Although the Nazis were singular, and of course no one can be compared to them, actual human beings acting today (e.g., Republicans) may have learned similar things about the pursuit of power and human psychology as were learned by this singular and incomparable group. For example, the power of
The Big Lie:
"... the broad masses of a nation ... in the primitive simplicity of their minds ... more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world ..." -- Hitler, Mein Kampf
(For the record, Hitler claimed to be talking about the methods used by The Jews, not about himself.)
We all know that no one can be compared to the Nazis. The Nazis of course were singular, unlike any human endeavor before or after them. They were not a group of people in a time and place who pursued and abused naked power through the most ruthless methods, rooted on appeals to fear, authoritarian instincts, and prejudice, and took this to a greater extreme than those before or since. No, they were singular, and no one can be compared to them. But perhaps others have learned similar lessons?
Surely the Swift Boat lies, claiming a decorated war hero is a lying coward who faked his injuries and wrote the reports for which he got medals, was not a Big Lie, whose traces remained strong in the minds of the American people despite seeing the facts that proved it a lie. Surely the claim that Barack Obama wants to teach kindergarteners about sex, with pictures of an apparently leering black man over small white children, is not a Big Lie. Nor the claim that Obama wants to raise your taxes, or that he is an elitist and an out of touch celebrity whereas the McCains with their 8 houses and their $280,000 outfits are ordinary folks like you, or that McCain is running because he so deeply desires to change the government we've seen for the last 8 years, or that Palin said "Thanks but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere and opposes federal earmarks, or that drilling will solve our energy problems, or that Obama compared Palin to a pig, or that he said Iran was a tiny country and not a serious threat ...
Do these lies leave traces? From today's Washington Post:
John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters' opinions of the candidates.
"The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there's a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she's new, she's popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent," Feehery said. "As long as those are out there, these little facts don't really matter."
For now, there appears to be little political reason to back down. A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken Sept. 5 to Sept. 7 found that 51 percent of voters think Obama would raise their taxes, even though his plan would actually cut taxes for the overwhelming majority of Americans. Obama has proposed eliminating income taxes on seniors making less than $50,000 a year, but 41 percent of those seniors say their income taxes would go up in an Obama administration.
Which other of the psychological insights of the non-human, incomparable Nazis are also used by today's human Republicans? Perhaps you will recognize some of these: From an OSS psychological profile of Hitler made during WW II:
(12) A keen appreciation of the value of slogans, catchwords, dramatic phrases and [unreadable] epigrams in penetrating the deeper levels of the psyche. In speaking to Hanfstaengl on this point he once used the following figure of speech:
"There is only so much room in a brain, so much wall space, as it were, and if you furnish it with your slogans, the opposition has no place to put up any pictures later on, because the apartment of the brain is already crowded with your furniture." Hanfstaengl adds that Hitler has always admired the use the Catholic Church made of slogans and has tried to imitate it." ...
- Hitler's strongest point is, perhaps, his firm belief in his mission and, in public, the complete dedication of his [Page 50] life to its fulfillment. It is the spectacle of a man whose convictions are so strong that he sacrifices himself for the cause which appeals to and is able to arouse similar convictions in others that induces them to follow his example. This demands a fanatical stubbornness which Hitler possesses to a high degree.
"Only a storm of glowing passion can turn the destinies of nations, but this passion can only be roused by a man who carries it within himself." ...
(22) Hitler's ability to repudiate his own conscience in arriving at political decisions has eliminated the force which usually checks and complicates the forward-going thoughts and resolutions of most socially responsible statesmen. He has, therefore, been able to take that course of action which appeals to him as most effective without pulling his punches. The result has been that he has frequently outwitted his adversaries and attained ends which would not have been as easily attained by a normal course. Nevertheless, it has helped to build up the myth of his infallibility and invincibility. ...
(26) He is a master of the art of propaganda. ... His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.
or this:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship ... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
-- Herman Goering, Nazi leader, while being held in Nuremberg jail during the war crimes trials.
or this (source):
"There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be `the man in the street.' Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology."
-- Josef Goebbels, Nazi leader
So, while the human, American Republicans of today cannot possibly be compared to the inhuman, singular, German Nazis of the 1930's and 1940's, it appears that they might be making use of some of the same insights into human behavior. Perhaps it is time to stop being shocked by their behavior and just recognize the raw, utterly ruthless will to power behind it.
What can we do about it? Having shut down the 527's, the only ones with the power to take this on is the Obama campaign itself. They want to talk only about issues. I believe they have to start showing that the McCain campaign is a campaign of lies. In addition to ad after ad pointing out all of these lies and the truth behind them -- not only as ads about Obama's true stands on the issues, but as attack ads painting McCain's campaign as a campaign of lies -- there are many fantastic examples of McCain on video lying: for example, in these two videos (video1, video2) from the bravenewfilms group (with which I have no association), from which many great 30-sec spots could be made showing one McCain lie after another; or in this spot from JedReport, showing McCain predicting the surge would likely fail when it was being debated in 2007, which could be juxtaposed with video of him in 2008 saying he predicted the success of the surge, and I'm sure many other examples from JedReport and others ... In short, a series of example after example after example of McCain being seen lying (as opposed to being called a liar), until all sense of his credibility is gone.
That's my belief about strategy, but perhaps others have better ideas. The main thing is the Obama campaign has to take this on, full force (and if they don't, there's not much the rest of us can do about it at this point). I'll conclude with what Josh Marshall had to say today:
What can we do? We've got a dangerously reckless contender for the presidency and a vice presidential candidate who distinguished her self by abuse of office even on the comparatively small political stage of Alaska. They've both embraced a level of dishonesty that disqualifies them for high office. Democrats owe it to the country to make clear who these people are. No apologies or excuses. If Democrats can say at the end of this campaign that they made clear exactly how and why these two are unfit for high office they can be satisfied they served their country.