The article highlights Joseph Goebbels's 1928 essay that reveals the National Socialists' strategic use of democracy to gain power. It questions how democracies can protect themselves from being undermined by their own provisions. Germany is presented as a model for managing this balance, successfully remembering its autocratic past while safeguarding democratic integrity. This discussion is juxtaposed with contemporary political situations, such as that of JD Vance aligning with the far-right while critiquing European democratic backsliding, underscoring the complexities democracies face today.
In many ways, Germany has set a standard for how democracies can remain vigilant against their enemies while grappling with their totalitarian pasts.
Goebbels’s 1928 observations about democracy reflect an enduring challenge for free societies: how to guard against those who would exploit democratic processes for ill purposes.
Collection
[
|
...
]