Way to totally miss my point. I understand that forbidding anti-democratic parties from elections will result in those specific parties not gaining power. I never said any different.
However, it doesn't solve the bigger problem, which is where such parties emerge from already elected parties, whether that emergence is planned or not. The Nazi's rose to power democratically; they never had any public policy which was inherently undemocratic prior to taking office. For any party to announce such a position would be political suicide. Rather, they gained the majority in government, and then systematically went around destroying their remaining political enemies (blaming the Reichstag fire on communists, forcing other parties to endorse Hitler, and murdering them in the Night of the Long Knives).
In short, you cannot easily predict whether a party is going to do this or not. If the Republican party gained a majority in Congress, and then they all decided to pass legislation that effectively made them the only party that could get power, you'd have the same thing.
However, it doesn't solve the bigger problem, which is where such parties emerge from already elected parties, whether that emergence is planned or not. The Nazi's rose to power democratically; they never had any public policy which was inherently undemocratic prior to taking office. For any party to announce such a position would be political suicide. Rather, they gained the majority in government, and then systematically went around destroying their remaining political enemies (blaming the Reichstag fire on communists, forcing other parties to endorse Hitler, and murdering them in the Night of the Long Knives).
In short, you cannot easily predict whether a party is going to do this or not. If the Republican party gained a majority in Congress, and then they all decided to pass legislation that effectively made them the only party that could get power, you'd have the same thing.
