When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History

When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History
by Thom Hartmann


The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world.

It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.)

But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones.
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All this Bush is Hitler stuff going on thought it would make a good read just to see how similar times really are. Granted Bush is no Hitler he didn�t even have the guts to fight for his country like Hitler did.

You do know that wasn't the first time in history that a candidate won the election without the popular vote, right? It's happened before and will happen again if the voting system is not changed.

read it! it's not a gore vs bush thing.

I did. I read it and I get where they're coming from, but you must realize that the Gore vs. Bush election wasn't the only time that democracy failed. I do think we would be better off with a different form of voting.(though that is not what the article is about) Even if it means that Gore would have been elected.

Hey, who knows, maybe if Gore had been elected, the left wouldn't have strayed so far from the center, or maybe they would've gone further. There's no telling now.