Two Progressive Kooks Wrote a Book

[MisterVeritis]

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.

How Democracies Die.

First, these are two smart idiots. And they are whiners.

They whined about how authoritarianism grows and ruins perfectly good democracies (whatever those are). Of course they were referring to President Trump.

For good measure they discussed Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. They used Mussolini as an example of how an outsider can be legitimized and then ruin everything. The Fascist Blackshirts look like Antifa. Democrats. Progressives. Thugs. Therefore, if we don't resist Trump will become Mussolini.

Next they covered Hitler's rise to power aided and abetted by Conservatives. The two authors, Progressives, failed to note that the so-called conservative party was quite weak after WWI. And yet according to these two it was prominent Conservatives who boosted Hitler to power.

I paused briefly to wonder if a Conservative in 1920-1933 Germany is the same as a Conservative in the United States in 2016. Apparently so. Trump, you see, is therefore Hitler.

Now how did these two goofballs completely miss the rise of progressive authoritarianism in the United States during the same period?

There was T. Roosevelt, Progressive through and through. He did some damage to the Constitution and increased the government's powers over the economy in contravention to the Constitution.

What about Wilson? He used the government's institution to destroy his enemies. Progressive. No mention of Wilson.

No mention of FDR as an authoritarian who overthrew the Constitution, replacing it with one the Democrats could use forever.

Kennedy? No mention of Kennedy. Kennedy spied on his political enemies. He used the dirt he found to intimidate and control his opponents.

Johnson? Nope. No mention. He did everything every Progressive does to expand the scope and size of government. Johnson was dirty through and through. And authoritarian to boot.

Certainly the authoritarian tin-horn despot Obama was mentioned? How could these two Progressives miss the way he used the IRS to crush Conservatives who intended to oppose him?

And how could they miss the Obama Regime's coup against President Trump? Mysteriously, they did.

But President Trump is the problem. He has authoritarian tendencies. He is Mussolini, Hitler, Chavez, and any others I missed in this goofy book.

Progressives suck.

[Mister D]

It's amazing. Conservative support for Nazism and Fascism was qualified, generally speaking. Moreover, the only relevant resistance to Hitler came from conservatives. Von Stauffenberg and the rest of the conspirators of 1944, for example, were all conservatives. Progressive support for communism, OTOH, was often uncritical and some deceitful. Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize in1932 by apologizing for Stalin's brutality and dismissing reports of a deadly and manmade famine in the Ukraine.

No, German conservatives of the interwar period shared little in common with American conservatives either then or now.

[MisterVeritis]

These two Progressive kooks made me laugh again.

The political parties choose the candidate. That is true of the Democrats. They chose Crooked Hillary over the will of their constituents. Crooked Hillary...

The Republican party's chosen, low-energy Jeb was easily defeated by Candidate Trump. We Republicans selected our candidate.

These two Progressive kooks found that to be reprehensible.

They also dredged up one of the alternative histories where Limburgh defeats Roosevelt and goes on to be a fascist.

"Many Americans have found parallels between the 2016 presidential election and Roth’s work of fiction. The premise—an outsider with dubious democratic credentials comes to power with the aid of a foreign nation—cannot help but resonate."

Levitsky, Steven. How Democracies Die (p. 34). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

One can almost sense the sneering panic as the people themselves choose their president over the objections of the party elites. According to these two kooks, who teach our children this is dangerous for democracies. I laughed at the absurdity of it.

Next they took a swipe at the electoral college which has failed us! Oh Noes! It acts too late to keep someone like Trump, meaning someone the elites did not approve in advance, from becoming the President. So, you see, we are doomed. It is just a matter of time before Trump becomes Hitler.

I looked online. I did not see their apology.

[Sergeant Gleed]

The outsider that was legitimized and worked hard to destroy the United States....that would be the guy born in Kenya, wouldn't it?

[MisterVeritis]

Of the two Ziblatt is a very good writer. While that is not clear in Why Democracies Die it is very clear in two other books I skimmed.

[Peter1469]

The outsider that was legitimized and worked hard to destroy the United States....that would be the guy born in Kenya, wouldn't it?
Progressives are focused on outside as in outside of the Establishment. Trump is outside the Establishment. Obama was embraced by the Establishment. He was their boy.

[MisterVeritis]

Everywhere you read the word Progressive correctly change it to authoritarian statist, democrat socialist and fascist. The true meaning becomes clear.

In this book every use of Conservative identifies a willing, manipulative establishment dupe. None of them appear to be actual limited government type of people. All are small "v" villains.