Weimar America
Four major ways we're following In Germany's fascist footsteps

What happens when a nation that was once an economic powerhouse turns its back on democracy and on its middle class, as wealthy right-wingers wage austerity campaigns and enable extremist politics?

It may sound like America in 2012. But it was also Germany in 1932.

1. Austerity. Today’s German leaders preach the virtues of austerity. They justify their opposition to the inflationary, growth-creating policies that Europe desperately needs by pointing to the hyperinflation that occurred in 1923, and which became one of the most enduring memories of the Weimar Republic. Yet the austerity policies enacted after the onset of the Depression produced the worst of Germany’s economic crisis, while also destabilizing the country’s politics. Cuts to wages, benefits and public programs dramatically worsened unemployment, hunger and suffering....

2. Attacks on democracy.... Democracy is far older in the United States today than it was in Germany during the early 1930s. But that doesn’t mean that democracy is actually respected in practice today; it only means that attacks on it can’t be as overt as they were in Weimar Germany. From the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling to Republican voter ID laws to austerity proposals that bypass the normal legislative processes (remember the Supercommission?), American democracy is under similar direct threats now.

3. Enabling of extremists....Tea Party activists aren’t Nazis. But with roots in the 20th century radical right, the Tea Party’s attack on the public sector, on labor unions, on democratic practices, and on people who aren’t white mark them as the extremist wing of American politics; and they bear many of the hallmarks that characterize fascist movements around the world. In recent years, Republican leaders have been enabling these extremists in a successful bid to reclaim political power lost to Democrats in 2006 and 2008. We don’t yet know where this enabling is going to lead the country, but it’s hard to imagine it will be anywhere good.

4. Right-wing and corporate dominance. One of the the most prominent German media moguls in the 1920s was Alfred Hugenberg, owner of 53 newspapers that reached over a majority of German readers. The chairman of the right-wing German National People’s Party, Hugenberg promoted Adolf Hitler by providing favorable coverage of him from the mid-1920s onward. Major German corporations such as Krupp, IG Farben and others spent money in the 1920s and early 1930s to support the rise of right-wing political parties, including the Nazis, as part of a strategy to undermine democracy and labor unions. Even if Hitler had never taken power, that strategy had already achieved significant returns on their substantial investment.

Here in the United States, one only needs to look at Charles and David Koch, Fox News and other right-wing funders and their media outlets to see the analogy. By funding right-wing politicians who promote austerity, undermine democracy and support extremism, they are active agents in the creation of Weimar America....

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/06/weimar_america_salpart/

A chilling analysis of how history is prone to repeat itself. Between Obama's corporate/military cronyism and the Tea-party's repressive authoritarianism, is there any hope left for liberty?

The OP is a sick laugh.  The closest link to 20s-30s fascism in the US today is the leftwing, as layed out chapter and verse in Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism.  Likewise, the attacks on democracy are coming from libs, eg when the democrats "deemed" obamacare to have passed in the senate, the efforts of the obamanistas to offshore US sovereignty, Hussein's fiat "laws", etc.

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Economic logic tells us that austerity does not necessarily cause "depression".  Economic austerity is the cart you are putting before the horse.  The driver of the contraction that follows austerity is a symptom of the debt bubble that comes with governments running deficits. It is a correction.  To claim that the austerity is the cause of the correction is missing the real cause.  Austerity is used to avoid a credit crisis that would have a similar, but worse, effect.  Once a government reaches the point of austerity, the correction is coming regardless.  The cause of the bubble and deficits are the cause of the contraction.

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America, while it has democratic elements, is a Republic.  The concept of a republic allows for the protection of the minority from the majority.  If not for Republican ideals (as in republic, not the party) the majority could just vote away any rights of an individual or small group.

While I, too, question the concept of voter ID laws, there is little evidence they are an attack on "democracy".

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Many in the Tea Party attack the size and cost of government.  This is not radical, extremist or remotely similar to the Nazi ideal of large, controlling fascist government.  This comparison makes little sense.

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They don't "attack" labor unions.  They "attack" the political favoritism afforded to labor unions, especially those funded by taxes (or deficits).

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Source?

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This is pure partisan nonsense.

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Smaller, fiscally sound, government is fascist?  It would be interesting to hear how that conclusion was reached.

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You are comparing the "right wing" of American politics with a political party that had nearly universal control over the media.  You have the wrong "wing".

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What about the Tea Party is repressive or authoritarian?
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This is either a terrible partisan attack piece or a joke.

The Weimar Republic faced economic collapse not from Austerity, but a government that printed money and inflated their currency to the point of worthlessness.  This is what politicians on both sides, especially the left, wish to do and expect a different outcome.

Purely a partisan-political article; and its a shame, too.

Are we currently 'Weimar'? Many would suggest so. But the reasons have as much to do with the Democratic Party, even with Obama short tenured leadership, as it does the Republican Party, right-wing.

Would be nice if we could count on our 'informers' to account for the entire situation, rather than just the half that suits their agenda.

Tea Party racist?  Hmm, funny I did not see these racist when I attended the rallies.  In fact, I saw plenty of blacks who attended and even had a black speaker at one event.  On the other hand, you have OWS raping, murdering, destroying property and not even an honorable mention.  I did not even read the rest after reading this sci-fi remark.