hard to decide between the irrational cults

i like the basic argument of this piece, which associates suspicion of excessive government power with insane irrational apocalyptic cults. surely, in the 1930s, educated, rational persons - people then who were like the readers of the new york times are today - looked at, say, the great war, or the governments of hitler, mussolini, and stalin, and concluded that the world's big problem was insufficient government power, too little state spending, etc. and a bit later, there must have been something that explains how people living in the era of death camps, forced collectivization, and atom bombs could reach "anti-government" conclusions; perhaps they were hallucinating, or were being manipulated by demagogues.