Hello Everyone,
This is one of those articles that puts things in plain perspective and, if nothing else, strongly suggests that we take a good look around us.
When I was real young, living in my father’s house, if he had something he thought I should know about, he would say, “Hey, pay attention!” So I pass on the same thought, pay attention here!
Godspeed,
Gill Rapoza
Veritas Vos Liberabit
Incremental Steps to Dictatorship
Teresa Morris
February 10, 2010
“Giving leaders enough power to create ‘social justice’ is giving them enough power to destroy all justice, all freedom, and all human dignity.” (Thomas Sowell )
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” (Edmund Burke)
“If you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods... you shall surely perish.” (Deut. 8:19)
History shows us that as free nations become complacent, they become vulnerable to manipulation. Most dictatorships rise gradually—a step at a time. Smooth talking politicians make each incremental step seem reasonable, because the masses are blind to the tides of change. The wisdom of Wendell Phillips fades away: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Austria illustrates the power of gradualism. In 1933, it was a free nation. In 1934, its government began to centralize its power and welcome the influence of Nazi sympathizers. By 1938, it had become a Nazi dictatorship .
The downward slide began with one crisis after another. A third of the people were out of work, inflation rose to 25%, and political turmoil caused civil unrest. People longed for a leader to rescue them. Adolf Hitler campaigned in Austria, promising to solve their problems if they were annexed to Germany. A persuasive speaker, he gave them hope and won their hearts. The Austrian people voted him in.[1]
Why? How could the Austrians be so blind? The answer is simple: they faced hard times, so they chose to believe Hitler’s promises. They didn’t see him as we do—brutal, arrogant, narcissistic and ruthlessly ambitious. That image came later, when it was too late to escape his grasp. In the beginning, Hitler appeared as a caring, charismatic, captivating visionary.[2] His words brought hope of prosperity, and his public image was intentionally shaped with pictures of his smiles, benevolent deeds and warm encounters with children and babies.[3]
After the annexation, new government jobs were created and order was restored. The people were encouraged and hopeful, and—for a short while—the nation prospered. Then it crashed. This transformation is described by Kitty Werthmann:[4]
“I lived in Austria under Adolf Hitler’s regime for seven years. Dictatorship did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process starting with national identification cards, which we had to carry with us at all times.... Gun registration followed, with a lot of talk about gun safety and hunting accidents.... Freedom of speech was the next target.... With a large network of informers, people were afraid to say anything political, even in their own homes.”
She tells of other changes, including nationalization of education; indoctrination of children; socialized medicine; government control of businesses; and a lack of respect for human life. Before the annexation, most Austrian mothers stayed at home to take care of their children. Under Nazi rule, both parents had to work, so the children were sent to government-run daycare centers.
Gun control came in two stages. First there was gun registration, and then the people were required to give up their guns. Once the people were unarmed, they had no way of defending themselves against the Nazis. After that, political correctness replaced freedom of speech; taxes were increased to eighty percent (i.e., four fifths of income); the nation was filled with informers; anybody who spoke against the government was arrested; and the people lived in constant fear.
In Austria, the transformation from freedom to dictatorship was incremental. No nation is immune to such things, including the United States. In fact, America seems to be following some of the same incremental stops toward totalitarianism.
National Identification Cards
In 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act. This, in effect, would turn drivers’ licenses into a national ID card. However, the law is controversial, and 17 states have passed legislation or resolutions opposing compliance with it. Congress is considering repealing the law. Even if they do, this was an attempt to impose a national ID, and there could be other attempts in the future.[5]
Nationalizing Education and Indoctrinating Young Children
Kitty Werthmann told us how Hitler nationalized the education system. Christian symbols were removed and prayer was banned. Through their government-run child care program, the Nazis would indoctrinate the children with politically correct ideology and absolute loyalty to Hitler. Hitler worship became part of the new structure. The daycare workers were trained in Marxist psychology, not motherly love, for Hitler was fascinated with communist mind-control.
Children idolized Hitler and sang his praises. Some American children have been taught to do the same for Obama. (See the video “Barack Obama Kids and Hitler Youth Sing for their Leader.”)
America is also a nation where prayer is no longer allowed in school, and daycare is common. Obama is centralizing the public schools. His administration is completing a process begun in the nineties during the first Bush administration. A national curriculum with national standards, national tests, and a national database is fast becoming a reality. The goal is to provide “cradle-to-career education for all of America’s children.” The federal government is encouraging the states to provide children with “early learning experiences from birth through kindergarten entry.”[6]
By imposing government education at such a young age, this un-American system exposes Christian children to the worldviews of secular humanism, neo-paganism, and countless other beliefs that clash with home-taught values. It subjects them to anti-Christian peer pressure, and to teachers determined to undermine their faith. No wonder children raised in Christian homes from coast to coast are fast rejecting our God and His ways. Meanwhile churches and youth leaders are bending backwards to conform to the new values and wants of our youth.
Government schools and the judicial system work hand-in-hand to undermine the faith of Christian children. Take Amanda, a ten-year-old Christian homeschooler. She is “well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level.” Her homeschool curriculum meets all state standards. Yet, a judge has ordered her to attend public school because of her “vigorous defense of her religious beliefs.” The judge wants her to consider “different points of view at a time when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief.” In other words, he is forcing her into government education in order to confront her Christian faith.[7]
Government Control of Health Care and Businesses
Obama’s massive health care bill was an attempt to establish government control of health care. Its regulation would have a devastating effect on the medical profession. Why would bright students invest in medical school when the pay would be minimal and medical “murder” would be mandated? My foot doctor told me, “Obama wants to make me retire early.” My general practitioner told me, “Let me take care of you while I still can.”
The government wields increasing control over businesses, both directly and through regulations. Obama’s destructive control over Chrysler has been called “another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government.” As a result, many car dealerships were closed.[8] According to an attorney who represents some of those dealers, Chrysler closed them because it was “under enormous pressure from the President’s automotive task force.”[9]
Treating People Like Livestock
Farmers can kill animals that are born sickly or become too old to be productive. Likewise, Hitler talked about getting rid of “useless eaters.” In modern America, some “experts” want to dispose of people with a poor “quality of life.”
Kitty Werthmann told how the Nazis killed the mentally retarded people in her village. That was a result of Hitler’s eugenics program. Following the unconscionable Darwinian ideals of an evolving, purified human race, he wanted to produce a Master Race of strong, intelligent Aryans. People he considered to be inferior (including Jews and the mentally retarded) had to be eliminated.[10]
Because of the Holocaust, eugenics was discredited. However, euthanasia—voluntary and involuntary—is spreading. Voluntary euthanasia is a form of suicide, where patients choose to die—usually with a physician’s help. This is legal in Oregon and Washington.[11]
Involuntary euthanasia is based on new, convenient medical standards. In Holland, where thousands of patients have been killed against their will, some elderly people are afraid to go to the hospital.[12] A concerned Belgian citizen warned Western nations to guard themselves against “the encroaching euthanasia agenda.”[13]
An influential bioethicist in the Obama administration actively promotes health care rationing.[14] If Obama’s health care bill had become law, it would have included “death panels” with authority to deny life-saving medical care.[15] Once such care has been denied, it becomes unavailable even to patients who would pay the cost themselves.
Gun Control
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has a long record of supporting gun control. In a 2008 brief to the Supreme Court, Holder claimed that the Second Amendment does not pose any obstacle to banning guns.[16]
Obama has initiated a back-door approach to gun control by means of an international treaty known as CIFTA. President Clinton signed this treaty in 1997 but the Senate refused to ratify it. Now President Obama is promoting it. According to John Bolton (former U.S. representative of the United Nations):
“The Obama administration is trying to act as though this is really just a treaty about trade between nations, but there’s no doubt—as was the case over a decade ago—that the real agenda is the control of domestic arms.”[17]
Enforcing Political Correctness
President Obama has co-sponsored a United Nations resolution that calls on countries to criminalize “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.” Since the President of the United States is backing the resolution, then Americans will be expected to abide by it. As a result, this U.N. resolution would take priority over our constitutional right to free speech. In addition, as Robert Spencer said:
“‘Incitement’ and ‘hatred’ are in the eye of the beholder—or more precisely, in the eye of those who make such determinations. The powerful can decide to silence the powerless by classifying their views as ‘hate speech.’”[18]
In 2008, a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warned that the FCC is likely to implement regulations that will give the federal government control over the content of radio, TV, and the Internet.[19].
In 2009, a high-ranking official in the FCC called for a “confrontational movement” to increase federal control of the media.[20] He openly expressed admiration for Hugo Chavez’ efforts to stifle criticism by seizing control of Venezuela’s media.[21]
Informers
In 2002, the federal government attempted to recruit four percent of the population as informers. These spies were to include people with access to homes and businesses, such as mailmen, meter readers, cable installers, and telephone repairmen.[22] After a public outcry, this plan was abandoned. However, the attempt to have informants throughout the country is not new. It has continued in various ways, for years.[23]
As part of President Clinton’s war on “hate crimes,” the Justice Department had a website that encouraged children to report relatives who made a “derogatory comment.”[24] Now that Congress has passed the “Hate Crimes” bill, we need to be alert to similar attempts to turn children into informers.
The Ability to Arrest People at Will
The President can legally declare a state of national emergency on his own authority without the approval of Congress. There is no legal accountability. Once a national emergency has been declared, the President can “take over all government functions” and “direct all private sector activities” until he declares that the national emergency is over.[25]
A Master Arrest Warrant enables the U.S. Attorney General to have people arrested if he personally considers them to be “dangerous to the public peace and safety.” He can keep these people incarcerated indefinitely without legal accountability.[26]
According to a U.S. Congressman, former Rep. Henry Gonzalez, there are detention camps in America. He said that, in the name of stopping terrorism, the President could evoke the military and arrest American citizens and put them in these camps.[27]
If American troops are unwilling or unable to carry out such arrests, then the President can use Canadian troops, thanks to a military agreement called the Civil Assistance Plan.[28] The President can also use troops from the United Nations.[29]
Right now, there is a bill in Congress (H.R. 645) that requires the Department of Homeland Security to establish at least six more detention camps on military installations. It also appears to further expand the president’s emergency power.[30] Jerome Corsi observes:
“We are talking about a slippery slope: camps being prepared to be used in emergencies can easily be used to imprison dissenters.”[31]
Our Response as Christians
The Bible tells us to love our enemies, to warn all who will listen, and to trust Him—no matter what happens. It says:
“Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day...” Acts 20:31
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
If we are willing to obey Jesus and love even our enemies, then God will give us the grace to do it. And if we aren’t willing, then we can ask Him to change our hearts and make us willing. With God’s grace, we can forgive and love. His grace is sufficient, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
1. “Socialism vs. Freedom.” (Video of a talk by Kitty Werthmann) (For more information by her, see Note 4.) http://www.sdfamily.org/Kitty+Wetrthmann
2. “Adolf Hitler and Charismatic Leadership.” http://eeuropeanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/adolf_hitler_and_charmismatic_leadership
3. Hitler with a little girl. http://www.fpp.co.uk/Hitler/images/children/Inge_Terboven_on_Hitler.jpg
Hitler with a baby. http://www.golivewire.com/forums/img.cgi?i=62823
4. “Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away: Sobering Steps from Freedom to Fascism.” (Kitty Werthmann) (For more information by her, see Note 1.) http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/fascism.htm
5. “National ID: Another Step to Totalitarianism.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=45536
6. “Cradle-to-Career Plan by Obama and Duncan.” http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/garner/1-cradle-to-grave.htm
7. “Court Orders Christian Child into Government Education: 10-Year-Old’s ‘Vigorous’ Defense of Her Faith Condemned by Judge.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=108084
8. “Chrysler Files to Seek Bankruptcy Protection.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/business/01auto.html
9. “Plan to Ax Dealers Not Chrysler’s Decision.” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2632731920090526
10. “Eugenics and the Nazis—the California Connection.” http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/offSiteArchive/www.sfgate.com
11. “5 People Die under New Washington Physician-Assisted Suicide Law.” http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/07/06/prsc0706.htm”
12. Have Researched Euthanasia Speak Out.” http://www.hospicepatients.org/euth-experts-speak.html
13.”‘The Weekend Cleanup’: The Gruesome Aftermath of Legalized Euthanasia in Belgium.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09060109.html
14. “Obama’s Health Rationer-in-Chief: White House Health-Care Adviser Ezekiel Emanuel Blames the Hippocratic Oath for the ‘Overuse’ of Medical Care.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574374463280098676.html
15. “Palin Firestorm Brings Fresh Scrutiny to ObamaCare ‘Death Panels.’” http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/aug/09081109.html
16. “Eric Holder: Gun Grabber.” http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=33694
17. “Obama, the U.N., and the Right to Bear Arms.” http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/18882
18. “Obama Declares War on Free Speech” http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=33869
19. “FCC Commissioner: Return of Fairness Doctrine Could Control Web Content.” http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080812160747.aspx
20. “Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC ‘Diversity’ Chief Calls for ‘Confrontational Movement’ to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications.” http://cnsnews.com/news/article/53055
21. “FCC ‘Diversity’ Czar on Chavez’s Venezuela: ‘Incredible... Democratic Revolution.’” (This article includes a video of Mark Lloyd’s statement.) http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2009/08/28/video-fcc-diversity-czar-chavezs-venezuela-incredible-democratic-revol
22. “US Planning to Recruit One in 24 Americans as Citizen Spies.” http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141232.html
23. “Your Friendly Community Spies.” http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/2002/spy.html
24. “The War on Hate Bans Christian Values.” http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/cwhbcv3-98.html
25. “Bush Makes Power Grab.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=41728
26. “Hidden Threats—Part I.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=6111
27. “Detention Camps on American Soil.” http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=400
28. “North American Army Created without OK by Congress: U.S., Canada Ink Deal to Fight Domestic Emergencies.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=57228
29. “A UN Militia in Your Community?” http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/rapid-reaction99.htm
30. “Bill Creates Detention Camps in U.S. for ‘Emergencies’: Sweeping, Undefined Purpose Raises Worries about Military Police State.” http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=87757
31. “Is the US Government Preparing to Send Dissenters to Prison Camps?” http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news123.htm
See also Kitty Werthmann (Freedom to Fascism) and Internment Camps, Preventive Detention? and Community Spies, Home
Gill Rapoza
Veritas Vos Liberabit
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