Who really lost WWII?

Not to keep harping on the parallels between the current US and the rise of the Nazis in Germany, but I can't seem to stop coming back to them. There must have been a lot of hate for the German people in this country in the 1940s. After all, they had let Hitler come to power. They let him eviscerate the power of their legislative institutions, and concentrate power in the executive. They let their airwaves and newspapers to be filled with propaganda about their glorious leader. They let him use fear and scapegoating and propaganda to drive them to invade neighboring countries, because "they might attack us first". He took away the civil rights of their fellow citizens, arresting them and eventually murdering them. And Hitler eventually forced the US into a war for our own existence.

And yet, in the final analysis, I don't think we can really blame the Germans - not after what we have allowed to happen in this country. After all, the Germans didn't have the advantage of having the example of Nazi Germany to learn from. And they had suffered through almost two decades of crushing economic stagnation. (And, I might add, Hitler was elected). What is our excuse? Haven't we all seen documentary after documentary about how Hitler did it? Didn't we read "1984"? Didn't we see "The Wave"? Didn't we read "Animal Farm"? Don't we all know the danger of blindly following our government, right or wrong? When Congress handed its war-making power over to Bush this fall (a move I think was unconstitutional - how can a branch of government legislate away its constitutional responsibility?), was I the only one who thought of Hitler weakening the Reichstag, of the Roman Emperors declaring the Senate irrelevant, of Grand Moff Tarken announcing the dissolution of the Imperial Senate to Darth Vader?

If the tragedies in our history have to be repeated as farce, do we have to suffer the additional indignity of everyone standing around, acting like we've never seen this kind of thing before, but they are sure it will all work out all right in the end, nothing to see here, surely Dubya has everyone's best interest at heart, move along like good little citizens. After all, Dubya said Baby Jesus was his favorite political philosopher, so we should all stop questioning this war of his where people are being slaughtered.

It has become so blindingly clear that the strength of our country, where it had any claim to being a beacon of freedom before, lay not in our people, but in our leaders, and their willingness to be constrained by the Constitution and not use fear and xenophobia and propaganda. Sure, there have been elements of those things in the past. There was "Remember the Maine!". FDR pulled some moves that were pretty coercive. Johnson pulled the Gulf of Tonkin. Don't even get me started on Nixon. But by and large, at least those guys had a press that would present more than one view (more than the official view, at least). Today, we have none of that, and our leaders have decided to use our fear to push us around like the frightened cattle we are. We cannot see through the rhetoric because we are undereducated. We cannot see through the rhetoric because we are swimming in official republican party propaganda.

When I visited Germany in January of 1991, I was fortunate to stay with a very sweet old lady, who was kind enough to host me and another guy from my college for five weeks. She was very hospitable, didn't speak a word of english, and from the vibe I was picking up from her, was a rather unrepentant former Nazi. Based on the fact that there were still a bunch of people running around Germany (at that time, they were more likely walking around Germany, but you get the picture) who were not convinced that Hitler had been wrong, I don't think we will ever convince the people in our country who have been propagandized that Dim Son is perhaps less wonderful than the Second Coming. Our only hope is to outvote them. I close today with the fervent hope that we will remember the lessons of the past, as every petty thug in this country comes out to suppress and do violence against peace advocates. And finally, here is a quote which is overused but should never be forgotten.

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Hermann Goering, NAZI Luftwaffa chief of staff, sentenced to death at Nuremburg warcrimes trials

Sign of the Times Watch

Watch what you say. Some people are allowed to offend, others are not. Those who are not allowed to offend will be suppressed and intimidated. You know who you are.

Finally, An Explanation Watch

Finally, a cogent explanation on why we have to be in Iraq.

Mission Creep Watch

In this article, we find that the rest of the world can see right through this cretin's motivations. Why can't we?

Turk Watch

The triumph of arrogance over diplomacy.

Good News Watch

MWO is back, with a vengeance, after a short hiatus.

Blog Watch

See The Talking Dog

Humor Watch

Bush issues another ultimatum.

See also The Temple of GW Bush