Robin Itzler, a longtime contributer to Orange County Breeze, has a thoughtful piece published at American Thnkger titled “Could ordinary Americans embrace socialism?”
Here’s how the piece opens:
The film documented a full day in the life of 1927 cosmopolitan Berlin – from early morning when streets were empty to busy daytime when those same streets were bustling with activity to evening when adults owned the urban jungle.
What made the 79-minute documentary frightening was knowing that just six short years later, many of those same everyday ordinary people would be standing on those same city streets waving flags adorned with black swastikas and shouting “Heil Hitler!”
Could everyday ordinary Americans, just as easily, or eventually, embrace socialism as it is generally known? One would be naive to dismiss the possibility given the results of many respected polls and especially those taken of young Americans.
Had the German signage been hidden, viewers might have thought it was 1927 London, Paris or Manhattan. Just another lively metropolis with people going about their everyday ordinary lives. Traveling to work on trains or buses, eating in restaurants, delivering packages by horse-drawn carts, taking children to playgrounds, visiting the city zoo, sitting and talking with friends, walking down streets, cleaning or sweeping in front of homes, shopping in stores filled with the latest clothes and furniture…