LaVerle turned to me one evening recently and said: “I believe we already have a dictatorship.”
She said what I have been reluctant to even think. If we can believe the election results, a majority of the American people who bothered to register and vote elected Barack Obama to a second 4-year term as president of the United States. How could that have happened in view of his actions during the first four- year term?
I really don’t want to acknowledge that a large segment of the American population are gullible, ignorant and stupid, although I have been writing for more than 20-years about the intentional dumbing-down of students in government schools and the brainwashing of students by Marxist professors in Universities.
I find it especially painful to acknowledge that our patriots for more than 200 years have died in vain and that the warnings of our founders are being ignored. It is most disturbing that government, business and church leaders are allowing their values and ethics to be compromised in order to “partner” with the regime in power against the Constitution of the United States and the people of the republic.
There is a frightening parallel between our current events and the factual history of Germany in the1930s. In part, my reluctance to come to grips with this reality comes from experiences in post-war Bremerhaven, Germany, 55 years ago.
As a young U. S. Army Lieutenant, I was privileged to supervise almost 50 German citizens working for the U. S. Army in the northern Germany Port City. Although they had lost virtually all of their worldly possessions during the terrible war that had ended just 12 years earlier, and were occupied in that area by the British, they were proud, intelligent, well-educated and brutally honest when expressing opinions. I found most of them to be more knowledgeable of American History than was I at the time.
Rudy Schmidt had been a Sergeant Major in the German Army and was captured by U. S. troops in France. He spent the remainder of the war in Southern California as a POW working as an electrician. “Those were the best years of my life,” Rudy informed me frequently. He spoke perfect English with only a slight accent.
I was puzzled regarding how such people could end up with Adolph Hitler as their leader and brutal dictator. This led to many discussions. I was surprised to learn that in the beginning, they chose him. Their country was in financial ruin with debts from World War I and many other problems. Hitler arrived on the scene promising everything they ever wanted and hoped for. He had a charismatic personality that served to charm the youth and especially young women.
He organized a group of thugs called the “Brown Shirts” to do his dirty work. Once in full control of the government, he rewarded his supporters and punished his opponents. He seized control of health care, the media, forged partnerships with the executives of big business, education and the church. When problems surfaced, he blamed them on the Jews. He rewarded blond, blue-eyed Germans and pledged they would become the “master race.” You know the end of the story. He destroyed all he promised to save.
“How could you let this happen?” I asked Rudy and many others.
“It was not our intentions. Hitler was so appealing. Everyone wanted to give him a chance. He was just what we needed for an economic crisis and a demoralized population. Before we knew it, he was doing things we could not support. Peers castigated anyone who spoke out against Hitler. If they persisted, they were drafted and sent to the front lines or sent to a work camp and never heard from again. Older people were used in medical experiments. We were duped. Once we realized what was happening, it was too late. We lost everything and millions lost their lives. The only winners were those, like me, who were captured by Americans early in the war.”
“I don’t think that could ever happen in the United States, Rudy. We have well-educated citizens, a free press, many checks and balances in our Constitution. It will never happen to us,” I insisted.
“We didn’t think it could happen to us either,” Rudy concluded.
Sorry Rudy, I was wrong. We learned nothing from your tragic experience.
