the case of Sarah

My first inclination was to say ignore her, and she'll go away. Stop feeding the frenzy by indulging in these quid pro quo responses and attacks, but then I thought about the conditions under which other demagogues have succeeded in capturing power in the not so distant past.

The easiest comparison of course, just for historical proximity really, is with G.W. Bush, but his ascension was as much a product of his political and economic pedigree, which just happened to have a finely tuned political machine built by his Father and Grandfather to mine the contemporary wave of populism that put him over the top.

Then there's Reagan, but again, the Madison Avenue support and manipulations of Donald Reagan were as much responsible for Ronnie being the 'tired old man we elected king' as any true people's movement. The era of image is everything, and there were plenty of puppet masters to help move his lips.

No, the more I think about it, the more I realise how many comparisons there actually are to Europe in 1931; the state of the economy, the warlike culture, the guise of patriotism that allows the most heinous of personalities to wrap themselves in the flag as a cloak of protection for their incendiary speech (Limbaugh, Beck, Malkin, et.al.), the lack of education undermining the ability for the lumpen to understand the truth, the propaganda machine spreading fear and hatred in order to profit personally (Murdoch, Ailes, and the whole Fox pack of brownshirts), and one charismatic voice who to a large number of angry, disenchanted people looks like them, speaks for them, and is just telegenic enough to win their allegiance.

If you think that the kind of fascism that brought Hitler to power couldn't happen to the declining empire called the United States of America, and that Palin, the soccer mom with a rifle and the face of a B level beauty contest winner, couldn't capture power, then you may need to read your history more thoroughly. As Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

downandunder

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