Re:Bush vs. Hitler?! :-) What a joke.... (Score 2, Interesting)

The point is Bush is using patriotic fervor as a tool to deflect criticism and get his agenda passed, an agenda that includes reduction of civil liberties and intimidation of American citizens who are doing nothing wrong. Hitler used the same sort of approach to gain power, then used violence to gain domination over his citizens. Don't we owe it to ourselves, to this country, to speak up when something looks fishy so that doesn't happen here? History repeats itself, you might have heard. If you can't accept that, you're a blind apologist and a fool.

It is civic duty to blow whistles where appropriate, but I'm more worried about Bush going the way of Abraham Lincoln (who absolutely shredded the Bill of Rights during the Civil War). Hitler was explicitly granted extraordinary powers by the German legislature to essentially ascend to dictatorship; our own congress has been tenative with Bush (example: yesterday's extension of the Patriot Act by a month when Bush wanted it declared permanent), and like Lincoln he's acted outside the boundaries of presidential power and ignored his critics.

Jingoism is rapidly fading from fashion as the public has been reminded that wars hurt people including American soldiers, and I'd expect more doves to join congress in the next election. Assuming the '08 presidential race goes as expected, neither Hillary nor McCain will continue to support the Patriot Act if it even survives that long (amusing aside: protestors were shouting through bullhorns denouncing Bush's '08 campaign in Berkeley a few months back). Bush doesn't have Lincoln's justifications for his actions, but the methods they have used and the violations of liberty they have caused are far more similar to each other than either has been to Hitler.