Intriquing Research

I've been working on The Scot story lately, trying to finish it up for a competition deadline in a few months. To do so means I need to do research, or in reality, I order my dear hubby to do some research for me. But he's been busy, so I've been doing some research on my own.

The research involves delving into a topic that I haven't gotten into deeply since high school. Mainly because I despise the research subject: Hitler. Hitler's inner circle is a key part of the storyline and has ties to many of The Scot's secrets. I haven't studied World War II in decades, although I did have a class in it in high school where we saw lots and lots of video of Hitler.

I must admit, Hitler was a great orator, like many of our politicians. It is amusing to see the similarities between our current President's rise to power and Hitler, not so much in who they are as people, but rather their constituent's reactions. How both were adored by the youth, how much faith was placed into the hands of one person to return the country to it's former glory, the willingness to follow blinding without question, and even more interesting: the push for the country to be healthier and get into shape. I find it all fascinating and have to wonder what this has to do with The Scot's storyline.

With all of the political campaigning going on, I'm fascinated with how the supporters are reacting. I don't remember such blind adoration when I first was able to vote. I remember seeing some of this when Clinton was running, but not so much with GW was running. It reminds me of a line from Back to the Future, after Doc knows Ronald Regan is the President and he's checking out Marty's camera: "No wonder your president has to be an actor. He's gotta look good on television."

I guess the "rock star" reaction is to be expected as we move to more and more readily available media and videos.  And I have to wonder: how would our Founding Fathers have done in a campaign if they were to run today.