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Monday, November 29, 2004

Hitler and Bush comparisons 

My comment, from the Dailykos, in response to this:

Hitler killed millions in Europe...Bush has killed tens of thousands in Iraq. The comparisons between the two have nothing to do with numbers alone. In that regard, Hitler trumps all fascist dictators. No argument.

But there is an argument that Bush is leading us down the path to a totalitarian state, with his current philosophy and policies, not the least of which is the trumped up nationalism at several decibals too high.
The loyalty oaths, the quashing of dissent, the attacks on our right to vote (evidenced the Ohio hearings),the economic de-struction of the middle class, attacks on social security are next...

I'm not crying tears for all of this...at the moment...though I've shed a few over images in Iraq. I'm feeling a bit queasy though...in that anxious, uneasy "what does the future hold" kind of way.

The fear is, that the killing will go on...and we will find new reasons to attack other nations. There is evidence of this in our national media.

If it were ever about degree, the Hitler comparisons would have never been made.

And let us remember the one great lesson of Hitler:

We ignore millennia of history demonstrating that powerpaths will pursue whatever schemes necessary to maintain power. Indeed, they typically usurp power incrementally, pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries. As George Soros has observed, when those boundary tests are successfully passed, the dominant paradigm (and associated behavior) is further reinforced and perpetuated.

Bush is pushing the envelope right now, further and further...

to·tal·i·tar·i·an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t-tl-târ-n)adj. Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: "A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous institutions in its drive to seize the human soul" (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).