I disagree about the taxes part at the end, though

Stealing the whole post from "Moore's Lore," a Corante-hosted blog. The point raised is valid, though of course not a full explanation for the rise and fall of the Third Reich.

Why Germany Fell, And Santorum Matters

How did Hitler lead Germany to ruin, and can it happen here?

Hitler?s appeal was based on demonizing the "creative class" of his time, starting with Jews. Germany?s greatest creative forces early in the 20th century had a lot in common. They were educated, creative, they thought outside the box. Many (like the American entertainer Sally Bowles) were foreign. And an extraordinary number were Jewish.

Hitler?s electoral base (and he did have one) was in the lower-to-middle class, people who worked hard, mainly in manufacturing, who raised families and went to Church, but who were losing economic ground to the new creative class of their time. They loved the equivalents of NASCAR and country music. Hitler demonized the creative class, and his followers did as well. First, it was just words. Then, it was laws against their "peculiar lifestyle." Only later was their property seized, and then came the Holocaust. It's a slippery slope, and it starts with words.

Richard Florida?s "Rise of the Creative Class" has this to say about the people who are most instrumental in driving economic growth forward. "When they are sizing up a new company and community, acceptance of diversity and of gays in particular is a sign that reads "non-standard people welcome here."

So here?s where I might lose you, but hear me out. Acceptance of gays is a marker of creative people today, says Florida, just as acceptance of Jews was a marker for the creative class in Weimar Germany. Watch "Cabaret" some time. Who are the "decadent" entertainers of the cabaret, and who are their customers? Isn?t this the world Hitler destroyed? And aren?t some of those people in that play, not Jewish, but gay?

So when someone like Richard Santorum attacks gays, and someone like George W. Bush defends Santorum, while the right-wing media applauds vigorously (and seeks to intimidate anyone who dares disagree), what signal is being sent? The signal is, creative people are not wanted.

The signal has been received. In the last few weeks I have gotten several e-mails from good, kind, creative people, suggesting they might want to move to Canada or elsewhere.

Take the creativity out of a society, and you doom the society. Hitler?s rise contained the seeds of his fall. His intolerance made him evil, and that evil doomed his economy, his society, and his country ? everything he claimed to stand for.

So I don?t care if Santorum had good motives. Hitler also claimed to be a good guy. And I don?t care if he spoke from sincere religious conviction. So did Osama Bin Laden.

That?s why Santorum matters, and that?s why George W. Bush?s acceptance of Santorum matters. It?s a signal of intolerance toward the creative class, toward the people who drive the economy forward. Cut taxes on your friends all you want, but if your society drives out the creative class, it seals its own doom.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/28/2003 09:21:42 AM |