I hold no German not found accountable at Nuremberg specifically responsible for the holocaust. I recently read a Danish book about how the Danish Jews were for the most part saved, while I was reading Ron Chernow's biography of the Warburgs. Decency, good and bad fortune and evil were all present at the same time in Germany and the occupied countries. Just in varied amounts and evil was dominant in most places.
This causes me to think what would have happened to me if my great grandparents and grandparents had not made the decisions they did to leave Central Europe and Scandinavia to come to the U.S. And every so often I read a story, usually an Obituary, that reminds me just how lucky my family is that people made that difficult decision to come to America. Of course, things were not so good where they were or they would not have been motivated to come when it was "easy" to come.
Link to Jewish Warsaw survivor of Nazi Occupation Obituary.
Having recently read the two books about the Germany, I know it is outrageous to compare the Tea Party to the Nazi's, but there are certain similarities between the tactics the Nazi's used and how the Tea Party views compromise. Witness the Arizona Republicans citing John McCain for not being conservative often enough to be considered a conservative. John McCain has a 91 ranking from the Conservative scorers and what the Arizona Republicans did not consider sufficiently conservative was McCain's votes to compromise and keep the government operating rather than shutting it down.
I have no idea how this partisanship gridlock will end, but I do understand that both the Democrat's and Republicans have to tone it down. While I believe the GOP started it, I am sure the GOP can come up with examples that the Democrats started it. So how does it end?
Andrew Cuomo threw his match on the fire Friday saying "extremist conservatives have no place in New York." Now here is where word selection is so important. What he meant to say is "extremist conservatives cannot win a state wide election in New York." But would that have sufficed his goal? Probably not.
Cuomo needs to motivate the Democratic base to come out and vote in Congressional elections upstate where there are GOP congressman. He also needs to fire up the ultra-conservatives in New York to run in Primaries and hopefully win the Primary only to lose in the general election. Why, because the only Republican to win a state wide election since 1973 in New York was George Pataki; who was pro-choice, supported gay rights and signed a law banning assault weapons that his administration designed for the legislature. That's 40 years of state wide support for policies the current GOP absolutely opposes.
RedStateVT many think Vermont is the most liberal state in the union, but they have elected more Republicans since 1973 than New York has.
People who have ultra-conservative views came out with harsh reactions to Cuomo's words, but they were really no different than the pandering that Carl Paladino and Rick Lazio did bashing a planned Mosque in Manhattan (no Muslim-Americans allowed in Manhattan) or those of a GOP assemblyman saying Cuomo's support for a gun control bill was something "Hitler and Mussolini would be proud of."
The war of words raising the fervor of partisanship now has descended from Congress into state politics. So, I guess there is little hope for compromise this year or going forward for at least a decade or two in my opinion and no implementation of any platform policies unless one party or the other gets control of all 3 parts of the Federal Government. And I do not see that happening either. Gridlock will continue until problems reach the point where responsible people see they must compromise. Of course, the Tea Party does not believe in compromise no matter what the situation is.
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