Hope and Change as it actually occurred once upon a recent time by Random Outlier
(libertarian)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Just a little drive-by history here, folks.
We can't let this anniversary day pass without a glance eastward, across the Atlantic and the plains of Europe, toward the civilization which once produced as much truth and beauty as any other -- the land of Kant and Schopenhauer, Beethoven and Bach.
But by July 31, 1932, things had gone kaput in Germany. Stupid war. Venal peace treaty. Starry-eyed liberals (by teutonic standards) and other statist critters running things.
The fiat money had become worthless. Land laid idle. The manufacturing base was in a shambles. Forget gas for your Daimler. You were more worried about finding an innertube for your bicycle and borrowing a wheelbarrow load of marks to pay for it.
Your kids did not face an obesity problem; the starving seldom do.
What that country needed was Change. And Hope.
Vote and ye shall receive.
By a large plurality, citizens of one of the great European civilizations accepted the change and adopted the hope of a celebrated orator who had achieved celebrity status.
Thirty-eight per cent of the German electorate raised a right hand in stiff salute to one Adolph Hitler who had gone to them in torch-light parades and mass rallies in Berlin. His nearest competitor polled some 20 per cent, and the die was cast. Sieg Heil.
Fifteen years later Europe was a kitchen midden, and a world gaped in disbelieving horror at the Dachaus which resulted from one brand of hopeful change.
Mein Gott, Hans, I guess it could happen here.
Heil hope. Heil change. But let's be sure we know in great detail what change our would-be leaders actually hope for.
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And just for the record, this is also the 60th anniversary year of another little incident freedom forces consider important. It was in 1948 that a British fellow named Eric Blair finished a book and sent it off to his publisher.
We know him as George Orwell, and we know his "1984" as a secular version of Revelations, only rational. Telescreens? Not yet, but about those cheap RFID chips in your shorts...
We still need the Ron Paul solutions.
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