Obama Rex
Another great and thought-provoking post from Richard Fernandez:
[If elected] Hillary will rule by divine right. The god of Politcal Correctness has commanded that in atonement for its past sins, America is condemned to vote for a succession of Firsts. The historic First Black President, the First Woman President, First American Indian President, First Illegal Alien President ”¦ ad infinitum, until the albatross falls from its neck.
But even loyal liberal Greg Sargent is starting to worry, if only because the Obama courtiers may not be much welcome during a Hillareign. “Maybe it’s time for a real Democratic presidential primary,” Sargent writes. Sure why not? You would think the “Democratic” party might occasionally remember Democracy. But for now it is enamored of aristocracy.
Nowhere is the conflict between America’s roots and its elites’ barely hidden desire to become kings more clearly revealed than in the open letter sent by 47 Republicans to Iran. Tim Mak of the Daily Beast writes: “the Republicans’ much-maligned open letter to Tehran has forced the White House to admit an uncomfortable truth: The deal might not outlast the Obama presidency.” Why? Because the deal is between kings and someone who is just a president. Someone not yet himself a monarch.
It’s a small quibble, but I’d say that Obama isn’t yet a dictator rather than monarch, because for a long, long time monarchs in the west have had to answer to legislatures and prime ministers, too, at least to a certain extent and even more so today. I believe that Obama aspires to dictatorship, and I believe he is much closer than most people think. Remember that dictators can operate through seemingly democratic means. Hitler, for example, got the Reichstag to dissolve itself.
Now that is a “keeper”.
Under the classical definition, Obama would be a tyrant, because he exercises/aspires to exercise power without regard for the laws and customs of his country. This was considered the main distinction between a tyrant and a king, whose position was legally recognised and legitimated.
Small historical note: It’s common among primitive tribes for agreements to be between, not the tribes, but between the individual leaders — and to last only as long as those leaders are alive and in power.
(As you can imagine, this concept sometimes caused problems when the tribes encountered Europeans who had different ideas about those agreements.)
Jim Miller,
You are a “RACIST”. You have to be. You used, in your analogy, the term, “tribe”.
Apparently you did not receive the memo. Either that or the appropriate admonishment. Either way, I feel sorry for you and it was nice knowing you…
A tyrant can — and is — even more subtle with a digital whip.
For those with long memories:
Adolf got rid of a lot of his internal restraints by exposing high ranking German generals to sexual scandals.
These were the very souls that the general Wehrmacht thought would chill down the corporal.
Once they were turfed out — Adolf morphed their offices something terrible.
[OKW started out as the German version of the War Department — neither being an active combat command, of course]
Adolf changed the position’s name and players… putting Keitel into play. His day to day role was to reverse the dynamic of Blomberg. He (Keitel) spent the rest of his career kissing Adolf’s ass, which pretty much defined his role.
Outside of OKW, Keitel was known as Lakeitel — the jackal — for he was persistently involved in intrigues that routed all anti-Nazi generals long before things could get ‘interesting.’
He was to the Wehrmacht what Heydrich was for the SS: Mr. Dirt; keeper of the scandals.
Keitel was the real reason why it took a Lt Col to organize the putsch! All of the top player had roving finks on their staff — reporting back to Keitel.
It’s SCARY — Barry Soetoro has set up EXACTLY the same fink system inside the entire US military.
This is the mark of a tyrant.
It’s the source of the constant turmoil within the officer ranks of the US military — all services.
What Maliki did to the Iraqi armed forces — Barry is doing in spades to the American armed forces.
It’s such a scary situation it merits absolutely no public commentary… again, parallel to Nazi Germany.
THEY hoped for the best, too. The rest is history.
Think about this. If Mitt would have won and this same email stuff had come out about Condi Rice when she was at State, A Grand Jury would already be in session on this.
This is all astounding.
Addendum. Obama and Hillary are above the law and Obama won’t even have the FBI investigate her. Tyrants protect their own.
Cornhead:
It is astounding only because no one ever had the audacity to do it before, probably because no one ever wanted to as badly as Obama does plus no one ever had the confidence of complete immunity because of the support of the press and the party.
For example, whatever you think of what Nixon did (we could debate that), he couldn’t do much because it was the politicians of his own party who refused to support him. Without them turning on him, he would have been able to stay in office. It was they who told him they would support his impeachment and conviction.
I cannot offhand think of any previous president in my lifetime, Democrat or Republican, who wanted to become a tyrant and who had the tools to do it. FDR did some things—like his attempt to pack the Court—which were also stopped by a bipartisan effort.
So what it comes down to in the end is not Obama, but the collaboration of his party and their abdication of dedication to the principles of the republic and the Constitution. It’s a group effort.
neo-neocon Says:
March 14th, 2015 at 5:34 pm
The group effort includes the Republican leadership, who have voluntarily ruled out using their own Constitutional powers to act as a check on Obama. Congress has all but abolished itself as a serious branch of government. No Reichstag fire was necessary this time.
rickl:
I have answered that argument many times, to the effect of “if Obama is willing to veto everything, and Republicans do not have the numbers to override his veto, the only thing they can do is refuse to fund the government.” This would be blamed on them, and it would lead to even bigger triumphs for Obama and company.
Those who think otherwise are fooling themselves, I believe very strongly.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that if the Republicans had a 2/3 majority and could override, they would do it. Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn’t. I happen to think they would. I could be wrong. But the truth is we don’t know what they would do because they’ve never had those numbers.
I fail to understand, though, why so many people are so certain that the Republicans’ failure to stop Obama is merely a failure of will.
That’s not to say there weren’t a few times many years ago when, if Republicans had realized what was actually up, they might have blocked more things. For example (and I don’t have time right now to look this up; I’m doing this from memory), I seem to recall that Olympia Snowe could have voted to stop Obamacare from coming out of committee. She didn’t. But Snowe really was a RINO, about as close to a Democrat as a person can get without actually being one. I don’t see how she could have been stopped, and since she came from a liberal state and was very popular there, she keep being sent back to Congress.
Republicans really missed their biggest recent chance during Bush II’s administration, during the years they had hold of Congress. If you take a look at how many seats they had, it was almost even for 2001-2003, and not that much better in 2003-2005. So they never really had what you would call control, especially with some RINOs like Snowe in their ranks. From 2005-2007 things were a bit better, but they never held the 60 seats in the Senate they would have needed to have allowed them to force closure, though. So they were always constrained by that. What’s more, a lot of their energy was caught up in the wars on terror and in Afghanistan and Iraq (and the surge), so they lost their chance to finesse the liberals in other ways, such as by getting some sort of conservative health insurance reform in place. Actually, I’m not at all sure it even crossed their minds, however, although it should have. But you know whose mind it did cross? George W. Bush’s, that’s whose. Unfortunately, but the time he got around to it, the Democrats had just taken control of Congress, and the Democrats weren’t the least bit interested in helping him pass it. Read the link; it’s really interesting.
So it is not just me who is seeing that Obama is close to setting up a dictatorship? I was afraid that I was be some sort of feather brained alarmist. In fact I’m afraid the dye is already cast. It is virtually impossible for the Republicans to win another Presidential election (go to 270towin and see if there is a likely scenario for a Republican victory now that Florida is Blue thanks to amnesty ). So we are already a one-party state. Whatever Democrat opposition there is is going to be cowed into submission thanks to his treatment of Melendez. Obama controls the bureaucracy and therefore he can persecute anyone at will; he is a Supreme Court justice appointment away from controlling the Supreme Court; he has already figured out ways of neutralizing lower court decisions by delay and inadequate enforcement.
What will probably emerge is a one party state with decisions be made by a self-appointed cabal of leftists within the Democratic party who ignore, persecute and proscribe any opposition: Republican, Democrat or independent. The seat at the head of this table will be filled by Barack Obama.
My Argentine wife, who has seen this play before with Peron and Kirchner, predicts that the next President will be Michelle Obama. Until the Presidential term limits amendments is revoked Obama may use this route. For thing for certain all ingredients for tyranny are present, the main one being a generation of voters who don’t think and don’t care and won’t notice if “it” happens here.
neo-neocon Says:
March 14th, 2015 at 6:02 pm
When the FCC arrogates to itself the power to regulate the internet, Congress can defund the FCC. When the BATFE declares certain types of ammunition illegal, Congress can defund the BATFE. When the EPA promulgates yet another environmental regulation that crushes private businesses, Congress can defund the EPA. And so on.
Congress created these agencies, and Congress can abolish them. Since Congress refuses to do that, they have made themselves irrelevant and we are living in a dictatorship right here and now.
rickl:
And if Congressional Republicans defund all those agencies they are blamed for destroying the functioning of the country, and there will be a tremendous backlash pointed at them. Most people will believe the MSM narrative on it. You are asking Republicans to do something that is so extreme that most will not do it because they think it will have negative rather than positive consequences.
The problem with tyranny is that unless it is spotted at the very outset (which is hard to do) and recognized for what it is, and fought hard at that point, really clever tyrants can tie their opponents up in knots. In my darkest hours I believe that’s what happened here.
By the way, I added a fairly long passage to my reply to you above. Take a look.
neo-neocon Says:
March 14th, 2015 at 6:28 pm
Honestly, I don’t follow that reasoning at all. If the Republicans in Congress use the legal, Constitutional tools at their disposal to fight back against Obama’s tyranny, voters will see that their votes are having an effect. They will be emboldened to vote for more Republicans.
But if voters see the Republicans rolling over and showing their bellies in a pathetic and futile attempt to be “liked” by the MSM, more and more of us will say, “why bother?”
I’m already there. If the R’s don’t start showing some backbone, they will be slaughtered in 2016. As things stand now, we already have a virtual one-party state. 2016 will just make it official and permanent.
There has never been more alternative media available than there is now. The Republicans problem isn’t getting out a message. They could if they wanted to. Their problem is they’re as alarmed at totalitarianism as their constituents.
The few who do recognize the situation are ostracized and marginalized by their own party fathers, who “know best how to handle things”.. Even though it’s apparent they don’t, they’re happy enough to go through the motions of outrage and indignation when a camera is turned on them. Then go off to another fund raiser or dinner or whatever occupies them all day.
When it’s all said and done, there’s no real outrage, no fear of not leading or being ineffective. Even with majorities in all 3 branches they tend to spend big, roll out big programs, and talk about fairness and opportunity coming from government.
They have great paying jobs, they don’t have to solve any problems, and the pensions are fantastic. Why blow it with idealism? And most Americans seem to prefer a president like Obama or Hillary. Handing out goodies is the name of the game. Package the handouts as “insuring America’s future” and it’s a slam dunk. So entitlement spending is for an “educated healthy work force”.
Marketing and packaging are available to both parties; Republicans, if they believed in the message of minimal government, could do a lot better job of marketing that message. But there’s no money in NOT collecting more money to hand out, no money in not helping donors who want something, and it’s not nearly as much fun to be a grinch. As Newt.
If anybody thinks the problem is the media, or that Obama is just too clever, I have a swamp in Florida with their name on it. The Republican leadership wants and needs to keep the gravy train rolling just as badly as the Democrats. If Obama wants to let in a few hundred thousand people, it’s a small price to pay for getting to stay in Washington and live it up.The rest of it is just for show, even if they convince themselves otherwise.
rickl:
I think you are living in a dreamworld.
The only voters who will feel as you describe are the most conservative voters. They constitute about a third of the voting pool.
However, there is still an argument to be made for a shutdown, and sometimes I think it should happen. The argument is that the stakes are very very high. Obama is, I believe, on the brink of a tremendous reorganization of the government and the population of the US that will cement in place a permanent Democratic majority and set a precedent for a very real tyranny by the executive.
But that doesn’t mean that most Americans would agree with me. So what I’m saying is that I still think the move would backfire on the Republicans. I just don’t think they have any other moves left.
Repubs would be blasted if they shut down the Federal government?
The Federal government is already a tyranny.
The Repubs decline to shut down a tyranny?
I get it. We’re done.
starlord:
I think you have accurately described the mindset of much of the Republican leadership. Not all of it, but much of it. However, there are more conservatives now in Congress than there have been in recent years. With time (time we may not have), there could be even more.
But I agree that the leadership of the GOP seems to think it’s just business as usual. However, even if they thought otherwise and were more energized to do something, their only option is to defund, and that has its own problems.
neo-neocon Says:
March 14th, 2015 at 7:15 pm
I’m not calling for a shutdown. See my 6:16 comment. Congress can defund the specific agencies that are overreaching their authority.
And as Mark Levin never tires of pointing out, the government “shuts down” every Friday evening. Somehow we all manage to survive the weekend.
Then it’s time for an Article V convention. Because the status quo is no longer tenable. Congress has voluntarily ceded its powers to the Executive, and has rendered itself pointless.
Rickl: ” If the Republicans in Congress use the legal, Constitutional tools at their disposal to fight back against Obama’s tyranny, voters will see that their votes are having an effect.”
Nope, the voters won’t. The news media will blast the Republicans for “stopping things.” The news media will say they are acting like spoiled children, etc. etc. etc.
Most voters in the US do NOT pay attention to the detail. Most only seem to read headlines or watch one evening news show (if even that) and then make up their minds and are done.
The voters don’t look beyond the simplistic.
Most voters are not going to be convinced that Obama is a tyrant; most think that he is trying so hard to do good – but, those darn Republicans keep getting in his way! Just look at Obamacare – How can he be so bad if he wants everyone to have healthcare! And those policies being cancelled? Those folks having to pay higher premiums? Well, that’s not HIS fault! It is those evil ReTHUGlicans and their cohorts, the greedy insurance companies!
Sorry, Rickl, but, I truly disagree with you on this. The Republicans are dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t. The News media just isn’t on their side. It just isn’t. And most folks do not see that.
When a Republican “shows backbone” he is accused by the news media of being a bully. When a Democrat is being a bully he is said to have backbone. That’s just the way it is reported. When Democrats use whatever constitutional tools they have at hand they are called clever. Whenever the Republicans do the same they are called wrong, evil, stupid, selfish, yada, yada, yada.
The only ones who vote against Republicans who “don’t show backbone” are folks who vote Republican or don’t vote.
And when someone doesn’t vote Republican because that candidate isn’t just conservative enough, or Republican enough, or whatever enough it is almost the same as voting for the liberal Democrat.
charles Says:
March 14th, 2015 at 7:35 pm
So you’re saying that the country is irretrievably lost.
Because voting for Republicans who are not much different from Democrats, because they are terrified of alienating the MSM and Democrat voters, is practically the same as voting for Democrats.
So why bother?
Neo said:
“I believe that Obama aspires to dictatorship, and I believe he is much closer than most people think.”
Well stated Neo.
There is one ray of hope, La Cristiada! The majority of Mexicans are still Roman Catholic and do not want to live under Sharia law. If Obama becomes too open as he uses his dictatorship to promote Islamism with the collusion of the Democrat party, the Mexicans immigrants could swing strongly against them in short order.
Leftists in Mexico made war on Christianity and the Roman Catholic church in 1926 and managed to spark a bloody civil war led by Mexican Christian peasants similar to the ones who have immigrated to the USA. It is probably not an accident that the Democrat Senator who is suffering persecution by the Obama administration is an Hispanic, Bob Menendez.
rickl:
Why bother? I can’t believe you could ask that question at this point. And yet I see it quite often from conservatives on blogs.
Here are some answers to your question:
This.
This.
This.
This.
This
This.
This.
And many more.
rickl:
In your comment here you wrote:
“I’m not calling for a shutdown. See my 6:16 comment. Congress can defund the specific agencies that are overreaching their authority.”
But that’s how it gets to a shutdown. Each bill will be vetoed by Obama; count on it. That means each department isn’t funded. The GOP has the choice of defunding each department, one by one, because it can’t override the veto, or of resubmitting and passing each bill with all the funding intact, and then it won’t be vetoed. It really would be Obama who would have been shutting down the government in the first instance, but voters don’t perceive it that way and the MSM would reinforce the “blame the Republicans” message.
To have an Article V convention, you need either 2/3 of Congress or of the state legislatures. That’s 38 state legislatures. Republicans control 24 of them.
As I said before, you’re dreaming.
One thing we forget is how much ground dems have lost in the state legislatures and in the House and Senate. Dems are firmly in the minority. That is Obama’s legacy.
If there is any way forward to returning to a republic in rests with the states. Last time I looked that means 37 state legislatures needed to push back against dc. We are not there yet, nor is it likely to happen in time to counter the dem-msm axis of evil.
Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Personally, me and mine (over 100 kin) have planned for the worst. Better to be jews fighting in the forests of eastern europe than be jews boarding the cattle cars to the death camps. Some of us, perhaps 10%, will not go quietly into the darkness. 30 million or even 15 million who just say no are nothing to sneeze at.
I wish to add the old Kentucky adage aim small miss small. In other words aim for the bridge of the nose and at 400 yards you will hit somewhere on the face. Job done move your sights to the next one. They have no thought of the unintended consequences of their actions. Put them into a position where they must decide to destroy the assets of what they wish to exploit. You all starve without flyover country. County boys will survive or if we don’t good luck finding your supper.
Neo, Rickl may be right for reasons not quite articulated. Whatever else a party or leader does he cannot seem weak or indecisive. I am convinced that is why Romney lost. If the Republicans decide to fight by shutting down government or parts of government they should state loudly and repeatedly that it is out of fear that Obama is setting up a dictatorship, none of this legalistic mumbo-jumbo. Sure the MSM will mock them, and there will initially be public anger, but some people will start wondering and asking questions. If the Republicans are consistent and adamant the laughter and indignation may give way to understanding and support. The alternative is submission and derision. People support the strong horse.
Neo: Thanks for the Sarah Hoyt link (first in the list of links you provided for rickl at 8:12 pm last night). I’ve visited her blog before (usually from a link provided by professor Reynolds) and am intrigued by her perspective and intellect.
As an immigrant from Portugal with first-hand experience of life in a socialistic, unstable society (and as a person with an uncanny mastery of the English language – all the more impressive since it’s not her native tongue) she “speaks” with a certain authority that is quite arresting. She also conveys that true and enthusiastic love for the concept of America that only the classic [legal] newcomers seem to have. That post of hers from March 6 was a good thing to read before watching the ever-more-depressing Sunday talk shows this morning..
I don’t know if Tom Cotton really know how Iran got to this level of dominance in the region were this matter was easy to be piked before 2003 war, despite loudly Iraqi voices about this matter when it comes to Iraq and power vacuum followed Bremer dismantling Iraqi force and police.
Tom Cotton Seems Confused About The Basic Geography Of Iran
“Schieffer: What do you want to happen here? What is your alternative here? Let’s say that the deal falls through, then what?
Cotton: Well as Prime Minister Netanyahu said, the alternative to a bad deal is a better deal. The Iranians frequently bluff to walk away from the table. if they bluff this week, call their bluff. The Congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions. Moreover we have to stand up to Iran’s attempts to drive for regional dominance. They already control Tehran increasingly they control Damascus and Beirut and Baghdad and now Sana’a as well. They do all that without a nuclear weapon. imagine what they would do with a nuclear weapon.”
“I believe that Obama aspires to dictatorship, and I believe he is much closer than most people think.”
Aspirations and expectations are two different things. Obama would love to be El Presidente for life! But… he has no expectation of that happening.
His goal is to be the man who created the conditions that led to the Left’s winning the war. That is the legacy he seeks. To be the President whose impact upon America was most profound…
We are NOT in a dictatorship nor are we going to be in one for at least the next 8 years. This blog would not exist were we in a dictatorship. We are certainly transitioning toward a dictatorship but it is not yet as near as we fear.
Perspective is needed and facts, logic and reason provide that perspective.
Critical to any discussion of the possibility of an American dictatorship is the fact that currently, only 15% of the military support Obama. The military is run by its NCOs, its sergeants and chiefs. No coup can succeed without their support. Obama and the left are doing all they can to transform the military into an organization whose loyalty is to the left’s ideology rather than to the constitution but… it will take many years (8 years soonest), if ever, before the military transitions to the state where it supports a coup.
What it comes down to in the end is not Obama, it is not the collaboration of his party and their abdication of dedication to the principles of the republic and the Constitution, it is not the MSM or academia and it is not the collaboration of the GOP. Those are significant means, symptoms of what is wrong. What it comes down to is an electorate that is willing to trade liberty for on one hand, bread and circuses and on the other hand, forcing America to become what they think will be better… but which will prove to be a nightmare.
paul,
Forgive my obtuseness but wherein does Cotton’s ‘confusion’ lie? He gave a perfectly factual, coherent answer.
Geoffrey Britain:
I was talking about Obama’s aspirations, and also about the fact that he is closer than people think. How close he actually is, and whether he will achieve his aspirations, is a different story.
Most people I know, for example, haven’t a clue that Obama has even pushed the envelope of presidential authority.
I completely agree that he will be quite happy to have as his legacy the Left’s permanent ascendance to power. But he would love to be in charge forever, and he would love dictatorial powers.
neo,
I agree.
“There is one ray of hope, La Cristiada! The majority of Mexicans are still Roman Catholic and do not want to live under Sharia law. If Obama becomes too open as he uses his dictatorship to promote Islamism with the collusion of the Democrat party, the Mexicans immigrants could swing strongly against them in short order.”
Obama is an athiest socialist. He isn’t an Islamist. He won’t impose Sharia. The Mexican immigrants will continue to support him.
“This blog would not exist were we in a dictatorship.”
Venezuela still has some free blogs, so that in itself is perhaps not such a defining measure. The left in the US has developed a skillset of margionalizing critical media, including Fox, Rush, blogs, etc.
That said, I agree we are not in any type of dictatorship. Rather, what is happening is the decay of the rule of law, enabled by a cultural decay that enables it. The setbacks the Republic has faced are probably not undoable. Proper functioning rule of law requires a virtuous culture, and I believe that has dropped below the required level to maintain a Republic rooted in rule of law.
1. Race war brought on by something that can be blamed on the Right/Republicans/Whites.
2. Widespread rioting.
3. National emergency.
4. Which continues…..and continues….and continues….
Voila!
Geoffrey Britain Says:
We are NOT in a dictatorship nor are we going to be in one for at least the next 8 years. This blog would not exist were we in a dictatorship. We are certainly transitioning toward a dictatorship but it is not yet as near as we fear.
Really? Your reasoning is flawed because the reasons you give we are not in one are not requirements of one!!
in the early stages the victims may not even know it, the regime then benefits from a lack of opposition for as long as possible.
the point stems from the fact that most people dont think of such things in any real rational way EXCEPT those who have lived or their families have lived under such (and are close).
we could have been in a dictatorship for 50 years and not know it if the powers did not exercise their worst powers…
its easier to tell when they change the clothing, put a pc correct person in with the teacher in school to prevent teachers informing students, and so on.
the potential that is exercisable and would make things clear is not a requirement any more than a king has to be evil… the potential for benevolent despotism to exist, but its usually the early on masquerade that eases things as gliecshaltung is completed.
if it was not for doing despotic things, how could you tell if they crossed the event horizon? you can tell by if they can do it, not if they DO do it. right now, we are in a state of emergency and the EOs apply for that and they have dictatorial powers… its just if they acted on them the public would do what? so they are not acting yet, because the farther they go without such, the more established they are..
you will know once we get to a point where there is nothing the people can do, even if they rise up…
Birmingham has been chosen as one of six cities nationwide to serve as a pilot site for a national initiative on restoring relationships between law enforcement and citizens.
Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement [Thursday]. The $4.7 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice was announced in April and is a partnership between federal officials and criminal justice experts focused on providing training, policy and research to address distrust between citizens and law enforcement.
over time this federal force will take over…
once they have enough established then they can act in ways that people cant protest…
so we can be in a totalitarian situation, but not know it
see neo book link to “they thought they were free”
An excerpt from
They Thought They Were Free
The Germans, 1933-45
Milton Mayer
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it–please try to believe me–unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.