Matthius
I am going to disagree with you again on this. Germany had a parlimentary system before Hitler. Now, Hitler's party got the largest single percentage of the vote of any party in the Reichstag elections that year. In a Parlimentary system that means as leader of his party, he was entitled to a position of leadership in the government. Everyone knew this going in before the election and those voting for Hitler knew that Hitler could come to power if he got enough of the vote. Yes, Hitler was supposed to be at the head of a coalition government and he soon ignored the rest of the coalition and made himself dictator. But the fact remains, that as head of the party receiving the most votes in the Reichstag, he was entitled to a position of power under the Parlimentary system.
The point of the whole comparison to Hitler being elected is that just because an official is initially elected does not mean that he is incorruptible or incapable of using that position for personal gain. I did not wish to discuss the intricacies of pre-war German politics.
Here is what I beleive we can agree on. Hitler's party received the largest single amount of votes in the 1933 elections. He used this seeming legitimacy as a springboard to greater power. He used this greater power to the detrimate of many people. We must be vigilent that something similar does not happen here. It could happen here as that the natural tendency of all governments is to grasp power. A terrible situation in this country, similiar to the problems faced by the Weimar Republic, could make us vunerable to unscrupulous men or women. These persons will almost assuredly be elected to some position before they make any outright grab for power. We must also be vigilent against creeping government power and understand that just because we vote, it does not always mean that we can undo any harm by means of another vote.
