Il Dupe
I decided as a mental exercise to see who made the most apt comparison to our current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and my first thought was Franz von Papen. For those of you who don't know who Franz van Papen was, he was someone who popped up in Weimar Germany, and was vice-chancellor under Hitler. The idea was that they would give Hitler the job, but the real power rested in the Reichstag and Presidency (which was held by Hindenburg). Needless to say that didn't work.
von Papen sort of meandered through the history of Nazi Germany, not important enough to buy the farm like Ernst Rohm in the Night of the Long Knives, not a player during the war, and eventually aquitted at Nuremburg after the war as an ineffectual dolt. An amiable person, but not very bright and no threat to anyone.
That of course doesn't adequately describe Mr. Bush, so it was back to the drawing board. Idi Amin? No, he hasn't eaten anyone I know of. Pol Pot? Closer, that one still has some time to play out. Right now the closest analogue went by the name of Benito Mussolini. Repressive? Check. Wants the trains to run on time? Hey, our guy puts the planet on hold to go on bike rides, big check there. Ethiopia? Iraq, and we're screwing that up just as badly as Benny did 65 years earlier.
These people are pushing the most descructive agenda in the history of the country and doing it on the backs of the people killed on 9/11. On the base of the Statue of Liberty in part it reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden-door!" In George Bush's America, that golden door leads to a sweatshop where you barely make enough to eat, and have no chance at anything better for your life or that of your family.
This is a country where if you are honest and work hard, you would do well. That is not the case anymore. To get ahead the rule of the day is lie (Deutche), bribe (Abramoff), change the rules to stay in power (DeLay) and smear anyone who questions you (Bush, Cheney, etc.). This is not the America of Frank Capra, FDR, TR, Lincoln or Washington. The only question is, who will the first pogroms target.
von Papen sort of meandered through the history of Nazi Germany, not important enough to buy the farm like Ernst Rohm in the Night of the Long Knives, not a player during the war, and eventually aquitted at Nuremburg after the war as an ineffectual dolt. An amiable person, but not very bright and no threat to anyone.
That of course doesn't adequately describe Mr. Bush, so it was back to the drawing board. Idi Amin? No, he hasn't eaten anyone I know of. Pol Pot? Closer, that one still has some time to play out. Right now the closest analogue went by the name of Benito Mussolini. Repressive? Check. Wants the trains to run on time? Hey, our guy puts the planet on hold to go on bike rides, big check there. Ethiopia? Iraq, and we're screwing that up just as badly as Benny did 65 years earlier.
These people are pushing the most descructive agenda in the history of the country and doing it on the backs of the people killed on 9/11. On the base of the Statue of Liberty in part it reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden-door!" In George Bush's America, that golden door leads to a sweatshop where you barely make enough to eat, and have no chance at anything better for your life or that of your family.
This is a country where if you are honest and work hard, you would do well. That is not the case anymore. To get ahead the rule of the day is lie (Deutche), bribe (Abramoff), change the rules to stay in power (DeLay) and smear anyone who questions you (Bush, Cheney, etc.). This is not the America of Frank Capra, FDR, TR, Lincoln or Washington. The only question is, who will the first pogroms target.
posted by Mike N | 4:46 PM
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