From the headline on, the London Daily Mail breathes deep the Spenglerian doom. “The spectre of 1932: How a loss of faith in politicians and democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year in living memory:”
Above all, though, the eyes of the world back in 1932 were fixed on Germany. As the Weimar Republic staggered towards oblivion, an obscure Austrian painter was setting his sights on supreme power.
With rising unemployment eating away at the bonds of democratic civility, the National Socialist Party was within touching distance of government.
AdvertisementAnd in the last days of 1932, after the technocrats and generals had failed to restore order, President Paul von Hindenburg began to contemplate the unthinkable — the prospect of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
We all know what happened next. Indeed, by the end of 1932 the world was about to slide towards a new dark age, an age of barbarism and bloodshed on a scale that history had never known.
Eighty years on, it would be easy to sit back and reassure ourselves that the worst could never happen again. But that, of course, was what people told each other in 1932, too.
The lesson of history is that tough times often reward the desperate and dangerous, from angry demagogues to anarchists and nationalists, from seething mobs to expansionist empires.
Our world is poised on the edge of perhaps the most important 12 months for more than half a century. If our leaders provide the right leadership, then we may, perhaps, muddle through towards slow growth and gradual recovery.
But if the European elite continue to inflict needless hardship on their people; if the markets continue to erode faith in the euro; and if Western politicians waste their time in petty bickering, then we could easily slip further towards discontent and disaster.
The experience of 1932 provides a desperately valuable lesson. As a result of the decisions taken in those 12 short months, millions of people later lost their lives.
Today, on the brink of a new year that could well prove the most frightening in living memory, we can only pray that our history takes a very different path.
Meanwhile, back in the States, George Will is, perhaps surprisingly, much more optimistic:
Although they have become prone to apocalyptic forebodings about the fragility of the nation’s institutions and traditions under the current president, conservatives should stride confidently into 2012. This is not because they are certain, or even likely, to defeat President Obama this year. Rather, it is because, if they emancipate themselves from their unconservative fixation on the presidency, they will see events unfolding in their favor. And when Congress is controlled by one party, as it might be a year from now, it can stymie an overreaching executive.
As the headline of his piece suggests, Will believes we’ll be “Ringing in a conservative year,” adding that “In any case, nothing that happens this November will bring an apocalypse. America had 43 presidencies before the current one and will have many more than that after the end of this one in 2013 or 2017. Decades hence, it will look like most others, a pebble in the river of U.S. history.”
I wish I was as sanguine about America’s near-term future. As 2012 looms ever closer, overall, how do you think the coming year will turn out?
This is a good point- back in 1932, the world faced two choices- liberal fascism or classical liberalism (today called conservativism). Sadly, the world decided to elect a series of charming talkers who expanded government power and spent massive amounts of money on social programs and did all of this on debt.
Anti-semitic. Nationalist. Socialist. Corporatist. Totalitarian. Idolizing and exaltating violence, war, and militarism. Emphasizing spiritual renovation, ‘better’ education, instilling of a will to dominate, and pushing for national comradeship through mandatory national service. That’s fascism, and it’s been increasing all around the world over the last several years.
America has a choice again- continue along the current path we’ve been on, which leads to war and depression, or change directions and go back to the bad times of the 1980′s (conservative President, moderate Congress) and 1990′s (moderate President, conservative Congress).
Be calm sir. Where are the lines for gas? Where is the Stagflation? What hostage crisis? If you follow the MSM, it is easy to feel that everything goes the Left’s way, that the racket effect cannot be stopped. But look at what has happened with gun rights. Will may have been a nitwit over Miers, but he has this right.
Six months ago, when I thought there was no way King Putt could be re-elected, the future looked a little brighter. Now it seems like a 50/50 proposition, which is insane considering the state of our economy.
Republicans should take the Senate and would have to play like a goalie standing on his head during a second Obama term, stopping as many shots as possible and hopefully not allowing any empty-netters (fat chance, I know…) At least we would see a budget for a change. The courts are probably the scariest aspect of a second term.
Then again maybe he will go down in flames on Election Night. As a Palin conservative I find the field lacking but would be pleased to see anybody push this gang out of the White House. Good riddance.
In the long run, America’s fortunes will rebound when her full resources are put to use once again — from the oil in the ground to the ingenuity of her people. Exactly when that restoration begins will be up to voters in about ten months.
1932 Germany really did not have much experience with Democracy. Only a decade or so before, they were a monarchy. 2012 US has relied on the same system for more than 235 years. Whatever happens in 2012, Obama will be gone, one way or the other, in 2017 – and potentially, all his miserable policies with him.
We must suppose that Obama and his generals, ie. DNC and members of his tribe in Congress and Judiciary also know this chapter in the history of the West as blueprint for their own aims. That obscure Austrian painter one of the most successful politicians in history as model for others with similar goals. To become the Leader for one of the most cultured, most sophisticated nations in the world at the time was aided and abetted in pursuit of his goals by members of all the foundation civic institutions of law, propaganda and education.
That obscure painter with his armies of brownshirts many years in the wilderness planning his assault on the world to achieve his “Dream”. The decadence of that nation leading to economic meltdown and convenient Reichstag
Fire to crown his entrance as star onto the stage. The cast openly named themselves Socialist. As such pitted citizen against citizen along class, race, religion and origin lines. Used women as progenitor on demand for the future of their “fatherland”.Accepted by politicians and leaders of Western nations as one of them.
Today as Messiah/Leader/New Kennedy/Fuehrer of the USA we have an obscure Kenyan? graduate of the most prestigious educational institutions who openly patterns his means and ends, with the clamourous aid of his acolytes in media/progaganda/entertainment, in law and education on the same patterns used, necessarily, by his progenitor in Germany in the twentieth century.
We do know, don’t we, how that chapter of western history played itself out?
Whatever happens in 2012, Obama will be gone, one way or the other, in 2017 – and potentially, all his miserable policies with him. — #5, above.
…meet…
“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” — Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 2.
We could be years climbing out from under the compound interest the current Administration is accumulating.
personally, i’m betting that even under the most optimal assumptions we cannot pull out of the death-spiral. whatever we may do electorally will be buried under RINOism and the Gramscian pile-on of the media / education cartel.
buying rural land, investing whats left of my net worth in whiskey, tobacco, and shotgun shells, which will retain some value as barter goods.
i’ve been saying all this stuff since i was 17 and they explained what ‘fica’ meant on my paystub. got tired of being called stupid/crazy/whatever and quit trying to tell people. and all of you elected them. getting what you axed for good & hard now, huh ?
I do have this weird vibe that a lot of cans are piling up at the base of an ‘End of Road’ sign, in our budgets, state and federal, in the Euro, China, Iran and the Middle East, etc.
Something else that unnerves me is this Mayan prophecy thing. Bear with me here….
I am not concerned about some asteroid or whatever. What I am concerned about is the number of people in world who are aware of it. And I wonder about self-fulfilling prophesies, that some crazys who happen to have power, be it state power or weaponry, or just the determination of an Al Queda, might choose that time to strike to maximize psychological destabilization. Maybe it’s a weird idea, but it does bother me.
I’ve felt for a while that I’ll be glad to see the next New Year. I hope that stays true regardless.
Interesting point …. I remember feeling something similar back when y2k was the big worry …. not that I expected civilization to crumble, but that so many people seemed so emotionally invested in civilization crumbling ….