Ark,
Here is something for you to think about;
Most people who call themselves conservatives are not, they are very close to classic liberals.
Liberals today (since just before Wilson's time) are a mix of socialist and fascist, with some communist thrown in there.
Socialism is not for everyone, or every political system. Leroux and others (Owens) who were part of the collective mentality or cooperative movement, saw socialism as part of the greater good for all people based on the premise that the poor can only be helped when all are involved.
Communism, well it does not really work well unless there is death, destruction and a lot of suppression - Lenin was clear about it, Stalin practiced it.
But when we talk about Fascism, there is a mixed group of emotions that come out. In reality, a lot of people liked Fascism, they like the ideas and the progress that was made in Italy and Germany under Fascist rule. Mussolini was a hero to many non-Italians here, looking at the progressiveness of the political climate during our times of depression as a real solution, even FDR said something to the effect 'we will insititute it here but unlike them, we will make it work'. What I see more today is not the jack booted fascist but the school teacher fascism, and the one person who I would never think that would hit it right on the head, George Carlin made the most prolific comment I have heard since Lewis Black's comments about the Auto Companies failing - carlin said "When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts...Germany lost the Second World War. Fascism won it. Believe me, my friend." This is already happening in our schools, the teachers are shaping the kids not to really think, not to question. There is a really good piece that was written (and I wish I could post the link to it but I can't find it) about how Hitler instituted education reform in Germany in '34 and the real results from those reforms. It is scary to think that it has really happened here.
We as a country seem to be repeating things. 100 years ago we faced similar problems with our political system and the candidates on all levels, coming into the 1912 election we ended up electing one of the most harmful people that ever sat in the WH. 115 years prior we were in a real mess but in reality we were still moving ahead.
Moving back to today's United States, it is just madding. We progress to regress in our political process, our relations with our fellow citizens of different back grounds and races have been strained and more divisive and we are on the brink of not just another election but one that the results will either take us down a very steep slope of dismal failure as a country or we will end up with status quo style of government that we have had for the last 20 years.
Ark, I know you want to get into politics, but I got to say that unless you learn what happened in the past, especially from 1876 to 1940, you may miss a lot of opportunities.
I am re-reading Henry Littlefield's 1964 piece on the Wizard of Oz and the window on the gilded age's political world that the book actually talks about. Beside syncing it to the Dark Side of the Moon, the book actaully opens up a window to a world that shows us our future.
! BTW... I hate Diagnosis Murder!!! 
