this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2024
306 points (94.7% liked)

AskHistorians

679 readers
2 users here now

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] enbyecho@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

We are already well along the road of elections being fairly meaningless. Not because the results aren't counted accurately but because elections can be swayed by numerous mechanisms including voter suppression (voter ID laws, redistricting, restrictions on polling places and methods, etc) and propaganda. Combine that with economic suppression via wealth inequality that results in low-information voters being the norm and you have a relatively easy mechanism to "win" elections that's legal and constitutional.

Hitler didn't get into power by being a dictator, he became one through a series of events. The Reichstag fire was a pretext Hindenburg declaring a state of emergency which not only gave Nazi's the ability to frame and dissent or opposition as traitorous, it also lent "credence" to their propaganda about the threat of communism, allowing them to further consolidate power in the 1933 election.

History rhymes.