There is something nearly automatic in the alternating historical cycles that humanity goes through. After a war, there usually is a period of relative stability where former enemies become friends and everyone is tired of conflicts and wars.
One or two generations later, history fades away and newer generations don't know, don't remember or don't understand how and why they have functioning countries. They get bored with the stability that a functioning democracy provides, which is why one sees a drop in people's interest in politics, their participation and voting. By withdrawing from their elders' commitment to the difficult fastidious task of maintaining a democracy, the younger generation becomes an easy target for the conservative revisionist extremists who are nostagic of the dictators and fascists that in fact precipitated the world into the wars a generation or two earlier.
They - the conservatives - generally hail from three categories of people: The political descendants of the fascists and warmongers; second, the religious and upper class greedy old-order neanderthals who lost their power to the democratic order; and third, the vast reservoir of politically-indifferent middle and poor classes that are easily seduced by the lies of the conservative fascists who rally them into rejecting the gains of democracy with much lies and fake news.
The conservatives, the religious extremists, the fascists exploit the stability of democracy to gain power by convincing people to "return" to a nostalgic past that will heal their "dissatisfaction" with the democratic elites and the media. They deliberately undermine the relationship of confidence and trust between people and institutions that is a pillar of the democratic order. They question the general advancement of society (science, technology, culture) as dangerous to traditions, religions, and other primitive parameters, and create the notion that only violence and wars can bring society back to better times. That is what Russia's Putin is doing. This is what Donald Dumb is trying to do.
Unfortunately, people don't understand that the price to pay for a functioning democracy is constant altert. In a state of stable boredom and political sedation, people long for entertainment, excitement, danger and competition for some sort of illusory victory against more illusory enemies. The younger generation hasn't lived the calamities of the previous wars, and they begin to raise the same questions that their parents and grandparents' generation asked, then waged war, only to lose and reluctantly accept a return to the only viable alternative - democracy - albeit with destruction and millions of dead and mutilated in the meantime.
This is exactly where we are today: a younger generation that has barely learned and drawn the lessons of the earlier wars of 1914 and 1939, and which is eagerly walking the path to war as an exit out of the boring stability of democracy. Trump, Putin and consorts feed them all the bullshit of nationalism, superiority, peace through coercion and violence... much of it arising out of the personal power, charisma, and charm of the supreme "Dear Leaders.
It is uncanny how much the period we are living in today resembles the world in the 1930s. Hitler's and Mussolini's rise to power is in many ways similar to the rise of Trump, Orban, Putin and others who appeal to the nostalgia of a long gone past, of the fake warmth of religion, silly traditions, and radical aspirational political movements. All these warmongers want empire! Trump said it: "I rule the world" because he can wreak havoc by signing his digusting executive orders which the courts are having a hard time curbing.
It's been said many times: Democracy is vulnerable because it contains in its DNA the seeds of its own potential downfall. Democracy is boring: It doesn't require muscles, brawn, violence, aggression.... it's a simple set of rules that people in theory are committed to. But it takes one rogue criminal-minded individual to use those rules (under the cloak of elections, freedom of speech, tolerance....) to get elected into power, at which time that individual trashes the rules, replaces them by anarchy and chaos, and ushers a descent into violence and wars.
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Kamala Harris tells audience to 'remember history,' warns current era parallels 'the 1930s'
Alexander Hall
Wed, May 28, 2025
Leaked video shows former Vice President Kamala Harris warning that the state of the world is eerily similar to the 1930s.
In a rare appearance since leaving the White House, videos have surfaced of Harris at a Q&A during the 2025 Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC 2025). Toward the end of the Q&A, the host noted his admiration for former President Barack Obama, asking Harris what has made him so successful.
"I think one of the very special aspects of who he is, is he really is a student of history and that gets back to my earlier point about, for each of us, understanding the context in which we exist," she said in the footage leaked online. It’s critically important, because coupled with the enthusiasm that comes with ambition and optimism, we must be the clear-eyed focus of understanding where we've been."
Then-Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.
The former vice president then argued, as a "student of history" herself, that the world’s current state echoes one of the darkest parts of the 20th century.
"I do worry, frankly, about what’s happening right now in our world," she said. "I do worry that it is important that we remember history. It’s important we remember the 1930s. It’s important that we remember that history has taught us that isolation does not equal insulation."
Harris went on to argue, "It is important that we understand and remember history which taught us the interdependence and interconnection between nations. History that has taught us the importance of relationships of trust, the importance of friendships, integrity, honesty."
She added, "There is so much about foreign affairs that is just like the importance of having good friendships, consistency, honesty, being there for each other when you need them, holding up standards, international rules and norms."
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