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His election that November came as a surprise
By Timothy Snyder
His election that November came as a surprise. The conservative intellectuals had made telling arguments against his racism and conspiracy thinking.. Rival nationalists had mocked his affection for a foreign tyrant. Businessmen had explained that economic isolation could only harm an export economy. All to no avail.
His followers had faith, of course. They had roared at his rallies and echoed his slogans. They had come out to vote, in higher numbers than expected, especially working-class men and women. Even so, the results of the election were paradoxical. The left received 1 million more votes than his party. But due to the vagaries of the electoral system he was called upon to form a government. His followers exulted, but the various right-wing elites preserved their calm. Although they had failed to keep him from power, they were sure that they could control him. He was good at convincing his followers that he was a revolutionary and convincing others that he was harmless.
His administration was at first a coalition of the old right and his new right. The members of the major left-wing party, historically larger than his, had a sense that something was afoot. But the left was divided upon itself and unsure about its leadership; its own conflicts could, from moment to moment, seem more pressing than the affairs of the country as a whole. He did not invent the highway, as his propaganda claimed, but he did support public works. This sort of thing helped to confuse the left and the workers.
Among much of the ordinary citizenry there was a certain faith that the political elite had matters under control. Among the elite there was a certain faith that state institutions would somehow protect themselves, that the rule of law and administrative habit would somehow maintain themselves. It was a minority that exulted in his power and a smaller minority that broke the windows and painted the symbols. Somehow, amid the misplaced hopes, his followers set the tone. As the mood changed, much of the citizenry began to think ahead about what he would want and make adjustments in advance. This made his task infinitely simpler.
Writers reflected upon how he was changing the language. He defined the world as a source of endless threat and other countries as cradles of countless enemies. Global conspiracies were supposedly directed at his country and its uniquely righteous people. His left-wing opponents and the national minorities, he insisted, were not individuals but expressions of implacable international enmity to the righteous demands of his own people. He said that he spoke for his people, that he was their voice. He had no concern for factuality; what he said about others was meant to generate a certain fiction. In some measure, he was working within the philosophical conventions of his time. Important thinkers of the era had declared that the idea of facts understood by individuals was humbug, opening the way for a sense of identity to be confused with the apprehension of truth. But he was also aware that mass media created the possibility to project big lies with such force that they drowned out the small truths. He had a certain undeniable charisma, and he was the first major politician of a new media age.
The terrorist attack came as a surprise. It was unclear whether he planned this himself, but it hardly mattered. He blamed the left, banned its parties, and had its leaders put in camps. A state of emergency was declared and never lifted. A one-party state emerged. The division of powers vanished. The parliament became a rubber stamp. The bureaucracy proved loyal to him. Bright and ambitious men with law degrees were found. For many lawyers and judges, professional ethics were somehow submerged in an understanding of the greater good of the nation, state, or race. Intelligent people found ways to place their own intellectual and moral evolution within this or that philosophical or legal tradition. The legal stigmatization of a chosen minority had the political consequence of binding everyone else closer to the state. The moment citizens did not oppose this measure, they were in effect supporting it. The moment they took advantage of it (by enrolling their children in schools that suddenly had empty places, for example), they were co-opted by it.
Dear Jesus More:http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2016/11/his_election_that_november_came_as_a_surprise.html
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Holy Mother of God.
sheshe2
(83,789 posts)Heil Hitler?
sheshe2
(83,789 posts)lillypaddle
(9,580 posts)sheshe2
(83,789 posts)2naSalit
(86,646 posts)sheshe2
(83,789 posts)Oh shit. We are to blind to see.
Response to sheshe2 (Original post)
sheshe2 This message was self-deleted by its author.
BigDemVoter
(4,150 posts)for them to send out a "census" to make lists of names and where people lived. . . . And before long, these same people received letters that asked that they present themselves to the train station to be resettled. And yes, upon complying with these orders and actually going to the train station, these same people were violently assaulted, had their property stolen, and were forcibly placed aboard these trains that took them to places that had been expressly made for the purpose of murder. There these people were again violently assaulted and viciously killed.
THIS is where fascism leads. I had 2 relatives from Mannheim, Germany who died ugly, brutal deaths. The records provided after the war via the ITS show a swift descent from normality to terror in very short order. No time was wasted at all. People were whisked away before they had a chance to flee or protest.
I just wonder who will speak up? I don't think there are any honorable Republicans left.
sheshe2
(83,789 posts)We have to stand for each other. Every dayum minority needs to stand together.
I am so very sorry for your loss over the ages.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)ameriKKKa faces at this time in history. A hitler redo. SAD ameriKKKans that voted for our orange hitler are so afraid. Of what? An AA POTUS? Never to happen again Losing majority racial status in 20-40 years in this country, the world? Muslims? some women who stand up and say they are people and entitled to make their own decisions about how to run their lives, not a possessions? Black americans that stand up and say they are people, not slaves, no threat? What is it ameriKKKan? Too many hispanics doing the jobs too proud ameriKKKans won't do? All the above? is it? Or just plain, want to make ameriKKKa white again? Really sick of all the beautiful colors and cultures that do make america great that SURROUND everyone, everyday? GET OVER IT!!!!! Here to stay and ain't enough trains, planes, trucks, automobiles to round us all up.