Re: When even a Republican can see it....

On 2007-06-01, David Friedman <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <9l4063d0ecj6govqfi3kcjbfu6f6rr3b41@xxxxxxx>,
mike weber <fairportfan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Thu, 31 May 2007 23:17:43 -0700, David Friedman
<ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In practice, I gather the Nazi party recruited in large part from the
left--that they and the communists competed for the same base.

I wouldn't call it "the Left" so much as i'd call it disaffected and
(at least self-perceivedly) disenfranchised elements of a society in
disarray and economic chaos.

Fair enough. What I meant was that many of those they recruited had been
previously recruited by groups on the left, not that those they
recruited were distinguished by their left wing political beliefs.


The Nazis came to power in Germany during the Great Depression; "It's
the economy, stupid." We had much the same political pattern among
the general public in the USA; radical factions, left, right, up, and
down gained adherents. As far as I can tell, the reasons that
particular factions won out were contingent. The USA elected a
moderate left government, as far to the left as the very conservative
US national government has ever swung. Germany had a very young
democracy, and conflicts in the German system, especially including
radical factions of the old nobility and the Stalinized German
Communist party, narrowly swung the election to the right--and then
the Reichstag fire, set by factions unknown, provided an excuse to
declare a state of emergency.

Once the Nazis were firmly in power, the seductions of their politics:
the idea of racial and gender superiority, the violence, the hope of
successful conquest, became attractive to large numbers--besides, if
you didn't at least offer lip service you'd probably get your windows
smashed in, and perhaps your legs broken as well. These are,
unfortunately, also some of the attractions the US radical right
offers; it is discouraging to me how much of the popular politics of
both times and places can be explained as the behavior of men who feel
their masculinity threatened. (You doubt? Explain the popularity of
Schwarzennegger, then.)

Randolph
.

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