As a German, I say this: Do not repeat Germany's De-Nazification mistakes.

[StevieM]

47. That is definitely true, and in recent decades it took a more dangerous turn.

All of the southern anger combined with national conservative anger. When the GOP became dominant in the south you had two different threads of rage and rejectionism coming together. At that point it became virulent.

I can only imagine what it would have looked like if you had southern Republicans, along with the internet and cable news, at the time of the Panama Canal Treaty. The vitriol would have been off the charts. It would have gone a lot further than "we built it, we paid for it, it's ours, were going to keep it." Mind you, the American right was plenty furious back then, and Reagan rode that to power. But it would be at a whole other level today.

Well, this is my 9,999th post. The next one is #10,000. I will have to think about what I want to write and when I want to write it.