Perhaps he is trying to draw a parallel between the sentimental
visions of romantic-era thinkers, who dreamed of a perfect world either
imagined or long-past, and the carnage which followed soon after when
political forces tried to bring this perfect world into being by force. He
keeps harping on the connection between the Weimar Republic and the Third
Reich, but I think one could also find similar processes at work in the
Russian Revolution, and perhaps even in some trends in the history of the
United States.
-- Duncan Vinson - University of the South - Sewanee, Tenn., USA http://www.sewanee.edu/vinsold0/top.html - Sewanee is not a river. Prevent forest fires: support strip mining.