Vicious Minorities

Watching the growing unpopularity of the bush II regime, and how losing two elections and hovering near 30 percent in popularity for YEARS now hasn't slowed this regime down, ... I was moved to reflect upon the ability of the Nazis to dominate Germany and cause so much damage to Germany and the world, when Hitler never had more than a minority of the German people's support.

The book The Third Reich in Power by Richard J. Evans, one of my recent reads, is quite clear about the qualified support the Nazis received from a few sectors of German society, and is also clear about the lack of enthusiasm the German people had for Hitler's forward foreign policy.

I know there's supposed to be some internet law, ... lessee ... ah yes, Godwin's Law, which doesn't appear to state that comparing anyone to the Nazis is necessarily bad, just that Nazi comparisons become increasingly likely the longer an online discussion goes. It's also true that there are some quite justifiable bush II regime/Nazi comparisons.

The point isn't really bush II and Hitlerian social-political-foreign policy parallels. Leninists, Maoists, ... most political groups never have more than a large minority, maybe a bare majority, of a country's support. The point is that all you sometimes need is a minority of ruthless thugs and you can do a lot of damage.

Mindless, lying, so stupid they're insane, ... the current far-right media and blogosphere.