BobHiggins is citing the Nazis as the archetype of the evil state, to illustrate where the US will end up if it goes too far down the current road. To that extent it is somewhat of an abstraction, typical of how the entire complex is treated in general English-language discourse.

You are approaching it as a real entity which left behind a very real and problematic legacy in attitudes, infrastructure, law, biographies, etc., to which people do not always respond as unambiguously as they do to "Nazis=evil".

Presumably, there would have been a legacy to wrestle with, even if one of the assassination attempts had succeeded, or if other countries had responded with force, say, to the militarization of the Ruhr. And we would do well to keep in mind that the current regime will leave behind a toxic legacy when it leaves even if it is prevented from curtailing freedoms further.


The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman