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What makes you think this is unusually fast? If anything the example of Rome was unusually slow, which is why it is so easy to understand the sequence of event

What makes you think this is unusually fast? If anything the example of Rome was unusually slow, which is why it is so easy to understand the sequence of events. The current trends are proceeding far slower than the decline of the Weimar Republic: in 1928 the Nazi party won less than 3% of the vote; in 1930, over 18%; in 1932 they were the largest party in parliament with nearly 38%; after 1933 free elections stopped being held and Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote. [Edit: Edited to correct the vote totals for the Nazis in 1930 and 1932.]

humanrebar 8y ago
> Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote It's worth noting that no bill passed recently to create this new behavior. It's all done through executive orders and other bureaucratic measures. Congress has been happy to delegate its authority to the executive branch, the executive obviously likes it, and the judiciary isn't going to contradict both other branches, so more detail oriented democratic measures (legislation, constitutional amendments) have basically fallen away. Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. For now at least. If there was one-party rule in the executive branch for too long, things would stop looking democratic pretty fast since neither the legislative nor judicial branches seem to be up for getting Congress to do its job again [1]. [1] Like actually declaring war, requiring legislation go through the legislature, balancing budgets, passing trade deals, overturning broken laws instead of rewriting them from the bench, and just about everything else besides approving judicial appointments (which is actually happening at a steady clip for the moment).
- dao- 8y ago
  > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. As an outsider, i.e. European, I found this pretty interesting and alarming – but not surprising given recent developments in politics and the Republican party in particular: https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d90-aeb6-8d37a655996e https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d9...
- paulmd 8y ago
  > Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties Let's not be too hasty there. It's being severely curtailed at the state level (several states gutting the power of Governor after democrats took that seat in the last election) and who knows what will happen with Trump. He's already screaming about voter fraud, if he loses who knows what's going to happen.
  - 0x445442 8y ago
    I'd argue Trump is a product of an already one party system, at least when it comes to the most important issues. With respect to anything of real substance HW, Clinton, W and Obama were more or less indistinguishable.

humanrebar 8y ago

> Hitler was given the power to enact laws without a parliamentary vote It's worth noting that no bill passed recently to create this new behavior. It's all done through executive orders and other bureaucratic measures. Congress has been happy to delegate its authority to the executive branch, the executive obviously likes it, and the judiciary isn't going to contradict both other branches, so more detail oriented democratic measures (legislation, constitutional amendments) have basically fallen away. Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. For now at least. If there was one-party rule in the executive branch for too long, things would stop looking democratic pretty fast since neither the legislative nor judicial branches seem to be up for getting Congress to do its job again [1]. [1] Like actually declaring war, requiring legislation go through the legislature, balancing budgets, passing trade deals, overturning broken laws instead of rewriting them from the bench, and just about everything else besides approving judicial appointments (which is actually happening at a steady clip for the moment).

dao- 8y ago
> Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties. As an outsider, i.e. European, I found this pretty interesting and alarming – but not surprising given recent developments in politics and the Republican party in particular: https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d90-aeb6-8d37a655996e https://art19.com/shows/the-daily/episodes/c1cfe151-9c2b-4d9...
paulmd 8y ago
> Thankfully the U.S. still has peaceful transmission of presidential power between the major parties Let's not be too hasty there. It's being severely curtailed at the state level (several states gutting the power of Governor after democrats took that seat in the last election) and who knows what will happen with Trump. He's already screaming about voter fraud, if he loses who knows what's going to happen.
- 0x445442 8y ago
  I'd argue Trump is a product of an already one party system, at least when it comes to the most important issues. With respect to anything of real substance HW, Clinton, W and Obama were more or less indistinguishable.