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The book I am reading currently is ‘When Time Stopped” by Ariana Neumann. The book is a memoir by a daughter about the life of her Jewish father and his family in the 1930’s and 1940’s in Czechoslovakia. The parallels between the Nazi actions leading to World War II and the Radical Republicans now can not be missed.
The Nazis in the 1930’s and 1940’s were particularly effective in their campaign to dehumanize Jews, fragment society and crush resistance to their ideology.
The Nazis passed laws forbidding Jews from attending schools and universities. Jews were only allowed in restaurants with separate Jewish areas. They were excluded from swimming pools, parks, and cinemas. They had to surrender their driver’s licenses and eventually, their cars and bicycles, radios, cameras, stamp collections, sewing machines, umbrellas, and pets. In the 40’s Jewish businesses were taken over by German trustees who held legal ownership of the companies.
The Radical Republicans have already embarked on a similar journey passing laws that dehumanize members of the LGBTQ+ community with bathroom laws, sports participation laws, prohibition of gender discussions in school classrooms, and laws making medical procedures for transitioning people a criminal offense. The Radical Republicans are trying to dehumanize people of color by passing laws that do not allow the teaching of nonwhite supremist approved materials in public schools and prohibit black people from protesting. These same people are trying to eliminate “quotas” that create diversity in institutions of higher education to keep minorities out of the schools. Voting laws targeting minority communities have been passed in Republican states to lock them out of the democratic process. Anti-abortion laws shuffle women into a lesser human category where they are no longer in control of their own medical decisions. More extreme laws against equal and fair treatment for all citizens will soon follow.
Nazis pitted Aryan people against Jews, Gypsies, Communists, and foreigners. The Nazis shouted out misinformation and disinformation about the Jews, especially being the cause of all the German troubles. And when this wasn’t enough divisiveness, they pitted neighbors against neighbors. Persons perceived to not follow Nazi ideology where arrested and executed.
The Radical Republicans are pitting Republicans against Democrats, whites against minorities, Republicans against the LGBTQ+ community, Maga Republicans against traditional Republicans and Evangelical Christians against everyone not an Evangelical Christian. Already they have passed laws pitting neighbor against neighbor. Arrests and executions will soon follow.
Nazis crushed resistance to their ideology with threats, confiscation of property and violence. They tried to eliminate other voices by burning books.
Radical Republicans are using legislation to punish corporations and government entities that resist the radical governance of these authoritarian leaders. Radical Republicans do not condemn racially motivated mass shootings because this is another way to pit whites against blacks and punish non-whites who deserve to be eliminated. To create the ‘white’ world these Radical Republicans crave they are banning books. Burning them will soon follow.
Today’s Radical Republicans are following the German Nazi play book to grab power for themselves. These vile individuals pass misinformation and disinformation to a pliable following to consolidate their power. These power-hungry politicians tell us they are protecting our individual rights while they are actually removing individual rights. They tell us they have the answer to our troubles while they move to increase our troubles. When one of these individuals spews out a simple answer to our complicated existence know they are lying to you. For instance, the proposed resolution that ‘A woman is a woman, and a man is a man.’ which has no basis in biology is trying to answer a complicated question with a simple response. The truth is the human being is not a simple either or. Human beings are a complicated collection of chromosomes coming together in ways we cannot count. These Radical Republicans also try to say anything other than ‘A woman is a woman, and a man is a man.’ goes against God’s plan. Again, gender isn’t that simple since these radicals also believe God is the creator of all things. If God created LGBTQ+ members how can Radical Republicans go against God’s plan? Yes, simple answers are not the solution to life’s complicated issues.
As Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in “Letter to a Young Poet” in 1903, “Things are not as easy to understand or express as we are mostly led to believe; most of what happens cannot be put into words and takes place in a realm which no word has ever entered.”
Life is not simple. There is no worldwide cabal trying to take away your rights. The 2020 election was not stolen. There is no liberal pedophilia organization. There is no white replacement plan. These are simply untruths Radical Republicans espouse to create anger and fragment society making it easier for them to gain total control.
I hope we stop this dangerous movement at the voting box in November when we kick out the Republicans and vote in the Democrats. I do not say this because the Democrats are a fabulous collection of politicians. I say this because the Democrats still cherish democracy. The Radical Republicans are only interested in replacing democracy with a theocracy.
Apathy will kill America. I hope you vote in November for folks who will defend democracy against those tearing it apart.
See you next time.