McGentrix wrote:Now, spew some more vitriol my way and continue proving what a haughty ass you are.
That's more your style.
In the first place, i deny that Germans were "just Germans," and not tribal. The Enabling Act, which the NSDAP used to dispense with democratic institutions in Germany in 1933, required a vote of two thirds of the Reichstag. The NSDAP polled only 35% of the vote prior to the Reichstag fire, and when Hitler ran against Hindenberg for the office of President, he only polled 35% of the vote. However, after the Reichstag fire, which it was alleged had been started by a Dutch communist, left-wing parties were outlawed. Even then, the NSDAP only polled 44% of the vote. With their conservative parliamentary partners, the DNVP (German National People's Party), they still only had 51% of the vote--enough to rule through the Reichstag, but not enough for the Enabling Act, which was intended to allow the NSDAP to govern without reference to the Reichstag. Almost all communist members of the Reichstag had been arrested in the wake of the Reichstag fire (look up Reichstag Fire Decree), and many members of the Social Democrats. But for the act to pass, there needed to be a quorum in the Reichstag, so they couldn't simply round up their opponents and hold a vote--they needed the support of other members of the Reichstag other than the NSDAP and the DNVP.
So Hitler turned to the Centre Party. The Centre Party was a Catholic party, and its leader, Ludwig Kaas, agreed to throw the support of the Centre Party to the NSDAP in the vote on the Enabling Act in return for concessions to Catholics. After the unification of Germany, many Catholics found themselves in Protestant dominated regions of German, in which they were barred from holding public office, in which "mixed marriages" of Catholics and Protestants were forbidden by law, and in which the children of such marriages which had occurred illegally, or which had occurred outside of the region in which they now resided, were required to be instructed as Protestants. Kaas' bargain with Hitler was to remove civil debilities from Catholics, to agree to protect minorities within Germany who were Catholic, such as Poles and Alsatians, to assure that Catholic civil servants would be retained in the government, and finally an agreement to protect and help fund Catholic schools in Germany. With the support of Kaas (who was, in fact, a Catholic priest), the NSDAP and the DNVP were able to push through the Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler to govern without reference to the Reichstag.
What is incredible to me is that you can, apparently with a "straight face" allege that the Germans of the era of World War Two were not "tribal." So, the Jews, the homosexuals, the "Gypsies" and the Slavs who died in the Nazi death camps were not the victims of a particularly virulent form of tribalism? If tribalism were not present among those who were "just Germans," why did Kaas feel it was necessary to get guarantees from Hitler for Catholic civil and political liberties before he would agree to vote for the Enabling Act? If there were no tribalism in Germany, why had a specifically Catholic party ever been formed?
As usual, you're shooting off your mouth without a clue.
However, i'm not surprised. You have showed up in this thread, and have not responded to any other member's posts but mine. You have not addressed the titular question of the thread, you just spewed your hatred at me--and that was all your intent ever was.
The titular question is addressed to people on both the left and the right. Why don't you take a crack at the subject of the thread, and leave off your hatefulness long enough to attempt an intelligent comment?
