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CD James's avatar

Wow! Reminds me of how lucky I was to have had two amazing political science professors in college who elucidated much of this framework and started the lesson with a little puzzle: How was the Nazi Party able to arise from one of the most liberal democratic states of the time? I don’t think any of us realized that was the environment from which the Nationalist Socialist Party arose! They also mentioned that this was why the Nazis used the term “socialist” in naming their political party—cause everyone was a democratic socialist at the time (Haven’t fact checked this, but wouldn’t be surprising). Thank you for another stimulating conversation.

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Ziggy's avatar

It reminds me of the recent press coverage of slaveholders' wealth after the Civil War. They had most of their property expropriated with the Fifteenth Amendment, but regained their social status and power within a generation. The class coherence of the wealthy is always a thing to behold.

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