Food for Thought

For an interesting contemporary/historical comparison, consider re-reading "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis [It Can't Happen Here on amazon.com]. I was going to summarize why I think it's relevant today, but I found that Don Roberts, one of the reader-reviewers at Amazon, said it better than I could:

But, probably the true value of this work, Lewis does identify as the one true villian as those in the middle, the people who take no extreme position, because it is their unwillingness to take action that allows the extreme elements to take over and make the evil happen. Overall, it's a great wake up call to anyone who thinks it can't happen here, and who feels someone else should take the risks.