We also took the point of view that even a government founded on the Leadership Principle could maintain itself only if it was based in some way on the confidence of the people. If it no longer had such confidence, then it would have to rule with bayonets, and the Fuhrer was always of the opinion that that was impossible in the long run-to rule against the will of the people.



In other words, Hitler believed that he had to have the support of the People, something he never really forgot. This is a concept some of out present leadership rejects, if it means giving up power. Think about the Tea parters that wanted to revolt against out elected government.



Now, some on the left are just as bad, I remember seeing an elderly African American with an "Impeach Reagan" button on his shirt. I disliked it, for Reagan had been elected, I did not vote for him and opposed most of the things he did, but I understood the concept that we have to leave the people live with their choices.



Side note: This is the concept the Egyptian Military seems to have forgotten, and why that government is doomed. While the ruling elite supports the Military, the majority of the people do NOT. I would say the percentage is about 60-40, split along class lines. The bottom 60% support the Moslem Brotherhood or its near relations, 1% is the ruling elite, another 9% their immediate sycophants and other hanger ons, and 30% middle management. In military terms the 1% are the Generals, the 9% are the Colonels and other field grade officers, the 30% are the Captains and other Company grade officers AND top end of the NCO classes (Sargent majors, First Sergeants, Supply Sergeants, Technical Sergeants(to bring back a WWII term) etc.).



The bottom 60% is more solid, it includes all of the Privates and NCO who are NOT tied in with the company headquarters (i.e. Sergeants, Staff Sergeants, Platoon Sergeants and First Sergeants). Yes First Sergeants are in both camps and in many ways the key people. First Sergeants are the people who actually run Military Companies, the officers are they to interact with higher command (the old joke was a Good Lieutenant in at battalion Headquarters kissing the Colonels ass so he can get promoted). Yes the Captain is in charge and gives the orders to the Company as to what to do, but that is his job, to relate orders from above to the Company. How the company actually runs is set by the First Sargent and the Platoon and other NCOs under him. I bring this up for that class is the key, for they connect the people with the elite. If the elite losses them, the war is over.



Now, I use the military ranks to show how the class systems works. People do not thinks of themselves as "the people" and do not view who are they "leaders". "Leaders" may NOT be elected people, they are people, other people look to when things go bad. I do not mean in terms of Crime when people look to the police, or fire, when they look to the Fire Department, or when they are sick, when they look to their Doctors, but those people, other people end up rallying around in times of crisis (and these can be Policemen, Firemen and Doctors).



In the military the system is set up to make sure everyone knows who is officially the leaders and most times these are the leaders (but even in the Military you can have leaders outside the Command structure).



In Egypt this NCO equivalent leadership was provided by low level supporters of Mubarak but slowly lost them to the Moslem Brotherhood. Control of those NCO equivalents (another name for them is Ward heelers) was the key to the Moslem Brotherhood's victory in the election. We in the West read reports done by the equivalent of Middle management and that was portrayed as the "Leaders" of the revolution but the real leaders were the local ward heelers who acted for the Moslem Brotherhood. Thus people in the West were Shocked when the equivalent of Middle Management came no where near winning that election (and then blame the fact they had not "Organized" well the Moslem Brotherhood had been doing so for years, that brings up the question, if they oppose Mubarak where was their organization of opposition?).



I bring this up for the Rule of the Nazis and the Communists was based on those local NCO equivalent. The support of such people is what Hitler never lost, even as the Red Army took Berlin. Gorbachev retain they support till the coup attempt (and then these ward heelers opposed the Coup but switched to Yeltsin for he was in Moscow when the Coup was attempted and they could rally around him). They stayed with Yeltsin but were defecting when Putin succeed Yeltsin, Putin does his best to keep them happy. It is at the "Company" level that wars are won and lost. Hitler and Stalin both knew this and did they best to control their countries at that level.



Around 1900, the situation in the US was the same, but the ward heelers (precinct captains etc) where the people who could get the vote out. They did so by making sure the people above them in the political hierarchy watched out for those people. The US had a bottom to the top Political control system. split between two parties but very good at getting people above them to understand want the people wanted. This system became stronger in the Great Depression when people demanded action and the Ward heelers told the people above them that people wanted action. FDR received the message and political and economic reform became the rule of the day.



After WWII, and the raise of Television, you saw a decline in the bottom to the top political system in the US. The system became more and more a Top down system, with money going to the top politicians (i.e. the President, Senators, Governors, and member of the Federal House of Representatives) who then used that money to get elected using TV ads AND giving money to lower level politician who needed campaign funds. Thus the US went from a Bottom up to a Top Down political system within a 100 year period.



DU may be a waive of the Future, but it has one big problem, while DU can be a way for NCOs, Ward Heelers, Precinct Captains to talk to each other and relate to each other, it is terrible at getting people who actually live near DU members to listen to the people on DU. DU members have to work local political functions to see what is going on locally, report it to DU, but also try to get other people who are politically active to do progressive politics. DU can be a return to bottom up political system but only if we try. Just a comment on how the Nazis were NOT that far off from when it came to getting the support of the people, and that support was as the NCO level not the Officer or Middle Management level. This means going to local Democratic Meetings, being a poll watcher, helping people get to the polls, if you live in a state with votes by mail, helping people to get those ballots and to make sure they are mailed (Helping someone fill out a Ballot should be avoided UNLESS absolutely necessary and then you have to make sure the vote is what that voter wants, not what you want).



Remember Evil is not the opposite of Good but the Corruption of Good. Nazis and Communist political systems were corruption of democratic systems. Both used the symbols of Democracy (the vote) to appear to be Democratic, but corrupted the system to make it a top down dictatorship. The GOP wants to do that to the US and we have to fight them and that fight is not on the floors of Congress but your local political meeting and polling place.