Re: Just governments...

[Rich Ater]

Hitler was never elected Chancellor; in Germany’s last truly democratic election, he pulled 37% of the vote, which means that 63% of voters opted for various other parties. A government can be legally constituted with 37% or 44% of the vote if that's a majority. Look at us south of your border.   Stalin then ordered the Communist Party *not* to form an anti-Nazi alliance with the Social Democrats (together they could out vote the Nazis.). So the vote got split. As much I dislike our current President I don't claim the government is illegal because Nader split the vote.   Thus, under Weimar law (and normal parliamentary practice) Hindenburg had to call on Hitler as the leader of the largest contingency in the Reichstag to form the government, which he did on January 8, 1933. He became chancelor because the Nazi's held the majority of seats in the Reichstag and he was the only one who could pull it off. You yourself said this was all legal under the Weimar Laws.   Hitler them proceeded to take over *illegally.* The Nazi’s set the Reichstag Fire (Feb. 27, 1933), blamed it on the Communists and got Hindenburg to give Hitler emergency  governing powers with which he intimidated his political enemies. He then had another ‘election’ and got 44% (still not 50% even at this point) of the vote, used the Brown Shirts to prevent socialists and communists who had been elected from taking their seats and pressured the other parties to pass the “Enabling Laws” that gave him absolute dictatorial power. He already had the government, so it was legally constituted. That the fact that he started breaking laws after this to shore up his power doesn't change that.   This doesn’t look “duly elected” to me. Nor just. Not to me either, but my definition of just and duly elected are a little diferrent. I have no love for the Nazis. Two uncles of mine were executed by them in Thessalonika for being in the underground and I'm damned proud of them. I was just commenting on the Guardians stance and that he disbanded the community rather than obey the dictates of a government that fit his criteria as legitimate if heinous. I hope you and your family are doing well. I still recall our last meeting fondly. Rich                            __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu