A number of blogs and commentators are flirting with Godwin's Law of late.. See e.g. the Harley Sorenson piece from the SF Chronicle, "Are Parallels to Nazi Germany Crazy?" Sorenson writes (quoting a web article called "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust"):
"With Adolf Hitler's ascendancy to the chancellorship, the Nazi Party quickly consolidated its power. Hitler managed to maintain a posture of legality throughout the Nazification process."Whether by chance or design, George W. Bush is the most powerful American president in modern history. Not only does he have both houses of Congress beholden to him, but the majority of the Supreme Court is acting like a quintet of Bush lapdogs. And it all appears legal.
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My conclusion is that some comparisons between modern times and Nazi Germany are valid, and some are not. Enough are valid, in my opinion, however, for us to be wary, and as vigilant as humanly possible.
Over at American Street, Dave Johnson has a nice formulation:
Let’s just say that, of course, THESE particular right-wingnuts are good, honest, well-motivated public servants. Fine. But they have left us with nothing to stop other, bad people from taking advantage of the opening this particular crop of fine, upstanding wingnuts has created. And with the government wide-open for corruption and takeover, is there any doubt that there ARE people who would want to take advantage, step in, and take hold of the reigns of power?
I like David Neiwert's take on things, where his careful study of neofascist and cryptofascist groups is a way to get people to reconsider what the word "fascist" means, in historical detail, and to reduce the knee-jerk, irrational use of the term as a rhetorical sledgehammer. You can't just call your political opponent a Nazi. You have to show the details and nuances, and make informed, enlightened historical connections. But, this avenue of interrogation has to be available. If it's not possible to discuss any similarities between BushCo and the Nazis, because of Godwin's Law, then we have no chance of applying the lessons of history.
It's also very important to distinguish between actually calling your opponents Nazis (which would invoke Godwin) and saying that their policies make it easier for Nazi-like actors to exercise power. I'm not arguing the former. The latter, however, looks more and more realistic every day. The Patriot Act (and Patriot II); executive-level oversight of science funding decisions; deep corporate involvement at every level of policymaking; the sick ties between corporate interests and military action... We really are starting to satisfy more and more of Eco's 14 criteria for eternal fascism, and it's extremely worrisome.