This is one of those articles that I wish I could find fault with, because its conclusions scare the bejabbers out of me, but I can’t. Good job, and recommended.

In Weimar Germany you described a three-directional fork.

I don’t see a right-dictatorship force in the U.S. right now that has any credible following.

And the Bush era could not be viewed as “right” – it was far more centrist by historical U.S. standards.

But I don’t see how the American people would embrace an alternative that would be labeled as a return to the Bush era.

So what are the centrist and right alternatives – or does the Weimar parallel break down here, and there is only one alternative to the left. And if so, what is the “right” alternative.

There really is no such thing as a wild-eyed moderate, so I think the center does not hold in any destabilized situation. To borrow the lefty cant, you’re a part of the problem or you’re a part of the solution. A corollary to that is that most are just sitting on the sidelines trying to live their lives only to wake up one morning to find the world has moved under them. So, I think the left dukes it out with the right and the vast middle sits it out but some of them ally with one or the other.

I don’t see the right in America doing anything like what the Germans did, but I see a conflict that could be very brutal. I think the left and their black allies will know no bounds in the things they would do; lots of hate stored up on that side of the ditch. Helter-Skelter and all that.

So, I’m investing in precious metal: lead and brass.

Art, could you please use a synonym for stimulate? The word is a little out of favor–how about “spark?” But seriously, I do not disagree with your vision, these things are a matter of degree. What I keep coming back to is that the speed and secrecy of legislation are purposeful and indicate malintention of the socialists.

I’ve been thinking today that in America the path to power is paved with greenbacks instead of brownshirts. That is scaring me more than anything else. The socialists know they can only maintain by mesmerizing the dumb class with their great leader’s media persona.

There are so many dark aspects to the rise of socialism in our country. We downplay their implications at our peril.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

You are talking about folks with tremendous delusions of grandeur. They see their ideas and the power that they must control as something that cannot be questioned. Anything or anybody that gets in their way needs to be eliminated instead of engaged. No compromise and only unconditional surrender by their opponents. Islamists and communists are examples of folks like this.

Market capitalists make compromises in the marketplace every day, and I am still optimistic about capitalism. The rumors of its death are premature.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

nt

The indicators are not good. Surprisingly lot of people seem to think this will pass and America will emerge stronger. The problem is situations are changing so fast and for the worse. America is headed towards socialism at a very disturbing pace. Looks like this administration is in a hurry to push through the socialist agenda. Social engineering and economic crisis make for a perfect combination.

Another problem is people who talk about socialism don’t quite understand it. There are striking parallels to what’s happening here and what happened in Germany or what happened in Italy.

Last year, I helped my neighbor with a college course in economics and political theories, one of the first papers I helped him with involved a oligarchic fascist state and the rise of fascism. Although normally associated with right wing politics as in Spain, germany and Italy in the 1930s, I was also on my soapbox at the time railing against Obama. I believed then as I believe now even more that he is essentially a socialist disguised as a “democrat.” And the similarities between the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and Obama are striking. Both used financial disasters to gain power and once there, used the apparatus of a capitalist system to consolidate power. If this country survives as capitalist democracy, we will be studying how Barack Obama led America into its first truly fascist government (although FDR came damn close). Using the economy as an excuse to pass a large part of his liberal/socialist agenda, look for “workers of the world to unite” with his pro-union legislation and de facto take over of the media. They already had academia and they seized the economy. Just look at the Orwellian names of the laws being passed- Economy Recovery and Stabilization Act (very sterile unil you read it), the “Fairness Doctrine” (anything but), and Employee Free Choice Act (free choice? democratic principles?). And socialized medicine is still on the horizon to finish it all off, but expect a nice neutral, sterile name for it.

There’s really nothing I can add to this except to say that I hope it doesn’t happen. I hope that the people on Obama’s team will begin to realize that Keynesian economics is not The Way out of the current financial situation that the United States finds itself in. I hope some of them begin to understand that a real message of Hope and Change begins with economic reality, not relying on Government workers to suddenly snap out of it and rise to the cause, as the Washington Post is hoping they will do.

OK I’ll add something to in anyway. Great job, Achance. And…

What have those government workers been doing all this time that the percentage of GDP spent on government has risen so high? Reading this article in the Washington Post, you might think they’ve had it *tough* until now, spending taxpayer money.

[Author's note: that article is good for a lot of laughs.]

We know very well what the answers to this crisis without destroying the world and positioning America to lead again will require. We know those answers pluperfectly. Obama is going to have to make a very serious choice: between continuing to do what the people who elected him think is right for fantastic reasons having to do with their fantasies, or what people who actually run businesses in the United States know must really be done.

Precious little business investment is going forward worldwide. The only chance for the United States to recover is if we can capture most of this investment. How can we do that? We would have to convince businesses that this is the best country in the world in which to invest and operate.

What we need to promise

At a minimum, here are the things that we need to promise business managers:

— world’s lowest percentage of GDP (among developed nations) spent on government; only with a low spend will investors have faith that taxes will stay low

– corporate governance that relieves investors from worry that profits will be siphoned off by management

– flexible capital expense depreciation schedule so that a company doesn’t have to pay taxes when it is cashflow-negative

– world’s best school system and best educated workers

– world’s cheapest transportation system and one that is virtually

– free from uncertainty caused by congestion

– predictable product liability system

– less labor market regulation

– immigration that encourages high earners

We need them all. Otherwise the probability of your scenario outlined above, as gloomy as it sounds, becomes much greater.

Is anyone listening?

…so many parallels. Thanks for bringing this perspective. We have a chance to learn from history here. One thing you said that really struck a cord with me:

“One thing I admire about thoughtful communists is the fact that they work very hard at understanding their defeats.”

Would that only the Movement Conservatives be so introspect. One of the reasons I’ve been so brutally hard on them in some of my posts? Because they have been so short on self analysis. The grim picture you’ve painted can all be avoided if Repub’s can take back one or both of the legislative bodies come 2010, in my view. And stop some of this crap dead in its tracks, if they have the backbone to do so. But at this point I don’t see the GOP doing near enough to achieve that goal. Darvin Dowdy

There are two policies already in motion that it could be argued will be used to 1) Disarm the right, and 2) Nullify the need for military cooperation. If one is looking at them in this way, then it shows that the administration is expecting rebellion before there is a chance for the military to be converted.

These two pieces are the proposed gun laws under HR 45, the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009, and Obama’s DOD Directive, 1404.10 the DOD Civillian Expeditionary Workforce.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45:

http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/140410p.pdf

The short of it is that HR 45 allows the government to know where every gun is located (no matter how long ago you bought it), and criminalizes anyone who fails to tell the government where their guns are. The Civilian Expeditionary Workforce are the modern brownshirts who will come and get your guns.

If HR 45 passes, and if Obama can hold off until these are in place. Then at the first sign of the militant right acting up, a state of emergency will be declared and gun ownership will be outlawed. The Civilian Expeditionary Workforce will be sent around very quickly to collect all the guns and those who have “misplaced” their guns will automatically be in violation of HR 45 and subject to jail. Rebellion ends before it begins and the military will not be pressed into service at all.