What are the chances of another Hitler appearing on the contemporary world scene?

It probably depends on what we mean by “another Hitler.”

It seems improbable that another toothbrush-mustachioed proclaimer of Aryan supremacy and mass murderer of Jews would be embraced by contemporary Germans.  But how about another demagogue someplace else in the world, inflaming the public with all manner of self-serving claptrap, with potentially disastrous consequences for people far beyond his own country?

The world is already full of candidates.   The only real way to stop them is to reduce the fertility of the breeding grounds.

In an environment where people trust their intelligentsia, debunking the rhetoric of demagogues is an ongoing and natural activity that doesn't require much special exertion.

The task becomes considerably more difficult, though, when there is a lack of connection on matters of basic values.

Today, a yawning chasm divides Americans' worldviews.

“I Want to Believe,” the motto on the poster in agent Fox Mulder’s office in the old X-Files TV show, appears to encapsulate the overall disposition of many mainstream  Americans, for better as well as for worse.  People in this group strongly want to believe in God, in country, in families, and in traditional values of all types.  But the solid strength of this fundamentally positive inclination can also lead to gullibility, manipulability, and support for cynical charlatans.

“I Want to Disbelieve”  seems to sum up the countervailing attitude of many contemporary American artists and intellectuals.  This is a useful and necessary position, to the extent that it maintains the openness of all forms of knowledge and insight to constant fresh,  rigorous exploration.  But to the extent that it is merely reflective of negative personal attitudes toward the kinds of people who typically believe in God, country, families, and traditional values of all sorts, it not only impedes inquiry (in the manner that all prejudices do),  it also renders suspect in the eyes of more traditional Americans virtually everything else the artist or intellectual has to say—no matter how objectively valid, or how urgently in need of saying, this may be.