A difference between me and many of my friends is that most of my friends believe that manners and decorum mean that a person will not participate in fascism. Maybe it is the lesson that my bitter Jewish grandmother taught me, but I've always believed that aristocrats can push us into the ovens.
30% of Americans will absolutely kill you, or me, if it’s fun or convenient or temporarily popular.
The real action is in what percentage can’t be persuaded to give a shit.
Adams famously said a third were for the Revolution, a third were against, and a third didn't care. The %s may vary but the basic division is probably right.
...as a historian I'd say this sort of split is true everywhere and everywhen.
A read a similar quote once from someone describing nazism is Germany. “A third of the nation decided to kill another third while the remaining third stood by and watched”
...recent American history is proving to be a distressingly-excellent illustration that properly motivating part of that apathetic third to join with you at key moments can be a life-or-death undertaking, either literally or politically.
On a lighter note, Casey Stengel on baseball: The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven’t made up their minds.
