Link:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/13/162842/565Snip: <There was a time when the Nazis had never killed a jew. Then there
was the day they did. And then there were the days that followed.
There was a time when the title of this story was true. And then
one day it wasn't. The line that should not have been crossed was
crossed - the days that followed were just further steps into the
abyss.
Many times when debating conservatives online I refer back to the
rise of Hitler. I don't do it to be mean, I do it because Hitler
was a warning to us all. He led his nation from a civilised
democracy with all its warts to a corrupted and corrosive hell that
killed tens of millions in war and murdered millions more in cold
blood.
Germans are not a unique people. And what befell Germany in the
30's can befall any nation at any time. Italy, France, Spain, the
UK and even America. Even America. Just like the Germans, we
aren't unique either. No national character flaw in Germans led to
Hitler, and no national virtue in us will protect us from our own
Hitler.
At some point in the formation of the Nazi party an innocent was
killed. A jew, a gypsy, a homeless man, a baker, whatever. That
person was killed and the Nazis who saw it looked away.
An innocent was killed to further their ideology. An ideology that
Germans were better than everyone else, that others were inferior,
that anything done to protect Germany; elevate Germany was
acceptable. And that included killing those they perceived as a
threat - right or wrong, innocent or guilty. >