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concerns is the shattering of the center/left, and its inability to govern, which I think could happen here, especially if the Democratic Party leadership persists in its support for the Mideast war.
There are some significant differences between Germany in the early 1930s and our current situation. One of them is that Germany was a broken country at the time of Hitler's rise. He took an impoverished country and built it into an economic powerhouse, aimed at military conquest. Bush has done just the opposite. He took a prosperous and powerful country, and turned it into a basket case. Where are the industry, the efficiency, the competence, the organization, the jobs, the passionate nationalistic commitment on the part of ordinary citizens, and so on, that characterized the Third Reich? Nowhere! Yes, it was all used for diabolical purpose, but you can't dispute its success as an industrial/military/gov't machine--a good part of the reason for Hitler's popularity. The Bush junta is characterized by INcompetence. It may be studied incompetence, but it is nevertheless incompetence. Our country is failing on every front, foreign and domestic.
Bush is despised, not worshiped. He's had a 38% approval rating now for a year, and never did have much popularity. The country is trillions of dollars in debt, and bleeding jobs as we speak. Schools, medical care, infrastructure, everything neglected.
I don't see the Bushites creating anything, not even a fascist state. What I see is thieves. I think that's their main thrust--looting.
So, why are they setting up all these precedents of tyrannical executive power? Part of it may be self-protection--ways to avoid exposure and prosecution, now and in the future. For instance, secrecy allows them to shred/alter all sorts of records that could indict them. Spying allows them to see what-all anybody has on them. Torture, rendition--and whisking anonymous prisoners off to secret prisons in middle Europe and points east--allows them to get information about witnesses to their crimes, and allows them to directly eliminate some witnesses and potential whistleblowers.
Another reason for the unprecedented executive powers may be a plan they have for the future--one I've suggested here at DU in various posts--that is, to install a War Democrat '08, for a short tenure, to accomplish certain purposes: to get a military Draft (which Bush can't do); to set up a "Gulf of Tonkin II" for Iran/Syria (and possibly to advance that part of PNAC); to generate the last bits of wealth that we are capable of, for future looting; to put down the Draft protests, the food riots, etc.; and to begin putting the blame for Bush's financial and foreign policy disasters on the Democrats. When the War Democrat's administration falls to pieces (a la the German Bruning administration), THEN we get Herr Hitler II (I'm thinking Rumsfeld). The War Democrat may not use all the powers Bush is asserting, but likely won't disavow them. They'll remain latent, to be used by the leader of the Fourth Reich. My guess is that Hillary Clinton will be this short-term War Democrat. She may have already made a deal to be chosen (she's sure acting like it).
The reichwing currently has the power to pretty much install whomever they want to--with their "trade secret," proprietary vote tabulation. (Diebold and ES&S--brethren companies, who counted 80% of the vote in 2004--are very, very dangerous corporations, with ties to the Chalcedon Foundation--you want to be scared? look up Chalcedon, 451 AD, and today.) They literally have that power--and most certainly used it in the 2004 election. So (--unless we throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' now), THEY will choose who our Dem candidate is in 2008, and who "wins" the White House (and will of course again "select" a fascist Congress).
In my opinion, the only way to prevent the above scenario is election reform--a still doable thing, since the power over election systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people have some influence. There are many local movements under way, with some notable successes (in North Carolina, Florida, New York, California, New Mexico and elsewhere), even though the movement is still in its infancy. Transparent elections are a no brainer. It is only entrenched power and corruption that are protecting the current, fraudulent election system. Once people hear the facts, they DON'T WANT private corporations counting our votes in secret. (Duh.) Of course, the corporate media is just as corrupt as the election system itself, and is actively covering this story up. (They CHANGED their own exit polls, on election night 2004, to force them to 'FIT' the "trade secret" results fed to them by Diebold and ES&S!)
Hitlerizing the U.S. is a lot more complicated and difficult than hitlerizing Germany was. We're a MUCH bigger, and FAR more diverse country, for one thing. Also, Germany's democracy was short-lived, at that point; ours is long-lived and difficult to kill. And we are not yet on our knees economically. It's taken the reichwing 40 years to "undo the lessons of Vietnam" (create excuses to re-militarize) (note: 9/11 was reason for police action, not military action), to gain control of the news media through monopoly, to corrupt our election process with corporate money, to corrupt sufficient Democrats with military/industrial booty to get their cooperation, and, finally, to take over our election system with a $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle from Tom Delay's Congress, passed in the name of election reform (har, har) but really aimed at "trade secret" programming (with no audit/recount controls) and at lining the pockets of Bush's rightwing buds at Diebold and ES&S.
This another reason why I think we may be in for a round of "Bruning" (pre-Hitler) type government, likely to be full of turmoil and civil unrest, before the real Hitler is installed. And there may be some hope in this (in an installed War Democrat scenario--not in turmoil/civil unrest): hope for election reform--hope for a good federal bill that will achieve transparent elections quickly. It's something we could negotiate for (since candidates do need support, even in Diebold/ES&S elections), and since even a War Democrat has to pay lip service to progressive values such as transparent elections.
I could be wrong, and we are in for an immediate, total fascist coup. What's coming out of Bush's mouth these days is truly scary--his open defiance of the rule of law, and the utter failure of the "balance of powers." And I'm aware of the slow "frog boil" analogy that old Germans themselves have spoken of (that Hitlerism came upon them gradually, and then, suddenly, one day, they woke up to the Third Reich). But still, I see the Bush junta more as a "house of cards" than as a great power. The American people are NOT with them--and there is no economic strength upon which to build anything; they've looted the country into serious bankruptcy.
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