what's BAD about democracy(for once)?

[Cloud No.9]

well i would hate to think that the millions of germans who voted nazi were clued up into exactly what they were doing with that cross on the ballot paper. the nazis won on a democractic system because the people voting had no idea (were ignorant) of what they were doing. any person who had taken the time of day to look at hitler and the nazi party and wasn't just voting out of desperation for something to be done would have seen that it was not a very wise thing to be voting for. as 6 millions jews will agree.

[jrgen]

Well, the Jews weren't the ones who voted.

[Cloud No.9]

well they did. they're vote wasn't taken aay until the nazis were in power.

and the germans did in general. they basicly voted for aushchwitz and belsan when they ticked that box. they may not have known it. but some people did. they knew the german plicy on jews. and either they were evil enough to still vote this way. or they didn't out of morals and knowing what was right. they rest of the ignornat masses voted nazi and ushered in the holocaust in the ballot box.

[War Angel]

the nazis won on a democractic system because the people voting had no idea (were ignorant) of what they were doing.

Oh, now, the Germans weren't ignorant of anything. They LIKED the Nazi idea, they LIKED Hitler, and they LIKED hearing what he had to say, and they hoped that by electing him, it would make things better for them and worse for their enemies.

Mostly, the Germans voted to Hitler because they believed he'd be the one to take them from their misery, and make them rise above their poverty and general feeling of inferiority. If he promised to cast chaos upon the world and the Jews - well, that was just a nice bonus.

[Cloud No.9]

hitler promised a quick fix. people didn't see the methods. they didn't look that far. they didn't see the warsaw ghetto, stalingrad, auschwitz, poland. they say in hitler a quick fix out of misery. he was just better at saying he had the quick fix. how they got it wasn't important. as long as he could deliver. and they believed he could more than anyone else.

[jrgen]

I believe most Germans were fairly aware of what was going on. It was just that they were seeing positive change, so why protest? And you can't entirely say the nazis were elected democratically, as they cheated.

[War Angel]

And you can't entirely say the nazis were elected democratically, as they cheated.

They didn't cheat, they simply terrorised everyone into voting for them, and killed members of the other parties.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Have you ever seen any of the nazi ads, Cloud 9? Hitler was an excellent speaker and he ran under the platform of rebuilding the homeland. He was extremely charismatic, and the ads he ran depicted a lot of white, blond-haired blue-eyed men having fun, going out with shovels, not guns, keeping themselves clean, etc.. The situation with the jews arose after the election, and a good portion of the populace either ignored it or didn't realize how bad it was.

[DarkLadyNyara]

Well, hell, lets have a majority vote to restrict their rights. Democracy allows for an opression of the people, a Republic does not.

so true. And seeing as how I belong to several minority groups, I reeeeeally don't like the idea of simple majority rules.

Hitler was an excellent speaker and he ran under the platform of rebuilding the homeland.

Exactly. He knew how to tell people what they wanted to hear.

[bipper]

Exactly. He knew how to tell people what they wanted to hear.

So does Bush, Karl Marx, and every other pollitician. I think technically lying during your campain should be considered a form of treason, no? It cheats the people, and breaks the pupose of our voting process.

Bipper

[War Angel]

The situation with the jews arose after the election, and a good portion of the populace either ignored it or didn't realize how bad it was.

The 'situation' with the Jews was always present - the hate was always there. Hitler and his regime gave that hidden hate expression - in genocide. Everyone knew it was going on (really, it was never possible to hide it, nor did they even try. They were proud of it), and most condoned it, others didn't care, and a very small and brave few fought against it. Most of the latter didn't live to the end of the war, but their deeds are remembered hounorably by those where were saved by these noble souls.

So, no, it wasn't some illusion. No, he didn't really speak of complete annihiliation of Jews, homosexuals, cripples, retards or Gyspies... but he made it clear he didn't take kindly to them. The smart Jews that lived in Germany, left prior to 1939, even though things got rough from 1933-35 and on. Most of the Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust weren't German citizens, but Polish ones, Dutch, Russian, and basically any other European nation that helped the Nazis in their attempt to liquidate the Jewish people, save Denmark and Norway, who saved most of their Jews, as little as there were (less than 3,000 in both nations).

[DarkLadyNyara]

So does Bush, Karl Marx, and every other pollitician. I think technically lying during your campain should be considered a form of treason, no? It cheats the people, and breaks the pupose of our voting process.

I'm with you on that one. Unfortunatly, that law ain't gonna get passed anytime soon.

[Teek]

A preisdent here could be impeached for dishonesty, but it has to be blantant lying. Any president can claim that he couldn't help it, and then the charges would be dropped.

And, for the record, Karl Marx was a philosopher. He dealt in political theory, which is a branch of philosophy, but calling him a politician wouldn't really fit the bill.

[bipper]

True, I was more or less going with the fact that he was working on communism, and which he thought held great promise Just trying to balance out the Bush statment to signify more of a wide array of people whom fall into the same category.

Bipper

[Skyblade]

True, I was more or less going with the fact that he was working on communism, and which he thought held great promise Just trying to balance out the Bush statment to signify more of a wide array of people whom fall into the same category.

Bipper

He also thought that it would occur in the US first, because the US was a capitalistic society (and, as of yet, no capitilistic society has developed into a communistic one). The guy was an idiot, but not a politician. While those two identifiers may overlap quite a bit, they aren't the same.