# Are the teabaggers really so dumb as to not know the difference between Nazis and Communists? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312 "2009-09-16T12:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/101 "2009-09-19T18:49:29Z")
> [@Captain\_Awesome](#): > > Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy. My point exactly: It’s a monarchy and so is the UK. But to classify them together is inane. > [@](#): > > I have never heard the UK _ever_ described as a republic by anyone, ever. It acts as one, however. An intelligent classification system ought to make that clear. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/102 "2009-09-19T19:02:39Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > My point exactly: It’s a monarchy and so is the UK. But to classify them together is inane. I don’t see why. I’m a mammal and a hedgehog is a mammal, but I don’t generally forage for snails. > [@Derleth](#): > > It acts as one, however. An intelligent classification system ought to make that clear. Hence the qualifiers. If you felt so inclined, it would make more sense to come up with a single word to account for both constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, rather than corrupt the meaning of a republic. Intelligent or otherwise, it’s not something likely to happen. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/103 "2009-09-19T20:00:48Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > 6- Hitler was pro-choice. (Fact: while Hitler legalized and later mandated abortion for those he deemed “undesirables” he _outlawed_ abortion for German Christians; forcing it on some and denying it to others is about as far from pro-_choice_ as you can get.) Interestingly, the same office, the Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung der Homosexualität und Abtreibung, was responsible for fighting both homosexuality and abortion. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/104 "2009-09-19T20:03:12Z")
> [@Captain\_Awesome](#): > > Hence the qualifiers. If you felt so inclined, it would make more sense to come up with a single word to account for both constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, rather than corrupt the meaning of a republic. Intelligent or otherwise, it’s not something likely to happen. What’s wrong with “parliamentary democracy”? The UK (and Canada, for that matter) have democratically elected parliaments; by my lights that makes them parliamentary democracies. It seems to me that a parliamentary democracy can exist in either a republic or a constitutional monarchy. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/105 "2009-09-19T20:22:58Z")
Nothing is wrong with it. That’s my point. **Derleth** had suggested the UK was a republic, which by most people’s understanding it is not. As you state, the UK is both a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/106 "2009-09-19T20:41:37Z")
> [@Captain\_Awesome](#): > > Nothing is wrong with it. That’s my point. **Derleth** had suggested the UK was a republic, which by most people’s understanding it is not. As you state, the UK is both a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. H.G. Wells, in his _Outline of History,_ referred to the UK of his time as a “crowned republic.” (Quotation marks in the original text, however.) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312/107 "2009-09-19T20:51:41Z")
Either the will of the people, as expressed by ballots, is the determining factor in government, or it is not. At his point in our specie’s progress towards liberation, that’s about the only thing that counts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-teabaggers-really-so-dumb-as-to-not-know-the-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/510312.md?page=5)