People used to wonder how it was possible for the Nazis to take over the Germans so completely. Germany was the most advanced country in the world at the time. Best educated, most scientifically adept, with rich literary and musical traditions, producing the most varied and articulated philosophies.
Remember the genesis of fascism (which Hitler so admired), and of every fascist party in Europe. They came out of the Left, not the Right. All founders were originally Marxists, frustrated at the slow pace of revolution.
Fascists came in by promising the social benefits that appealed to the less fortunate: full employment, free everything, a complete social safety net.
To achieve power they first suppressed the opposition by silencing them. Early on, violence was necessary -- hence the Italian "Blackshirts" and the Nazi "Brownshirts." A friendly media fanned flames of bitter resentment.
Like every dictator that ever was, they needed to re-write history to create two convictions: Firstly, resentment towards a recognizable sub-group which was blamed for all the ills of the age, and secondly to create a "National Myth" around which the (false) justifications would be made for purging the newly-identified enemies of "the people."
Power was achieved through intimidation, damaging the opposition violently, and vilification by fellow travelers in the press.
Book-burnings and violent mobs encouraged the punishment of those who disagreed.
All of this activity was in the guise of "protecting the 'true' people of the nation from the internal enemies of the people.
Once in authority, fascists and Nazis silenced any who spoke against them. The original "Cancel culture."
And of course, the removal of weapons from the populace.
Along the way, "thought crimes" became part of the legal code. Much like "hate crimes" today.
Private industry under the Nazis was under the total control of the party, for the mutual enrichment of both owners and government or party authorities. Corporations exercised suppression of the unwanted at the direction of the authorities.
So it is that in America today, it is feeling a lot like 1933 in Germany. The re-writing of history by the 1619 project now has been endorsed by the president (via revoking the 1776 Project, and by re-instituting the re-education seminars which forced federal employees to admit their own specious guilt for our ancestors' failings). Penalties pillaged by the previous administration can once more be parceled out to left-wing agitators.
Who would ever have thought that the USA would edge so close to totalitarianism? The next step will be the purging of public officials who are not in step with the Left.
3 February, 2021
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