yyw0A7aUPWUkG Yi0Z3j/MWMTE73YhxWaWtxKQfwfO4Sy41dCz/Pzjxn7ZZb0NNTn+A0WUANcuCHGQ 4Wtt/GDFwhlhYifQ3XLOQaQfOk7/96kMlMMTgAwqq0FXBztWZ20nIn2M8lZP1tW8 9Jjaeh1uobhsnzLo9bbjf0p671lMS3T0WGO04ay6wSTG3c1J40zQuXs2geqfPZmx 17hS3mFhbE1GDSp+cj2BtOCaeEwwu/7O7SCWYiNDb6bLz7iDdArO5b1jlh2hLRn4 HNA68H+gCoRhJ/c2KGr2U5ySa0DUgiDC7llnHNeaZHGsmq+lD4tW1GWdg6Sz48I= =iZjM -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----