In 5th grade when WW2 was discussed my classmates asked, "How could the German people let it happen?"

[PurgedVoter]

Today I can answer. Rich bastards had too much power and propaganda has a strong effect on the weak willed.

But there is more about this. Those same classmates are now on or about to be on Social Security. Most of those same classmates voted for Krasnov. Most of them hated Jimmy Carter and loved Reagan. Most of them supported the bullies over the marginalized children who didn't fit in. Most of them looked around before making racist jokes.

Funny part about this, education mattered, but it didn't solve the issue. This was a Texas college town. In eighth grade, I was among the kids in a class that was making fun of a child who didn't have a professor as a father. That child's dad was a dean.

The critical issue that could be used to predict the eventual support of a fascist take over was not the level of their hatred of Nazis. It was their racism and support for bullies.

While I was in school, I fought a few bullies. I was big. I won all but a few of those fights. When you get older, fighting bullies becomes more complicated. I can't claim a lot of wins against bullies since I turned eighteen.

Right now the bullies are in charge of the classroom and we are hoping that our fellow classmates are getting a bit tired of them trashing everything and threatening us all. A lot of us are being careful what we say because consequences are a bit different for grownups.

Right now it would be sure nice if a man with a star on his chest rode into town and cleaned things up. That's how it happened on TV back when I was in 5th grade. Usually no one got hurt apart from a punch in the face. But the bad guy went to jail and that ended it. Sadly this isn't Bonanza.