Science Forums 2

[HydrogenBond]

The bigger the government, the more intrusive they become, the more they begin to mold acceptable behavior in the image of their own needs. The holocaust stemmed from the centralization of too much power with a bigoted point of view. If you look at history, wide scale atrocities all have a push from centralized power.

One has to look at this fundamental cause and not just dwell on one of the terrible effects of this common cause. When we dwell on a particular effect we are hoping centralized power learns this particular lesson. But we forget centralized power finds a way to come up with atrocities we have yet to encounter. Nobody would have predicted the holocaust before it happened. But we could have predicted something bad was about to happen due to the power centralizing.

One of the first things that happens is the censor of free speech and the intrusion of government through law and police actions. Next one has to remove those who think for themselves and can't be brain washed. This actions help neutralize opposing points of view and consolidates central power. It is doubtful the majority of Germans in the 1930's came up with the holocaust on their own. Centralized power put the idea in their head to promote its the needs of power and had the iron rod to enforce this point of view.

The founders of the American Constitution saw this reoccurring historical problem and realized the best government is the one that governs least. When government is the servant and not the master, its influence is limited, allowing checks and balances from the alternate points of view of many masters.

Let us go back into time and consider what would have happened if Hitler was not able to censor free speech and put down the opposition with law and force, so power could consolidate. The idea of the holocaust may have come up for debate. This atrocity effect never would have happened, accept on a small scale by a criminal element. With centralized power defining acceptability, it can define criminal as socially acceptable behavior leading to atrocities like the holocaust.