"Unhappy is the land that is in need of heroes" - Bertolt Brecht

ASM826 says that the book burnings are coming.  I can't disagree, and the sight of Nazis and communists* fighting each other in the streets has a very Weimar vibe.

That vibe isn't because of the clashes of baseball bat armed groups of opposing socialists, it's because of the paralysis of the major political parties.  The Republicans seem terrified about this and are hastening to tar everyone up to and including the Tea Party as Nazis; the Democrats - at an historically low point in their power across the Republic - are gleefully throwing gasoline on the fire.  Both parties are terribly weak, and everyone sees it.

But Nature abhors a vacuum, and the vacuum of political will is no exception.

It's not true that Voltaire said "If you want to know who rules over you, ask yourself whom you may not criticize."  But it's a true statement nonetheless.

He who controls the past controls the future.  He who controls the present controls the past.

- George Orwell, 1984

Lenin once said that everything in politics is Who, Whom?  Who rules, and whom do they rule?  A conquered people are always deprived of their history, and especially their heroes.  The statues are being removed, and so we can tell who is the victor and who is the vanquished.  But only some heroes are being removed.  Others are quite safe.

Meanwhile, the half of the country that voted for a change in last year's election is beginning to wonder if change will be allowed.  I wonder what will happen when they learn the answer.

* The idea that Nazis are "right wing" is absurd.