I am reading a book right now called Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (by Robert Gellately). I have thoroughly enjoyed this book so far, as it blends two histories that heretofore had been separated in my mind - I had learned about the rise of communism in a class I had on 20th century Russian history, and I had obviously studied a bit on the rise of Hitler, and a lot on WWII. This book shows how the different players in this period of history influenced each other.
The first paragraph of chapter 13 jumped out at me.
"The July 1932 elections showed Hitler with by far the largest following of any politician in the country. He was the message, a social phenomenon, the fuhrer who enthralled millions by telling them what they already knew or wanted to hear. He could draw crowds of twenty-five thousand or more almost anywhere, even as he steadfastly refused to make any specific promises of what he would do to cure Germany's many problems."
Humor me here and let's do a little rephrasing --
"The November 2008 elections showed Sen. Obama with by far the largest following of any politician in the country. He was the message, a social phenomenon, the politician who transcended politics, enthralling millions by telling them what they already knew or wanted to hear. He could draw crowds of twenty-five thousand or more almost anywhere, even as he steadfastly refused to make any specific promises of what he would do to cure America's many problems."
My point in doing this is not to compare Obama to Hitler - I'll leave that for the more extreme political commentators. It is instead to ask the question of "why". Why does history show us that men are blinded by their desire for something more, something better?
Hitler promised to fix the problems in Germany; to cause the rest of the world to respect Germany again (incidentally, Stalin did the same in Russia). Even though Germany faced much more daunting problems at the time, American is being told that Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East don't respect us or even hate us. We are all also hearing about "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression".* Sen. Obama promises to fix all of this.
I hope that my use of Hitler as an example has not upset anyone or caused anyone to disregard what I am trying to say here - that was not my intention. The quoted paragraph simply jumped out at me as one that mirrored current events. As someone who does take the time to follow politics and look into the past of those who ask for my vote, this seeming phenomenon of people being blinded by their desire for something better worries me. Just like many were wary of Hitler in 1932 because of his radical ideas and policies, there are a lot of educated voters who strongly question Sen. Obama's credentials as he approaches the office of President. The question is, are there enough educated voters in America this year to overcome it?
I suppose I'll find out tomorrow.
*Note: given that Americans were expected to spend $5.77 billion on Halloween this year, I'm finding it hard to believe that we're facing anything close to the Great Depression.
