Once, in a heated family political "discussion," my sister asked, "What makes you think that?"
I answered, "History tells me."
And she is still alive and uninjured even though she said, "That is the stupidest thing I ever heard." A little joke in a very serious matter.
I stand by history as my source. Two examples of historical disasters keep coming to mind as I watch the incumbent appealing to our worst instincts, enabling resentments, and laying blame on groups that are already struggling in the current health and economic sprial. See if any of the following sounds like our current situation to you (red emphasis is mine).
Through the 1920s, [Adolf] Hitler gave speech after speech in which he stated that unemployment, rampant inflation, hunger and economic stagnation in postwar Germany would continue until there was a total revolution in German life. Most problems could be solved, he explained, if communists and Jews were driven from the nation. His fiery speeches swelled the ranks of the Nazi Party, especially among young, economically disadvantaged Germans.
---History.com, 11/9/2009, "The Nazi Party"
The numerous ethnic groups that comprised Yugoslavia held historical animosities towards each other stretching back in some cases hundreds of years. Yet these animosities were put aside after World War Two and under Tito's grip the nation achieved internal peace. They were not however forgotten and when nationalist politicians needed to create a power base, they merely had to promote nationalist symbols and myths, and encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities. This created a deadly snowball affect [sic] that proved unstoppable.
by James Graham, "The Violent Breakup of Yugoslavia," Onthisday.com
Even his supporters agree that our current President uses chaos and division as his management style, and did when he was running his own business, instead of yours and mine. How are we supposed to come together as a nation when he continually points up grievances?
His stance on immigration echoes Germany's xenophobia in the 30's. Instead of an administration that will work on an equitable immigration process that will allow moving toward citizenship, he demonizes those seeking entry, in order to appeal to a group that feel their economic issues would be solved if all immigrants were deported. (Or shot at the border as suggested privately by one of the president's supporters in Florida.)
In Yugoslavia, people that had lived in relative peace for 50 years, became mortal enemies with their neighbors, in the matter of a few years, with murder and ethnic conflict as a means of gaining power.
The comparisons are clear to me, and in this case it is the similarities that are important, not the differences. Just like the current President, Hitler was elected by a legal majority before he completely took over all power, outlawing all other political parties, and began his reign of terror. The current President of the United States is barely constrained by the Constitution now. I don't want to imagine how he will change our lives if we give him another four years.
Vote. Please vote. And vote against Donald Trump.
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