What is meant here in the title? It refers to the time period of the search for absolute power by the Nazi Party with Adolf Hitler. The birth of the Nazi Party was made possible by the Versailles Treaty that became the final settlement of World War I. The treaty itself imposed such harsh economic conditions on post war Germany that the emergence of extremist political parties became an inevitability. The Nazi Party was one of those inevitabilities. And that period culminated Adolf Hitler's becoming Germany's leader in 1933.
We should not be surprised that harsh economic conditions can cause extremism. Such conditions cause enough deep suffering that people will, out of desperation, latch onto any kind of group or ideology that explains their current condition in simplistic terms and thus promises a simple and certain solution to alleviate the suffering.
Of course, one of the perceived solutions was to find the scoundrels who were responsible for the then economic conditions. The end of World War I provided the scapegoats needed for Nazi extremism to eventually thrive. The scapegoats were the political non-conservatives, in particular the Jews who were associated Marxist Socialism, who betrayed and corrupted the nation according to Hitler. It was those political non-conservatives who were portrayed as having moved Germany to unnecessarily surrender in World War I. That surrender deeply embittered many German soldiers who were returning home. On the other hand, those soldiers may not have been aware of the harsh conditions that fighting World War I forced on the German people.
We should note that Nazism's growth had an inverse relationship with the German economy. When the economy went well, the Nazi Party was unpopular. But with the Stock Market collapse and the Great Depression, coupled with the crippling sanctions of the Versailles Treaty, the once proud German nation was reduced to ruins causing much poverty among the people. This caused an increase in interest in what the Nazi Party was saying.
When Hitler campaigned in the 1930 elections he denounced the abandonment of German traditional values and preached a Germany-first approach to policies. In stressing traditional values, Hitler emphasized the family, race, and the people and he opposed materialism, cosmopolitanism, and “bourgeois intellectualism (click here for source). In essence, Hitler wanted to make Germany great again and to do that Hitler wanted to eliminate every source of corruption to the German people whether that corruption was in the form of ideas or race.
With Hitler's Germany First approach, he taught that virtues like loyalty, struggle, self-sacrifice, and discipline were German values. Hitler also preached that harmony with nature was a cultural value. Hitler opposed homosexuality because he saw it as a cause for the fall of Ancient Greece (click here for source).
We should note that Hitler tried to gain control of Germany two times. He unsuccessfully used violence the first time in what some call the Beer Hall Putsch. He used democratic political means to gain control the second time. What was ironic was that Hitler opposed democracy in Germany because, according to him, it failed (click here for the source).
So what do we see in America today? We see not just Trump, but those who follow either him or his side of the Republican Party. We saw Trump's side resort to violence in the January 6th Insurrection in order to maintain his presidency even though he lost the election. So what does Trump want to do now? He wants to win back the Presidency. And if he wins, he is promising to take revenge on those who spoke against or slighted him. We should note that Trump's leading rival for the Republican nomination has already shown that he will use his political power to take revenge on at least some who oppose his agenda. Of course I am referring to Ron DeSantis and his war of vengeance against Disney World for Disney World's speaking out against a DeSantis bill that targeted the mention of homosexuality for some elementary school children. But that is not all DeSantis has done. He has declared war on all wokism whether it deals with equality for the LGBT community or the teaching of CRT. And we should also note that many state Republican leaders took revenge on fellow party members who voted to impeach Trump or sat on the January 6 committee.
We should also note that in a recent poll, the majority of Republicans and some Democrats favored their leaders using strong-armed speech tactics to force their ways on government (click here for source). Such tactics are against the spirit of democracy and can lead to authoritarian rule.
We should also note similarities in what Hitler proposed and what the Trump side of the Republican Part has campaigned on. They include the restoration of traditional values, opposition to homosexuality, and an America-First approach to policies. And while Hitler promoted the idea Aryan superiority, conservatives more than liberals believe that America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. These conservatives are afraid of America being corrupted by immigrants and political non-conservatives. In addition, both Hitler and the Trump side of the Republican Party have believed that those people who were different from them were corrupting their nation. For Hitler that involved non-Aryans. For the Trump side of the Republican Party it includes the LGBT community and immigrants from South of the Border or who are Muslims.
As for America, Sinclair Lewis said the following
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
Conservative self-proclaimed patriots on the right seem to be deliberately trying to prove Lewis right. Like with the Nazis, these self-proclaimed patriots see all who are not members of their side of the Republican Party as enemies and thus feel the need to seek absolute control over America at all levels of government from seeking to overthrow a Presidential election, to controlling Congress, and to expelling one state's legislators because they protested against the lack of action on gun control. In the meantime, volunteer groups are looking to purge school libraries of not just LGBT materials, but any material that presents a CRT view of racism in AmericaIn addition, classic books written by some well-known classic works by authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, John Steinbeck, Alice Walker, James Joyce and others are being banned from school libraries.
There are other disturbing similarities that will be omitted here. The point being is that the Trump side of the Republican Party is seeking to undo our democracy and take a kind of fascist control over the nation. Its MAGA slogan and its spiritual direction from many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians shows little tolerance to moral behaviors that in contrast with our moral beliefs. It seems that many who are not seeking to redefine America as a nation that follows the 10 Commandments, they are seeking to make America into a Christian ethnocracy where religiously conservative Christians seek varying levels of control over the government and its laws. And many of these Christians are proud Americans.
But until Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there were quite a few Christians who admired Putin's reign in Russia especially because of his ties to the Russian Orthodox Church and his opposition, or persecution, to the LGBT community in Russia. The problem with that fondness is that Putin's way of ruling is autocratic. Yes, they have elections, but other nations have taught us that the presence of elections does not imply the existence of democracy.
Just as Germany's moment lasted years before it was resolved in the most unfortunate way, Germany's moment, American Style will be with us for quite a few years. It is aided by our 2-party system that would force many Republicans, who would normally not vote for candidates with autocratic tendencies like Trump and DeSantis, to vote for such candidates in order to avoid electing the alternative.
Gone are the days when serious misconduct by a Republican candidate would be fairly objectively scrutinized by members of his own party. What we have now is a situation where America seems to be treading water to avoid sinking into fascism. And so the question that comes into play here is, how long can we tread water?
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