Dominic Sandbrook of London’s Daily Mail looks to 2012 as a year that portends an ominous future for Europe.  The specter of the series of events regarding the progressive economic calamity  surrounding Europe and its Euro currency mirrors the underpinnings of trouble that enveloped Europe in 1932, and Sandbrook recalls the political reaction to them with apprehension for Europe’s future.  1932 is a year that Ramparts of Civilization has explored before. The natural tendency of drowning people is to panic and pull down those who would attempt to save them, and politically the reaction is inevitably self preservation and personal security first. The comfort provided by dictatorial fascism has repeatedly reared its head on such primitive, reactionary impulses.  Read Sandbrook’s entire article and see if you don’t think he is on to something.

     On an equally cheery note, Mark Steyn of National Review Online ruminates on the passive nature of people and governments to fail to recognize the impending view of unsupportable debts and their effect on future prosperity.  The clamor of 1932 was for governments to do something, anything, to stop the progressive slide into the myre, and people were willing to overlook the loss of personal freedom and the dark underbelly of fascistic and communist movements to at least find someone who would aggressively overcome the societal passivity to problem solving.  Read Steyn’s entire article and decide whether you think he is a false prophet.

     Happy New Year.