Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
They May Be Coming for You
This morning I woke up in a state of—what would I call it—uneasiness? I’ve been reading the posts from Ricochet members, and couldn’t put my finger on my reaction to the frightening invasion of Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago. Many people compared the actions of the FBI to the tyranny of third-world countries. But that parallel didn’t quite work for me. And then it dawned on me.
Our experience may be mirroring the actions of the Nazis in Germany.
I know there are people who become quite upset when they see comparisons to Nazi Germany, and I can appreciate their distress. In no way do I want to liken 12 million people exterminated with the difficulties we are experiencing in this country. At the same time, where should I go to try to point out parallels to the lawlessness and tyranny that we are experiencing here? So I apologize in advance to those who are offended, and hope that you will know that my observations are sincere and heartfelt.
Think about it: the conditions are riper than ever for someone to “take control.” Inflation gets worse by the day as people struggle to find ways to stretch their dollars. People have become more dependent than ever on the government. Lawlessness reigns on the borders. Businesses were burned and destroyed last summer, and now people are just smashing and grabbing their way through jewelry stores and elite retailers. Rogue prosecutors refuse to prosecute criminals, even when they have violated the law multiple times.
The agencies that we had relied on for so many years demonstrate over and over again their disdain for the rule of law and for the people of this country. If you are not in lockstep (yes, I intended to use that word) with the Democrats, you are to be not only discounted but tossed aside. Your word does not count. Your expectations for a free society don’t count. And your vote does not count.
They want to take our guns away, too. New laws show up regularly that are intended to compromise our second amendment rights. The most unlikely government agencies are purchasing massive amounts of arms and ammunition.
The military has sacrificed preparedness for its woke agenda. Yet we are supposed to take them seriously when they criticize China or Russia.
When we speak of Nazi Germany, we are speaking about the Jews, right? But don’t forget that those people the Nazis labeled as “different,” who didn’t fit the Aryan idea of perfection or showed resistance to their goals, were put into camps. Those identified as mentally ill (were they?) dissidents, educators, or had even a drop of Jewish blood, were condemned. In this country, what if you are a Republican or Conservative? Or were at one time? Or have left the enclave of the Left? What then?
There are many more comparisons that would work in this context, many more than I am willing to face on this Tuesday. Maybe you have the ability or inclination to identify them. It might be very important for us to take the time for this exercise, to be ready. Because soon—
They may be coming for you.
Published in Culture
May?
They are.
If you own guns, you will have your own personal IRS agent.
. . . and 86,999 to back him up. . .
I just heard Alan Dershowitz on Glenn Beck, and he was outraged at the raid at Mar-a-Lago. He compared the action to the lack of actions against Hillary and others on the Left. Impossible to comprehend. They could have simply issued a subpoena rather than a warrant.
I don’t think the comparison is not the 3rd Reich per se, but any totalitarian (as opposed to authoritarian) society. I actually think the DDR (a.k.a. East Germany) is their goal. But they’ll “settle” for the USSR, the Warsaw Pact countries, Maoist China, etc.
Good point. I guess, as a Jew, that’s where my mind went. It felt too close to home.
That’s one more reason for Dershowitz’s liberal former friends to shun him.
That’s a fair take, and I don’t fault you for it. I actually get it.
Yep. Another traitor to the cause . . .
There are common actions that are taken by authoritarian governments. Nazi Germany was motivated by ethnic and religious animus. Stalin was motivated by Marxist class warfare. Mussolini was a corporatist. The French Revolutionaries went after the peasants and the Catholic Church.
They all crossed the same lines at times. Individuals crossed party lines in Germany before the Nazi’s gained total control of Germany. Communist one day, Nazi on another day.
The big question is who is minding the minders. Collectivism requires objectifying individuals. Collectivism must glorify popular opinion. Popular culture shape’s opinion it does not shape truth. Conscience becomes whim and whim is always enforced by a fist.
Doug, I think what you are asking is who is in charge overall? Or is there a small cadre that is pulling the strings? I don’t even know where to begin to speculate . . .
I think what we are seeing is an entrenched Federal bureaucracy. Unelected officials that will do as they please knowing that they will be in charge as elected politicians come and go. They have redefined master and servant.
The Nazis started with the weak and infirm. Then they modified their criteria. Perhaps they might have modified them again. They are the only ones to declare their solution Final. If your main tool is a hammer then all your problems look like nails.
So you assume that they know the rules of the game and can therefore be counted on to do “the right thing” in their roles. It’s just hard to imagine that no one person is in charge, but if that’s true, that may be a very good thing.
While Nazi/Communist parallels to here and now are hot-button, we would be foolish to not identify points of similarity between the conditions that led to those things and the conditions on the ground here and now. How else would we avoid similar results?
So — well done.
Thanks so much, BDB.
Dershowitz is a liberal who is also on the left. It’s his leftist friends who have abandoned him.
I said on another post, Henry, he is also true to the law, and over the last couple of years, I’ve found him to be very credible.
I can imagine Lois Lerner coming out of retirement to become a consultant for the IRS. Helps to know where the bodies are buried…
You know, if the plans of these traitors go sideways, we may be able to use her help to do that. The question is, would we have any leverage this time? She clearly doesn’t think she owes anyone, anything.
No. She’s out of legal jeopardy and certainly will feel no moral pressure.
@Susan Quinn
I’ve said this before but I think it’s worthwhile to say again. In my Grandfather’s day, blacks were the other. When I was growing up, everybody seemed to have a problem against homosexuals for some reason but they didn’t care about somebody’s color. Now it seems that a majority of Americans are cool with homosexuals or at least politely disagree with them but the white heterosexual conservative is the other. Extra hate points if you are Christian and male.
There is still bigotry against other groups of course but bigotry against the white heterosexual male is acceptable or even encouraged as a sign of one’s own virtue. It reminds me of trashy guys I endured in high school who would cheat on their girlfriend at the drop of a hat but ceaselessly insulted homosexual men. (It seems consistent that trashy people tend to throw themselves into bigotry. Think of the ladies on the View.)
Besides being stupid and evil in general, bigotry has a tendency to corrupt justice and liberty in it’s pursuit of petty vengeance. Trump and poor Southern blacks are world’s apart but the law and lawyers are similar in how they elevate their prejudice above… well… justice
I said it on another post, and I say it again. The Left has systematically disarmed itself. We are the ones who are armed, and dangerous to them. As always, there are more of us than there are of them.
https://rushbabe49.com/2022/08/09/remember-our-founding-document/
I agree, Henry. Bigotry seems to make its own path, doesn’t it?
When Law Yields to Absolute Power.
Susan, the questions raised by your post hopefully are what any sane American is asking him or herself today.
Doug:” I think what we are seeing is an entrenched Federal bureaucracy. Unelected officials that will do as they please knowing that they will be in charge as elected politicians come and go. They have redefined master and servant.”
Ya know I have been running across an idea mentioned in various commentaries that is straight out of the current cable series “Stranger Things”…… which kinda makes some sense. People are starting to talk about the “hive mind” where the peer pressure within or among people close to certain circles with government power who know instinctively what the “woke” mindset course of action is and dare not to deviate from it, which creates this almost preordained response.
Wokeness has become almost a fanatic puritanical religious cult based upon fear just like the worst of religious cults, where the followers have become intimately aware of the principle facets of “Woke” theology and dare not sin against it knowing full well that if they do, they will be cast out into the evil living hell of right wing fringe Trumpism by the true believers. Truly a fate worse than death or so they think.
I, too, had trouble sleeping last night.
Fascinating, Unsk. It would be interesting to know where else this has shown up in other govts.
The people I run with has been using the comparisons to Nazi, Mao and others since COVID lockdowns. I now understand what happened to the citizens then. I have read their accounts of it but did not understand until then. It is surrealistic in how the world no longer works or acts as it should or always has. I have now written it off and have decided that the only way out is blood. I can see no other way. I am just waiting for the rest of you to catch up and the bloody part begins.
This harkens back to the “drain the swamp” thread. The “hive mind” concept is a perfect reason to make sure political appointments are people of conviction and courage. It’s the only way to shake up the hives.