There are those who say this is precisely what is happening with California.
Hitler was only in power for a decade or so and did a lot of damage to say the least.
So I'll admit the situation is too complicated for me to really say this honestly, but the real issue the Germans faced was that they had lost WWI and a bunch of foreign powers were extracting large amounts of wealth from them. They eventually snapped and responded with violence. The fact that the focus when they snapped was Nazi ideology was unfortunate, but the problem wasn't the ideology - it was that foreigners were taking their wealth and the government failed to keep people fed, sheltered and employed.
Racism was a mainstream position back then. For example, US black population got full rights only in the 60's.
The horror of nazis was not that they were some deranged mob of gangsters that only german subconscious could put up with. The horror of nazis was that they could have happened anywhere. They are a historys dark mirror showing to all societies a very bad example of what could be.
What was unique in Nazi germany was the industrialized efficiency with which the horror of genocide was implemented. IBM:s machines played a no small part in that.
The nation of Goethe and Beethoven plunged into a total inhuman batshit insanity. Another horrible aspect of this was the ease people could go on with it - "just doing my duty and following orders". Some people did the final horror of killing, but the precursor to that was the industrial labour and logistical planning of getting the people to the slaughterhouse. The system that funneled people to their doom was absolutely chilling in it's efficiency. And it could have happened everywhere as well.
This is pretty blatant Nazi apologist rhetoric. Many groups have been wronged by foreign and domestic powers for decades, and they did not all respond with large-scale mechanized genocide. The buildup and virulent spread of focused hate in Nazi Germany was unique and can't be explained by a simple external geo-political power struggle.
I did admit it was complicated. But the state of the economy was clearly a contributer to the rise of the Nazi party. It isn't like Hitler got in because the Germans just went crazy one day and thought the dude was a great guy to lead. He got in because the country was collapsing anyway.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economic_Consequences_of_t...
Which doesn't explain the Nazis' profound hatred of Jews, gays, and the disabled.
Yes. In addition to libertarians, there are also center-left classical liberals and scientists who are concerned about politically motivated science denial.
That's a decidedly right-wing power fantasy.
The people on the left using violence are using it to fight the extreme right directly.
E: for clarity, I am speaking from a modern left-wing position, specifically the libertarian left, which is the strongest left-wing current today. Unfortunately the so-called "left"-wing in many Western countries has drifted to the right, which is absolutely deleterious.
There are extremists on both sides. Anyone living in a highly developed first world country using violence to "defend" their ideals is an extremist. They're only feeding extremism on the other side and it's why political divides keep growing deeper, despite the internet and social networks theoretically allowing more people of different beliefs to come together and discuss differences.
That's why "decorum" doesn't work. Fascism must be opposed at all turns, by all means. Otherwise they will succeed in moving the overton window even further to the right.
That's not what we're doing. We're not silencing anyone, only fighting back when they try to spread hatred and incite violence against minorities.
It is resistance, not aggression.
Btw, your use of left-wing term is the classical No true Scotsman fallacy.
The far right says the same.
This idea that the left are the good guys and care about the poor and vulnerable it’s their m.o. since the beginning but any serious book about the 20th century will obliterate that image.
Not sure if serious... "Libertarian left" is not even close to being the strongest libertarian current today, so to suggest that it's "the strongest left-wing current" is beyond ludicrous. Don't get me wrong I even think left-libertarianism has a lot to go for from a purely intellectual POV, but that's some serious wishful thinking.
People from the left have practiced extreme authoritarianism in the past (Stalin, Mao, Khmer Rouge).
There's no reason to think they won't in the future.
The extreme left and right behave exactly the same way, while saying different things.
Analysing left v right is less useful than analysing authoritarian v non-authoritarian.
Not sure of the context you meant, but in the general context left can be bullish on authoritarianism.
a) would not have authoritarians
b) hence could not implement authoritarian power structure if it became prominent
History has shown that authoritarianism can rise in what ever political ideology.
Pretending that ones political collaborators did not include at least some potential authoritarians (even if not vocal) is politically quite naive, despite what the common accepted mainstream position in ones party is.
They're also a relatively tiny group of ridiculous LARPers that no one takes seriously.
The strongest left-wing group today is the Communist Party of China...
Let's not forget that the Progressives lauded Hitler and his eugenics program in the 30s shall we.
If you want to find corruption, then "Follow the money." If you want to find authoritarians, you can follow the flow of fundamental things in much the same way:
The answer nowadays is the same answer as in other times and places: angry, toxic parties who tend towards the far ends of the political spectrum, both left and right. It's the fringes that want discourse to end and take normal people for an excursion into chaos. It's the fringes that want to roll the dice for their chance at power.The best thing to do is to let people have their voice. There's no authoritarian nonsense, no matter how virulent, which lasts forever and is immune to general good sense. It might take awhile, but people eventually come around.
A note of caution: there are a lot of villains who thought they were on the side of good, who turned out to be the opposite. When you've given up on convincing, and you're starting to shout, to hate, and to want to coerce people, you're probably on the wrong side of history.