Comparisons to Nazi Germany

Unlike your typical liberal, I'm not going to be making comparisons between George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler-not tonight anyway. To do that with would be ridiculous. First of all, Hitler was a far better orator than Bush and if Bush were Hitler we would have taken over Iran and Syria by now (and Poland for good measure). So why then the subject of this post?

Hitler once brilliantly stated, "What good fortune for governments that the people do not think." The dangerous thing with America today is not Bush's potentially fascist and anti-democratic leanings (ie the patriot act, Guantanamo bay, etc.), but rather the gullibility of the American people. What should be of alarm to those interested in democracy is how easily fooled the American people are: Bush voters wake-up! Sadaam had nothing to do with 911. Kerry voters wake-up! We were going to have to deal with Sadaam eventually. We were attacked on 911 (viscously attacked-I realize this), but we are too eager now to throw away our civil rights for safety. We are scared of terrorists (justifiably so), but we let fear decide our foreign policy decisions over reason. Obviously the German people were unjustified in believing that scapegoating the Jews would solve their problems. And Americans are right to be weary of terrorists-but not to the point of surrendering what we hold most dear-our reason and right to dissent.

If people truly think that Bush or Kerry is the right man to be president, than that is fine with me. But if a person's vote is influenced by one party arguing that the other will lead the country down a slippery dark path- that is not good for democracy. A "conservative" voter should not be scared into voting against their interests (ie economic, health, education, etc) because they are unduly influenced by a fear of being attacked. Likewise a "liberal" should not be scared away from Bush because they think he is going to draft them and imprison homosexuals.

If you think Kerry is a pansy liberal who is weak on defense-fine. If you think Bush is going to take away all of your civil rights-good for you. But come to that conclusion from a stance of strength and reason. A vote guided by fear is an undemocratic one. If the American people continue to let both sides of the political spectrum play on their fears, then we will all be making comparisons to Nazi Germany. Except the American people will be the guiltiest of all-because who is more guilty, the fool or the fools who follow him blindly?