True. However.
> I and the U.S. today. What is all too glibly referred to as
> the "Weimar
> Republic" or "Weimar democracy" was in fact a very weak and flawed
> political system at its best, regarded with contempt by large
Then how do you explain the fact that this "weak" system survived several coup attempts, both from the left and from the right? And what makes a "weak" system as opposed to a "strong" one.
An alternative explanation is that the problem was not with the "system" but with the class structure. Specifically, working class organizing made the ruling class run scared, so they bankrolled the fascists to do the dirty work for them. And once Hitler grabbed power, by having his goons beating up trade unionists, and the buddy of his ruling class sponsors (Hindenburg) appointing his Chancellor to break a political impasse, he got rid of some of the rougue elements in the fascist movement (Roehm & Co.) and went with the re-militarization program wanted by the industrial interersts.
Actually, there is a far reaching analogy between Hitler's and Bush's ascent to power. And as far as "landing" is concerned, Germany lost the war, so we have no way of knowing how the nazis would have landed had they won. My guess is that they would have not been that much different from post World War II US. Who knows, they even might have had a civil rights movement giving their untermenschen the right not to ride cattle cars, and creating a reservation for what would have had been left of the Jews.
Wojtek