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Comment by Lawtonfogle | Hacker News Reader

>Can you guys stop thinking we're an election or two away from a fascist dystopia?

How long did it take Germany? Maybe 3 or 4 elections then.

Germany just lost the first world war, with a significant fraction (~20%, or 13M of 64M) of the population having directly experienced the horrors of that catastrophe. To add insult to injury, Germany in the interwar years was subject to incredibly punitive treaties and experienced significant hyperinflation. The U.S. is not subject to the same foreign influence, and our economy is stable enough to keep the masses from starving.

While we're certainly disillusioned here in the U.S., our bread and circuses aren't seriously threatened yet. Once that does appear imminent, I'll agree with these dire predictions.

It doesn't really matter how many elections you think it might take to transform into a fascist dystopia. If you say it will take at least N elections to get that far, there will be people out there that will argue that we are already N-1, N-2, or even N elections on the way down that path.

And until we have an election that signals a clear, unambiguous change in direction, the disillusionment will continue. The Bundy-style armed protesters will grow ever more convinced that time is running out, and those on the margins will view them less as crackpots and more as harbingers.

The "don't trust the feds; don't trust the cops" attitude is finally spreading to the median American. Our bread needs more butter, and our circuses need newer acts.

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