Wolfgang -

It's true that Bush hasn't (yet?) done many of the nasty things most people associate with the Nazi regime.

My concern is with how Germany "fell into" letting all this happen. In other words, how did it get started; and how do we know it can't happen here.

I don't think that even Adolph woke up one morning and decided "I think I'll take over Germany and kill all the jews and invade a bunch of countries and make myself the biggest ... thing since Attila." The power had to be built, and the ambition unfortunately rose with the power.

The Nazi party ran for election, and used an appeal to "Conservativism," and were elected by the German people. It's difficult to find unbiased information on what the people of Germany found attractive in the campaigns that got the Nazi party into power; but one of the "issues" used was that the country had "lost its values" and the Nazi program would "restore old values."

The Weimar Constitution did permit a "state religion" but allowed some protection for those of different faiths. The treaty with the Vatican did appear to lead to a suppression of other religious belief, in a way that looks to me very much like what some of the "fundies" in the US would like to do.

The declaration of "a national emergency" was used by the Nazi party to override existing law, in a way very similar to what Bush claims the authority to do. This appears, from what I've been able to find, to have included "secret laws" and essentially "covert actions;" somewhat similar to what it appears may have been happening here.

I do not see the German people then as a whole lot different than those in the US now, during the initial building of power by the Nazi party. Whether what's going on in the US is likely to lead to escalating abuses is questionable, but there is sufficient cause for concern, and I do not see the majority here as concerned as I think they should be.

We have a Congress in which the apparent majority are willing to sacrifice the Constitution to pander to the voters in a relatively small, but organized bloc. Congress seems willing to emasculate the Judiciary "for convenience." We have a President who claims to be exempt from the oversight of both the Legislature and Judiciary. The precedents that Bush seems intent on establishing would leave him - and/or the next few Presidents - virtually free to launch almost any sort of pogram one might imagine.

We have voters who have demonstrated, by amendments to State Constitutions in 37 states, that they are unconcerned with the Civil Rights of anyone that a few bigots in positions of leadership tell them are "undesirables." It has been amply demonstrated that "the votes" can be manipulated for political purposes, and I have little trust in those who've done the demonstrations.

The US today is not like Hitler's Germany of 1933 or later, but it looks too much like 1928 or 1930 Germany for my comfort. We do have some "checks and balances" that were perhaps weaker in pre-Nazi Germany, but it is possible that at least a few ambitious politicians are attempting to move them out of the way. For purposes unknown.

John