Finally, someone went there!

[SCVDem]

That someone was Rachel Maddow and the importance of her show tonight is this:

How do normal citizens turn Nazi/Fascist/Communist et al.

How does a country go so far off course.

America really needs to get educated. NOW!!

[haikugal]

1. Nazi, fascist, communist?

How about we just call them authoritarians. How did communist get in there...does democratic socialism scare her? Damn, more red baiting.

[gwheezie]

3. Communist government have not worked out well

Socialist economic systems are a different story.
I don't think it's red baiting to include communist countries as poor examples of governments that function for the improvement of its citizens.

[haikugal]

7. Ok, just checking. Thanks.

[Matrosov]

18. Yes, huge difference between Communism and socialism

The Soviet Union was founded on the economic system of socialism. However, they added an authoritarian political layer known as Communism (not to be confused with the actual economic system of communism).

People in the Soviet Union had no freedom, no say, no power. That was not because of the economic socialism, but because of the political Communism.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Pretty much all self proclaimed "communist" governments have been authoritarian

and fit the same overall blueprint of other authoritarian systems. When people use the word "communism", they are NOT referring to European style democratic socialism, (unless they're extreme right wingers, who make no distinction between the two). I very much doubt that Rachel is talking about the Swedish government.

Simply pointing out reality is not the same as red baiting.

[haikugal]

8. Yes they have been. I was just wondering. Thanks.

[virtualobserver]

2. One way would be if a network....lets call it...uh, MSNBC gives someone a 24/7 platform

and so do all of the other networks. and they do it to make money/

[Egnever]

9. /end thread

[SCVDem]

5. Each is an extreme political side.

Communism fits there or under the et al.

To equate Sen. Sanders with Communism is a stretch, to put it kindly.

[Albertoo]

6. The terms "Nazi/Fascist/Communist" don't apply to the current scene

Even if Bernie and Trump do indicate a trend towards rebellious populism (as do Cruz/Rubio)
(rebellion against a gloomy state of affairs, but with no clear blueprint: both Bernie and Trump put forward 'voluntarism' over quiet, humble, painstaking roadmaps)

Policy wonks who propose roadmaps (Hillary, Kasich) tend to meet less enthusiasm.
Reason is less appealing when people hurt.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. 'Road maps'? What a cloying turn of phrase. Road maps to Iraq? Road maps to DOMA?

If your assertion is that you are able to make 'humble painstaking road maps' to progress you will be asked about where your prior road maps led us. If those humble plans led to war and discrimination I am not eager to see them pull out their next scheme or plan really. Why would I be?

It's about results, not about the bullshit words we say about the process. 'She has road maps, he has no plans at all!!!!'

Road maps to ruin? No thanks. Road maps that end with my rights obstructed and the map maker worth hundreds of millions? Bad deal for me.

[OZi]

10. Any warnings of corporatism leading to fascism?

[dreamnightwind]

11. Yeah, she isn't too worried about that - eom

[world wide wally]

12. Bernie is a Democratic Socialist….. Trump is a Fascist………Period

Democratic explains the form of government.
Socialist explains the economic system

Fascist explains authoritarian rule.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. If the media was not helping

I would be more impressed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027660330

And I went there at Reporting San Diego, calling trump dangerous, in July and calling this a base revolt in december, and those are just two examples.

[Samantha]

14. I don't think anyone who turns into a Nazi or Fascist or Communist was normal to begin with (eom)

[pampango]

16. There is a great thread "Why is Donald Trump winning?" on authoritarianism and conservatives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027659537

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Rachel asking how? Rachel is part of that how, here are quotes from her Uncle Pat, regular guest in

her early days, Rachel was paid to air him, so she aired him. Buchanan on Hitler:
“he was also an individual of great courage, a soldier’s soldier in the Great War, a leader steeped in the history of Europe, who possessed oratorical powers that could awe even those who despised him[…]His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.”

Uncle Pat, Holocaust Denier:
“This so-called ‘Holocaust Survivor Syndrome’ involves ‘group fantasies of martyrdom and heroics.’ Reportedly, half of the 20,000 survivor testimonies in Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem are considered ‘unreliable,’ not to be used in trials[…]The problem is: Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody.”

Rachel's Uncle Pat on David Duke:
“Take a hard look at Duke’s portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, [such as] reverse discrimination against white folks.”

Pat on apartheid in South Africa :
“white rule of a black majority is inherently wrong. Where did we get that idea? The Founding Fathers did not believe this.”
http://fair.org/press-release/pat-buchanan-in-his-own-words/