Quote Originally Posted by AntiochusIII
AdrianII, thanks for the amazing historical parallel. The funny way the funny human minds work...
Better thank your country for producing such excellent authors as Lewis. I loved his Babbitt novels. There are a lot of Babbitts in the U.S. just as there are armies of similar arch-hypocrites in other countries, but one Lewis outweighs them all. Funny I never heard of this book, or never noticed it in his bibliography. The point to remember is that the obvious always comes to pass in surprising ways and when you least expect it. I do not suppose for one moment that an American dictatorship along Hitler-lines is possible, but there are disturbing parallels with that Lewis novel. The indefinite state of emergency in the book, induced by vague, diffuse enemies both outside and within the country, reminds me of the way in which Congress in 2001 voted for a 'war against terrorism' which is by its very nature open-ended, meaning that the special Presidential powers deriving from the act will remain in force indefinitely. Over time this will create an imbalance in the system. Another parallel with the book is that the way we (or rather you, Americans) define the enemy is a way of (re)defining yourselves; an internal agenda goes hand in hand with foreign policy goals.