The US Is Facing a Weimar Moment

[bridgit]

'In early 1919, Germany put in place a new government to begin rebuilding the country after its crushing defeat in World War I. But the right-wing forces that had led the country into the War and lost the War conspired even before it was over to destroy the new government, the "Weimar Republic." They succeeded.

The U.S. faces a similar "Weimar Moment." The devastating collapse of the economy after eight years of Republican rule has left the leadership, policies, and ideology of the right utterly discredited. But, as was the case with Germany in 1919, Republicans do not intend to allow the new government to succeed. They will do everything they can to undermine it. If they are successful, the U.S. may yet go the way of Weimar Germany.'

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/15

[DemoTex]

1. Kick

:kick:

[Lint Head]

2. What would have happened if Hitler had been assassinated in the 1930's?

:dem:

[Mind_your_head]

3. Don't you mean "suicided himself" ? n/t

[bridgit]

4. Maybe we could all wear lederhosen without having to OK them 1st with HLS

[MikeH]

6. Maybe somebody else

Maybe somebody else would have taken Hitler's role; that might have been one possibility.

[stillcool]

5. I wouldn't want to bet on it...

after the last 8 years, I've learned my lesson. Anything is possible.

[DJ13]

7. The neocons will never give up

They are the modern equivalent to the losing Germans in 1919 which eventually spawned the Nazi Party.

Hell, the neocon movement has its roots in Nazi Germany.

[bridgit]

8. No, they will not. They are more like ghostly, full roaming vapors that will search until...

they find that breach in another's air-tight environ, that window left open just a smidgen. They are not vampires they require no invitation and so they will enter, like the smokey smell of burnt toast they fill the room. It's what they do

[AndyTiedye]

9. That Is What You Get When You Pick Rulers "You Would Want to Have a Beer With"

[JohnnyBoots]

21. Nope they won't. They are laying dormant now, setting up the dominoes to fall their way for when

they can take power again. Next time will be worse, because they will have learned from their mistakes the past 8 years. Very scary to think of....I am slowly seeing history repat it self.

[Skink]

10. Germany didn't have Obama though. A popular president that is doing great things.

Sure He'll be judged by the current recession but putting competent people back were they are needed, investing in new types of energy make him good in the long run. Also the current Neocons if they haven't retired they are getting ready to.
Today's neocon would rather watch Desperate Housewives then take part in long term planning.

[nolabels]

11. And every time a Republican POTUS is conned onto us it's a "WEENIER MOMENT"

What are those people thinking who vote for republicans anyway :shrug:



(snip)
1.weenie washer

an overly compliant or conformist individual, esp. male., who displays a willingness to accept humiliating tasks in order to gain acceptance by his peers, without being able to see the hidden agenda of said peers. See also Weiner Cleaner.
(snip)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weenie%20washer

[DBoon]

12. And the weimaraner moment is facing us

[bridgit]

13. heh-heh, good one, I like dogs I took one for a ride once see!

[GiveMeFreedom]

14. Uh?

How did that dog get stuck in between the cushions like that, did you back into Rush Limbaugh? By the look on his face, he pooped too!

[bridgit]

15. Pft, if I could have I would have

:thumbsup:

[tomreedtoon]

16. Don't you mean a Wal-Mart moment?

Where everyone works for the same miserable organization, selling Chinese crap and barely ekeing out a living?

[bridgit]

17. sadly that is already entrenched

:(

[formercia]

18. In 1934, the Nazis took over in Germany

they tried the same here but it didn't work out the way they planned.

Always remember that it was corporate Democrats that tried to wrestle the government from FDR.

If President Obama isn't successful, you can expect the same.

[bridgit]

19. I think Lucas & Spielberg's Hollywood has done a disservice; they've perpetuated...

the Nazi field marshal's uniform & mannerisms: swastika, banners, black jack-boots, full length black rider coats, angular features & foil cut scar as some of the only ways Nazi' can be identified when out and about as though if people aren't able to recognize those garments mannerisms & scars there can't be be any Nazi' around...

Do you suppose global corporatism is a Democrat-only game being played? If so my thought is that the greater disservice continues

[formercia]

28. They entertain and give people what they expect.

Oscars are not won with subtle social commentary.

Speilberg believed Madoff would make him a lot of money too. Bad judgment can bite you in the ass if you exercise it often enough.

[bridgit]

31. Understood, I was expecting more THX 1138 from Lucus but hey...

Once he figured out how to slap Luke on a lunch pale it was all over but the Ch-Ching! :)

[kenfrequed]

29. Yes.

This Nazi imagery supplants the menace of facism by convincing us it only occurs when people wear long leather trenchcoats and goose step and speak in funny accents. The reality is much more terrifying.

This is further removed from discourse both by making it an overly common accusation and by overly mystifying it on the history channel when people talk about occultism and the Nazis. It is important to understand that these organizations had a legion of angry human faces behind them who have been convinced that it is the impurity and immorality and communistic forces that have created the desperate situation.

People need to grasp that facism is not alien, it always cloaks itself in hyper-nationalism of the nation that it infests and draws upon the symbols and myths of that same nation to conceal its intentions and murder both freedom and the truth.

[bridgit]

30. Absolutely, thank you for your post

[kenfrequed]

32. No problem

As much as I hate nazis I hate mythologizing their evil anymore. The Nazi genocide was only unique in that it engaged the engines of industrialization. It has happened before and since.

[JohnnyBoots]

22. They tried to whack FDR too...

[autorank]

23. Obama can ride the wave

The swelling of ire over the plutocrats and their Marie Antoinette ways is clear. Obama can
go populist and fire Geithner, move on Bernake, put Justice in motion and come out totally in
charge. The folks at AIG teed it up for him. Now lets see him hid a 300 yard drive. He can
do it. That's the key difference between Weimar and the USA. The plutocrats don't have the SA and
there's no Hitler. Petraeus tried a MacArthur but he's no MacArthur. Wall Street can try a
Putsch but there's nobody to play the bully boys.

I hope Obama slams these clowns.

[formercia]

24. Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer

By incorporating the DLC into his administration, they can't use the argument later, that it was his fault and that they can do the job better.

[autorank]

34. It's hard to argue with that and also unwise

since you're correct. :argh:

But O will have to gO populist and in a big, hard hitting way. It's nice to know that he'll
drag the Wall Streeters along with him.

I'm noticing that the Afghans now want to negotiate. Maybe those troops won't be necessary.

[formercia]

36. Now that the Saudis can't afford to support the Taliban

During the anti-Soviet period, the Saudis supplied much of the funding, via Pakistan, to support the insurgents. The Wahabi Saudis were very instrumental in the formation of the Taliban in the first place, and continued to support them.

With Oil near $40 per barrel, the Saudis have a hard enough time paying their own debt load.

[bridgit]

35. Now *that's* a plan, thanks for posting

[KharmaTrain]

20. Fortunately We're Not German 1919 or 1930...

While we've had a disastrous military adventure in Iraq that has drained billions, it's nothing compared to the hole the Germans found themselves in after WWI. Besides the disolving of the monarchy and the big power vaccuum that left, there was a nation totally humiliated and forced to pay massive reparations...billions in those days...imagine that price tag today.

The Weimar government was considered illegitimate by most Germans as they felt it was imposed on them by the Allies. That's not quite how President Obama finds his situation. Those reparations also made it impossible for German industry to recover and led them to secretly rebuild in order to keep some of their previous economy alive.

The real coup-de-grace to the German economy was the stock market collapse that destroyed any and all markets for German products and put bit tarrifs on those being imported...thus the destruction of the mark with super inflation which led to the rise of National Socialism. This took over a decade to happen and wasn't just economic, but the feeling among Germans that others had created their plight...not their own.

This is a far different world than 1919...a global economy that, while many now curse it (rather than those who abused it), just as quickly as it created a downturn it can turn around. Remember, the US also suffered greatly at that time...sure didn't end with the destruction of our political system.

Sometimes the chicken little predictions just don't truly stand up to history.

[bridgit]

25. That's true enough, I think part of the template says that tyranny is a form learning of robot...

it rarely if ever looks the same from engagement to engagement and thus is able to smile wider & wider till all the bets are off...then there's hell to pay. Throughout people kept saying, as a for instance, that the bush admin & neocon pax americana, etc, represented the Roman Empire; but the Roman Empire seemed less inclined to tie a Windsor knot

[leftchick]

26. it is not just republicans

there is complicity from both sides.

[Echo In Light]

27. Plenty. Cowardice? Try collusion

[bluesmail]

33. History repeating itself. With all the think tanks

the RW has it already knows what's going to happen decades in advance. And Voila! History repeats itself. On edit, I do believe history repeats itself.