OT: US President (US Dom Players only)

[lch]

Originally Posted by Bwaha

You see why there's such concern about where our country is going.

Yeah, I'd be concerned about people like that in Congress, too.

Also, as has been mentioned earlier (Godwin's law), this guy just shot himself in the foot by Reductio ad Hitlerum. And so did you.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by lch

Yeah, I'd be concerned about people like that in Congress, too.

Also, as has been mentioned earlier (Godwin's law), this guy just shot himself in the foot by Reductio ad Hitlerum. And so did you.

How dare you beat me to the post. I demand a duel, select your fish!

[Bwaha]

I don't think that Obama is hitler, I am very worried about our future. I think that we have to be watchful and informed. I try to get my information from many sources. Sometimes they are right and sometimes wrong. But at least I make an effort to stay informed. The parallels of where we are now is frightening similar to the hyperinflation of the mark. And the response is the same, Print more money. Create a national but separate "police" force. Wiki the Wiermar Republic.
I'm just scared that if we don't watch and restrain the government it will turn against us. Being informed is the one and only way to stop tyrants. I'm sorry if I offended you but I think we have to discuss the potental and guard against it.

[lch]

Originally Posted by Bwaha

I don't think that Obama is hitler, I am very worried about our future. I think that we have to be watchful and informed. I try to get my information from many sources. Sometimes they are right and sometimes wrong. But at least I make an effort to stay informed. The parallels of where we are now is frightening similar to the hyperinflation of the mark. And the response is the same, Print more money. Create a national but separate "police" force. Wiki the Wiermar Republic.

It runs in parallel because there was a stock market crash, too. The things that are done to combat hyperinflation are the same. But what brought down the Weimar Republic was that the chancellor could abuse power too easily and subvert the system by emergency decrees, in times of war for example.

Originally Posted by Bwaha

I'm just scared that if we don't watch and restrain the government it will turn against us. Being informed is the one and only way to stop tyrants. I'm sorry if I offended you but I think we have to discuss the potental and guard against it.

Where have you been seven years ago?

[Bwaha]

My fears are based on the Patriot Act. When you are charged under it you lose all your rights. They can lock you up and there is no appeal. No council. No Habeas Corpus. Yes I blame bush for this travesty. We need to rid ourselves of this law. It concentrates power and removes our right of redress. Look man, I'm not trying to tick you off, I'm trying to talk about a serous problem. Our civil liberties are being taken away. And as far as Obama is concerned, we should ask him to rid us of this law. We should petition congress as well.

[JimMorrison]

I agree 100%, Bwaha.

I do hope, that if Obama does something about this atrocious blight on American justice, that even the most hard-hearted of conservatives will start to see the possibilities that the future holds.....

Seriously, I have seen nothing that makes me think that Obama himself would abuse the "rights" given to the establishment through the Patriot Act. Would that I had remembered to reference it in the fascism sub-argument earlier.....

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by lch

It runs in parallel because there was a stock market crash, too. The things that are done to combat hyperinflation are the same. But what brought down the Weimar Republic was that the chancellor could abuse power too easily and subvert the system by emergency decrees, in times of war for example.

Where have you been seven years ago?

That is *far* too simplistic an argument on what down the Weimar republic. Massive unemployment, war debts, disaffected youth, hyperinflation, and a belief that the country had been betrayed.
Looking from the german perspective, at the time of the armistice it was not nearly so obvious that germany had lost - and so what was a smart move by the germans military .. turned against them politically as rabble rousers drummed up a distrust of the govt.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

That is *far* too simplistic an argument on what down the Weimar republic. Massive unemployment, war debts, disaffected youth, hyperinflation, and a belief that the country had been betrayed.
Looking from the german perspective, at the time of the armistice it was not nearly so obvious that germany had lost - and so what was a smart move by the germans military .. turned against them politically as rabble rousers drummed up a distrust of the govt.

For someone who argues for the validity of extraneous circumstances, it seems like there is an incredibly thin comparison between current United States, and Germany between WW1 and WW2. That said, -your- description of the problems that Germany was facing, does very much sound like the America that GW Bush has gifted us all with.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

For someone who argues for the validity of extraneous circumstances, it seems like there is an incredibly thin comparison between current United States, and Germany between WW1 and WW2. That said, -your- description of the problems that Germany was facing, does very much sound like the America that GW Bush has gifted us all with.

Simply breathtaking.

You compare an america with unemployment of 6.7% or so with the weimar republic where it was north of 25% You compare a place with hyperinflation measuring in the thousands of percent to a country with 3%. You compare a place where they had lost a war and suffered 50,000 people dead in one battle (Verdun) to where we are winning a war and the deaths are less than 5,000.

And you really think the circumstances are similar? See I think this is part of the problem Jim. Partisanship to such an extreme level that one simply can't be objective.

The sun still rises. Mail is still being delivered. Farmers grow food. We stil have an amazing university system- we still have the ability to worship as we chose, to vote, to assemble. We still have the right of free speach. We still have the ability to get ahead in life if we work hard. And on top of that, there's Dominions.

Most of the people in the world would die to come here.

[lch]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

That is *far* too simplistic an argument on what down the Weimar republic.

I won't get into lengths about it on an internet forum, but it's, distilled into one sentence, what managed to end the Weimar republic being a republic with multiple parties and turning it into a dictatorship. As to the why and how, the reasons, and the "dagger-thrust" legend and so on, I expect that people educate themselves about that elsewhere, but not on an internet forum.