On August 19, 1934, 9 out of 10 Germans endorsed Adolf Hilter’s assumption of absolute power.
Eighty-nine and nine-tenths per cent of the German voters endorsed in yesterday’s plebiscite Chancellor Hitler’s assumption of greater power than has ever been possessed by any other ruler in modern times. Nearly 10 per cent indicated their disapproval. The result was expected.
Here is the original New York Times account of the vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0819.html#article
This piece of history seems worth noting today, as opinion polls show a majority of Americans opposing construction of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” as well as large numbers of American telling pollsters that President Obama is not Christian and might be Muslim.
American History is more than replete with the voices of those who decried the intolerance and ignorance of a majority. In fact, if the Declaration of Independence had been subject to a public opinion poll, even John Adams thought that only a third of the country favored independence.
Certainly slavery’s existence did not trouble a majority of Americans.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain succinctly explained the “power of the People.”
“Haint we got all the fools in town on our side? and ain’t that a big enough majority in any town.”
The Founders and the Framers honored democracy and the will of the people. But they also recognized the danger of rule by a mob. That is why they wrote a Constitution. And it is worth remembering on this day of infamy when a large majority of the people gave Adolf Hitler unlimited power.
