George Santayana was right.

[icenine]

in other words you can not say Cameron is not a legitimate PM because his party does not have a majority...he was elected to Parliament.

If I am not mistaken Hitler was elected to the Reichstag.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by 4-2-7

I don't know what to do about it, it's an observation. Why do you always assume and dive right into the GOP and Christians kind of narrow don't you think?

Well I always try to do what Mark Twain said - "I try to always be honest, that way there is one less rascal in the world."

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by icenine

to say Hitler was not elected to the Reichstag would be like saying Cameron is not the Prime Minister of England. Both men made coalition governments via elections to a unicameral (not counting the House of Lords) legislature. As head of a significant portion of the Reichstag Hitler was able to convince Hindenberg to select him as Chancellor. The German constitution at the time gave Hindenburg much power.

Hindenburg also was the originator of the Lebenstraum idea according to wikipedia.

On paper the Nazis gained the government 'legally,' in the usual manner of parties without a majority forming governments in a parliamentary system.

But to leave it at that ignores Nazi criminal subversion of the Wiemar Republic. In the streets, the SA and SS destabilized the republic with ever-escalating political violence. Meanwhile, inside the Reichstag the Nazi delegates, forming a regimented bloc under Goering, rendered the legislature non-functional with riotous, vulgar behavior.

In contract law, an agreement that is the product of fraud and coercion is no contract. I hold that similarly, calling the Nazi accession the result of election and law is to mock the ideas of democracy and legitimacy.

[BlueStreak]

You guys are still going on about Nazis??????

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

You guys are still going on about Nazis??????

+1...

[icenine]

I was talking about Germans and who they voted for in 1932.

The mainstream historical consensus is that Hitler rose to power using the weak but legal German constitution and legal electoral process after 1923. At the time Hindenberg appointed him Chancellor his party held the most seats in the Reichstag but not a majority.

No one seemed to want to put the breaks on him in the early years of his dictatorship.

that came way later.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

You guys are still going on about Nazis??????

Originally Posted by bobabode

+1...

Originally Posted by icenine

I was talking about Germans and who they voted for in 1932....

As I said earlier to -5's post comparing America's social evolution to Hitler, any comparison to Hitler is inherently stupid (unless perhaps you're talking about mass genocide). Since his silly comparison, we've had several pages of posts about Hitler and the Third Reich. And so it goes. Always.

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by icenine

I was talking about Germans and who they voted for in 1932.

The mainstream historical consensus is that Hitler rose to power using the weak but legal German constitution and legal electoral process after 1923. At the time Hindenberg appointed him Chancellor his party held the most seats in the Reichstag but not a majority.

No one seemed to want to put the breaks on him in the early years of his dictatorship.

that came way later.

Remember there was a fear of the Bolsheviks. He was the bulwark and his
followers had street credentials.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Dondilion

Remember there was a fear of the Bolsheviks. He was the bulwark and his
followers had street credentials.

yes that is one area in which he gained popularity with the German people,
anti-Communism.

[bobabode]

Forgive my ignorance but what the hell does the fucking Nazis have to do with Santayana and the OP?