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GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Arespectedpoliticalanalystiswritingabouta certain presidential candidate. See if you can identify the candidate. "Heusedsimple,straightfor- ward language that ordinary people could understand, short sentences, powerful emotive slo- gans." Starting to sound familiar, right? "There were no qualifications in what he said. Everything was absolute, uncompromising, ir- revocable, undeviating, unalter- able, final. He seemed to express (the voters') deepest fears and desires. Increasingly, too, he ex- uded self-confidence, aggres- sion, belief in (his) ultimate tri- umph, (with) a fervor that was hard for less demagogic politi- cians to emulate. (He) managed to project an image of strong, decisive action, dynamism, en- ergy." It sure sounds like Donald Trump, America's top 2015 phe- nomenon. His whole pitch, after all, is that we're a bunch of los- ers and he's an absolute winner, strong, decisive, dynamic and high-energy. Unfortunately, those quotes refer to German presidential candidate Adolf Hitler. For the record, I am not sug- gesting that Trump is Hitler. But right now, as we prepare for nearly a year of balloting, we're in danger of embracing a very American version of au- tocracy. Our kind of autocrat doesn't need a jackboot army of street thugs; all he needs is an instinctive genius for exploiting rampant discontent (especially within the white downscale Re- publican electorate), and a sil- ver tongue that is catnip for the ubiquitous insatiable media. Those quotes come from Richard J. Evans, the distin- guished British historian and author of "The Coming of the Third Reich." Some of the pas- sages are downright creepy, be- cause they resonate so disturb- ingly. German voters in the early '30s were fed up with con- ventional politics as usual — they viewed the government as gridlocked and ineffectual — and many were drawn to Hit- ler because he "advertised (his) opposition to conventional pol- itics." The voters, writes Evans, "were not really looking for any- thing concrete (from Hitler). They were, instead, protesting against the Weimar Republic." In addition, "many of them, particularly in rural areas, small towns, culturally conser- vative families...may have been registering their alienation from the cultural and political mo- dernity for which the Republic stood." Hitler was often vague about exactly what he wanted to do — he preferred "simple slogans" and "frenetic, manic activity" — and "to a large ex- tent this allowed people to read into (him) what they wanted to and edit out anything they might disturbing." Which is one reason why Trump gets away with disgorging his garbage — because his follow- ers either focus on the stuff they like and edit out the garbage; or they endorse the garbage. All of which sounds eerily fa- miliar. Evans writes that Hit- ler's political opponents "still found it impossible to take (his) extremist rhetoric and bully- ing tactics...as anything other than evidence of (his) inevita- ble political marginality. (Hitler) did not confirm to the accepted rules of politics, so (he) could not expect to be successful." But what an aspiring auto- crat needs most is a climate of despair, something visceral to exploit. And what we have to- day, particularly within a subset of the Republican electorate, is fear and anger and a yearning to lash out. These voters are ter- rified that America is changing for the worst, and that they're being left behind, culturally and economically. Trump speaks to those terrors ("we don't win anymore") — the same kind of terrors that gripped Hitler's vot- ers, according to Evans: "Money, income, financial so- lidity, economic order, regular- ity and predictability...now all this seemed to have been swept away....It added to a feeling in the more conservative sections of the population of a world turned upside down." Which is why Trump suf- fers no penalty for debas- ing Muslims, women, journal- ists, blacks, Asians, and the dis- abled. Thirty five percent of the Republican electorate a sizable share if all his saner foes are divvying the rest of the pie. But do we really want to flirt with autocracy? Are we not bet- ter than our basest instincts? The voting begins on Feb. 1. The choice is ours. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/ WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. Dick Polman The temptation of Donald Trump Cartoonist's take You might not have given much thought to what Ameri- ca's Presidents have done and do for Christmas. The current oc- cupant of the of- fice understand- ably gets the most attention in any given year— Obama's Hawai- ian trips have be- come his norm. Someone took a look back at the chosen locales for past presidential sojourns on the 25th of December. I recall a fairly consistent pattern, for those of both parties, of gath- ering together their respec- tive families for the day. Re- cent presidents, up to George W. Bush, usually spent the day either at the White House or Camp David, the presidential retreat. Wikipedia provides a his- tory and photos going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt's ini- tial conversion of a Naval and Marine installation, about 62 miles outside of Washing- ton near Maryland's northern border, "to a presidential re- treat and renamed it 'Shan- gri-La' (for the fictional Hi- malayan paradise). Camp Da- vid received its present name from Dwight D. Eisenhower, in honor of his father and grand- son, both named David." As with Fort Knox, America's gold repository, it is not found on maps of any kind. Here's the thing: From Carter to Reagan to Bush 41 to Clinton and through George Bush's terms, the selection of a Christmas location for the President's family, as well as the many staff and security attendant thereto, has pre- dominantly, with one or two exceptions, benefited those hundreds of staff and their families. An interesting snippet of an interview with then-candidate Barack Obama showed up in August of 2014, under Aaron Bandler's byline at The Daily Caller (dailycaller.com). "Wea- sel Zippers has revived an old video of Barack Obama prom- ising not to take vacations if he were elected president. "The video features then- Sen. Obama discussing his book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' with New York Times colum- nist Bob Herbert in 2008. The future president was talk- ing about how those running for president need to be pre- pared to 'give their life to it'… The bargain that any president strikes with [voters] is, you give me this office and in turn my…need for sleep, family life, vacation, leisure is gone.'" It seems to this writer that that "bargain" had an expiration date early on in Obama's first term, when it came to his own family's Christmases. According to journalist Jo- seph Curl, who previously covered the White House for the Washington Times, for- mer President George W. Bush went on Christmas vacation in a way that stands in direct contrast to President Barack Obama. "Here's the thing: in December, we never left Wash- ington, D.C., until the day af- ter Christmas. Never. Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, would al- ways depart the White House a few days before the holiday and hunker down at Camp Da- vid," Curl wrote in a 2013 col- umn. After a few years, curiosity finally got to the reporter and he asked a low-level adminis- tration official why. "I still re- member what she said," Curl wrote. "So all of us can be with our families on Christmas." "Who was 'us'? Hundreds and hundreds of people, that's who. Sure, the reporters who covered the president, but also dozens and dozens on his staff, 100 Secret Service agents, maybe more, and all of those city cops required whenever the president's on the move in D.C.," Curl added in his col- umn. "For me, that one-day delay was huge. My kids were 6 and 8 years old when Mr. Bush took office. When he went home to Prairie Chapel that last time in 2009, my girl was driv- ing, the boy was 6 foot 1. But in the meantime, I was home for eight Christmas mornings, playing Santa, stoking the fire, mixing up hot chocolates. That was President Bush. And ev- ery year for the past five, I've thought about what that meant to me." Even for the day-af- ter trip to Waco, Texas, a press plane was available with a nominal charge of $100 for re- porters' family members. "So sometimes, the family went along. For the kids, it was an adventure; for me, we were all together." However, things changed when Obama took office. "No more press plane. Reporters are on their own — so taking the family is, say, $1000 a pop. Not likely. And this president would never delay his trip to his island getaway. He's off ev- ery year well before Christ- mas. Hundreds and hundreds head off with him, leaving family behind," Curl wrote. "No Christmas at home," he added. "Instead, the Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort. Nice, but not exactly home." Personally, I don't begrudge any president and their fam- ily time to escape the White House. The Beltway news me- dia have, as I recall, consis- tently reserved their faux crit- icism for Republican presi- dents and their getaways. From Eisenhower's golf courses, to Nixon's and Reagan's Califor- nia homes, to Bush's Texas ranch—Democrats with bylines have sneered at the Republi- cans and issued nary a peep over Democrats. Let's not kid ourselves, how- ever, when it comes to the pin- nacle holiday for most peo- ple and their families: Christ- mas. Most recent presidents have acted with care and con- sideration for the multitude of attendants and public ser- vants, their lives and families; not Barack Obama. God for- bid he should adjust his hol- iday plans for the benefit of those laboring and serving be- low him on that day. Look up "Why George W. Bush never left DC until the day after Christmas." Curl's column was appro- priately titled, "At Christmas time, George W. Bush was Santa, Obama is Scrooge." Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. The way I see it Presidents and their Christmas habits All he needs is an instinctive genius for exploiting rampant discontent (especially within the white downscale Republican electorate), and a silver tongue that is catnip for the ubiquitous insatiable media. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. This is the last year the court will be in the building. Many thanks to the Maintenance Department for all the Christmas displays, Russ, Tom, Bill, Matt and Glen. Carol Sharek: On the Christmas display at the Tehama County Courthouse So, shall we make sure they do not get out for a long, long time? Where is the court system when we need it? They get caught again and again, and keep getting out. Bring chain gangs back. Paul Mennick: On the arrest of two Shasta County residents following a pursuit Don Polson StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 29, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6