That comparison is depressingly applicable. The National Socialists gained power in a period when both the present and future looked very bleak to a large frac

That comparison is depressingly applicable. The National Socialists gained power in a period when both the present and future looked very bleak to a large fraction of German voters, and a whole succession governments formed by political mainstream figures had demonstrated that they couldn't do squat to really fix things - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic#Renewed_crisis_and_decline_(1930%E2%80%931933) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic#Renewed_crisis... If https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_II had not done such a comprehensive job of discrediting hereditary nobility, it might be healthier if German voters had the option to replace their elected government with a ruling Kaiser for 4 or 5 years. Ideally, that would lessen the appeal of more-extreme political parties. And the threat of indefinite irrelevance (the Kaiser could be reelected) might even motivate the politicians to occasional competence.