If you want to frighten yourself, check the Wikipedia entries for "Weimar Republic" (especially the early part) and "Sturmabteilung" (or better yet, the definitive bio of Hitler by John Toland). The Nazis started in 1919 with 70 attendees at a meeting at the Hofbrauhaus, and were only a few thousand even several years later. One of the main ways they gained power was because, in the Weimar Reichstag, nearly any united minority could block almost anything. The Nazis made sure they used that power, so anybody who wanted to get anything done had to give the Nazis something they wanted. Another way they used to gain power was mob tactics and thuggery via the Sturmabteilung. A third was the simple mechanism of demonizing minorities (Communists, Jews, Blacks - - -). Any of this sound familiar???

We are developing into the Weimar Republic of America, complete with minority veto power over legislation and our own home-grown Sturmabteilung.

Scares *me*, and I *used* to be fearless.