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Does America Have Anything In Common With Nazi Germany?
August 31, 2009
Not long ago I saw a town hall meeting where a woman asked Barney Frank why he was helping to implement Nazi policies. The crowd booed her for asking the question, and Rep. Frank said something along the lines, “I’m not sure what planet you’re from.” She was dismissed as crazy, and not taken seriously by Frank, or the crowd there.
I agree with Rep. Frank’s response, and think this woman has no clue what was evil about Nazi Germany at all. Her inference that universal healthcare is “Nazi” is ridiculous.
First off, Nazi Germany did have universal healthcare, but that’s not to the credit of the Nazis. Germany enacted universal healthcare in 1871, and had it for over 60 years before the Nazis even came to power. At one point the Nazis tried to remove it, but this proved unpopular because the universal healthcare system was working out so well for everyone.
Also, many civilized nations have universal healthcare, and they’re not police states run by dictators. In fact, the system works beautifully for them, and we should do the same. They spend half what we do, and get way better care. The principles that embody socialized medicine, and the principles behind the worst of Nazi Germany are two separate things.
But leaving the topic of healthcare, let’s ask ourselves another question. Are there any parallels which can be drawn from early Nazi Germany, and America? If we were to go to the library and check out a bunch of books on the evil fascist dictators of history, and study their beginnings, what conclusions would we come to?
When we closely examine George Bush’s policies, such as Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, how he responded to 9/11, and some other things he did, they are near identical to those used by the Nazis and Hitler. Those parallels are the ones I’d like to draw out in this entry because they are what truly embody the worst of Nazi Germany. Also, President Obama has renewed the Patriot Act, which surprised many of us, and is something we all need to think about.
Sad enough, most of the people at the town hall, who are screaming at the politicians, calling them “Nazis”, were behind Bush when he implemented the Patriot Act, think the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo proper, and more. Those are the evil “Nazi” policies — not universal healthcare. I’m going to take the rest of this entry to explain the truly evil things the Nazis did, and how dictators use these policies to turn free societies into fascist states.
I just got done watching a really good film. It’s called ‘The End Of America.’ If you want a primer on this subject, I can’t think of a better place to start. Basically it’s a documentary, an hour and fifteen minutes long, showing parallels between Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and other fascist dictators, and some of the policies going on here in America today. Mostly parallels between the Bush administration, and these cruel dictators.
So if you don’t have the time to go to the library and check out a huge stack of books, or are simply too lazy to ever do that, it’s worth taking a look at this film. After watching it, see if your mind changes, even if just a little bit.
Here is the link:
http://www.watch-movies-links.net/movies/the_end_of_america/
In the film you’ll see the 10 step process every dictator has used to change free societies to closed societies. What you’ll also see is that near all of these 10 steps are currently in place in America. I’ll repeat that. Near all of these 10 steps are currently in place in America. Most were done during George Bush’s administration, but Obama seems to be continuing many of these policies, or in the least, has been far too slow in abolishing them.
So what are the ten steps? Here they are, as presented in detail in the film:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external threat
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens’ groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors
10. Suspend the rule of law
Each one of these points would require its own entry, but I’ll try to at least highlight some main points.
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external threat
On September 11, 2001, we had the terrorist trade center attacks. According to the 9/11 report, some terrorists met in a hotel room in Germany, planned the hijackings, and then performed the attacks. This soon led to the wars, the Patriot Act, and extreme fearmongering.
News outlets always had a “terror indicator” flashing at the bottom of the TV screen. Red and orange flashing signs which displayed, “High chance of terror attack!” We were also being continually threatened that we may be attacked with a WMD any day, or a chemical weapon. Threats like this eventually got us into Iraq, though all of the so-called reasons for invading turned out to be completely bogus. Even so, we’re still over there.
How invading the entire country of Afghanistan is going to stop the next terrorists from meeting in some distant country somewhere, in another hotel room, and planning another attack, is beyond me. But President Bush rarely used reason.
Bush told us the war was going to be a long one. We had to invade countries all over the world. Anyone harboring the crazies had to invaded, and the crazies rooted out. And Bush made his foreign policy clear, “…if you’re not with us, you’re with the terrorists.” Even the enemy we’re fighting is indefinite and vague, yet we’re not going to relent or ever stop!
This film brings out a good point. In Israel, where their terror threat is much greater than ours, where they’re being attacked all the time, their government tries to keep people calm. They do the exact opposite of what our government did, which was to use the event to incite as much fear as possible.
We had 9/11. The Nazis had the burning of the Reichstag. And amazingly, both governments took the exact same recourse of action. Bush formed the “Department Of Homeland Security.” That name comes directly from the Nazi’s equivalent department, which Hitler formed. Identical in both name and function.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place
In 2002, shortly after the attacks, president Bush creates Guantanamo Bay prison, where POWs and the terrorists are tortured. The Genova Conventions are ignored.
In this step the terrorists, who the citizens are now supposed to despise due to the atrocity they inflicted in step 1, are used to circumvent the rights of the people.
President Bush redefines what it means to torture someone. He writes laws allowing indefinite detentions of these terrorists without trial. And slowly these terrorists are used to rewrite the laws. The Patriot Act is used to include vague notions of who is a terrorist, and who isn’t. Basically, whoever the president says is a terrorist, is a terrorist.
That’s the strategy. First you make it ok to mistreat the terrorists. They have no rights under the law. Next you broaden the definition for what constitutes a “terrorist”, eventually making it so broad that it can be used on any normal citizen as well. Then the dictator uses this new found power against his enemies, and other dissidents against his administration. They detain people, or enemies, or dissidents, for a year or two, torture them, then release them. Screws with their mind. Ruins their life. Mars their records and files, so they’re unable to ever be employed again.
The Patriot Act also makes it effortless to obtain a warrant. So the military and police can storm into your home, your business, wherever, with no justification whatsoever. If the president says you’re a terrorist, you are one, and your rights are absolved. And with indefinite detentions, and without the right to a speedy trial, the government has free reign to destroy any person, or business, it pleases.
You’re simply thrown in a prison, without a trial, without a lawyer, without your phone call, possibly indefinitely. No speedy trial. No trial before a jury of your peers. You’re not even told what you did. Your life can be instantly ruined.
And remember, Obama renewed the Patriot Act. In fact, he further expanded upon it with his notions of indefinite detentions. He’s been working on a court system outside of the normal courts, under the guise of dealing with these terrorists in Gitmo.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104045.html
Apart from those who cannot be tried but must be held, Obama laid out four other categories that would apply to the 240 detainees remaining at Guantanamo: those who can be tried in federal court, those who will be brought before revamped military commissions, those ordered released by U.S. courts and those who can be transferred to other countries.
Wikipedia Link To Military Tribunals
So Bush was working on it, and Obama seems to be continuing it. Past fascist dictators did the same thing. These military wartime trials can easily become kangaroo courts. Dictators have used them for mock trials. These allow the dictator to perform faux trials, and are performed outside of the country’s normal courts, say on a military base, or an aircraft carrier somewhere. People can be executed, tortured, indefinitely detained, whatever. All without trials, rights, lawyers, and normal due process.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens
This brings us to Blackwater, a private corporation which receives huge funds from our government. They’re supposedly a private training facility for law enforcement, and perform special security details for VIPs. Bush hired them out frequently to do dirty work in Iraq.
Read about them here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/blackwater_usa/index.html
But they’re not just used in Iraq. They have two bases here in the USA. I believe they’re building one in Illinois. Their other base is in North Carolina.
Here we have a private military, not subject to the normal proceedings and laws. They’re being given high tech weaponry from our military, and are put in charge of guarding various secret bases for our government. They’re also in charge of assassinating various terrorist leaders and guarding diplomats.
These are just like past dictator’s private thugs. In the past, these types of forces were used to bully dissidents. They threaten politicians coming against the agenda. They perform all the dirty work for the dictator to get the people in line. They make sure secret information stays secret.
In the wake of Katrina, Blackwater was driving up and down the streets of New Orleans in combat vehicles, wearing flack jackets, and armed with machine guns. They were reported taking away people’s guns. They’re not just being used in Iraq. They’re being used on us here at home too.
If any sort of civil unrest starts here at home, such as what seems to be brewing from these town hall meetings, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Blackwater combat vehicles driving around, and possibly shooting people. But remember, these aren’t our boys. These are private mercenaries. Bush and Cheney seemed pretty fond of them.
They have a big tiger-paw footprint on their vehicles and outfits. They reportedly killed several civilians in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
According to mainstream news sources, many of the men in this private army are mercenaries from foreign countries. A lot of them come from Chile.
Why do we need these guys, when we have the most powerful military in the world? Couldn’t our normal armed forces and law enforcement handle the job? Of course they could. But these guys allowed the Bush administration to do things they probably shouldn’t have been doing. They allow them to do things the normal military would never do because of checks, balances, and laws.
These guys are pretty close to foreign military occupation, right here in the USA. Might as well consider them as such. They’re not answerable to the people. They have powerful, military class weaponry. They’re highly trained. And, they pretty much answer to whoever pays them. They’re mercenaries after all.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
Every dictator needs leverage on its citizens. We all know that our every move is being watched here in the USA.
Everything we do on the internet is watched and sent to the government. The Patriot Act requires ISPs to send information to them on everything customers are doing online. All of our financial information is monitored. Our medicals records are monitored.
There’s nothing private here in the USA. You can go onto Intellius, or Experian, or some other data company’s website, and for $50 buy a report on someone which tells everything about them.
You can find out how much debt they’re in. Where they’re living. Where they used to live. Past jobs and where they’re currently working. Prescription drugs they may be taking. Who they’re married to. Past marriages. Children. What their children are currently doing, and where they live. What car they drive. License plates. Past criminal history. Speeding tickets and other traffic violations. Court cases. Business records and profits…
I mean, there’s nothing you’re unable to obtain these days. If someone knows as little as your bithdate and name, they can get everything about you. Even if they don’t know this information these data companies will let you plug in what you DO know, and it’ll come up with a nice listing of everyone who matches your search. Browse through the list, each with a preview profile helping you choose, with pictures, and bam. Pay them a small fee and you can learn anything you want to know.
And all of this information can be gathered by anyone, anonymously behind the scenes. Our information is sold to the highest bidder. Whoever asks for it, gets it.
Cameras are being installed on every street corner, linked to high tech computer software which analyzing things, such as our faces.
Past dictators always monitored the mail. President Bush was no different. Intelligent Mail, I think it is called. USPS is working on it now. They want to put every piece of mail and package into a large database, and link it to the citizens. They want to know where you’re doing business, what you ordered, letters you send to people, what magazines you subscribe to, and more. Just more surveillance.
Source:
http://epic.org/privacy/postal/
A report issued on July 31, 2003 by a Presidential Commission on the Postal service called for the USPS to “explore the use of sender identification for every piece of mail, commercial and retail” as part of a broader plan to introduce Intelligent Mail. Intelligent Mail refers to Postal Service products that can provide information about mailpieces in the system. Intelligent mail is already implemented to a certain degree at USPS, however, the government has not implemented any sender identification component to Intelligent Mail. Postal company Pitney Bowes is a prime supporter of Intelligent Mail, and that company has supported the system, arguing that it can provide data-rich transactional information about senders, recipients, and even the contents of the mail.
Proposals for sender identification will work by integrating into the letter a machine-readable code. This code will identify certain properties relating to the letter. The presidential commission proposed that each piece of mail would carry at a minimum:
- Identification of the sender.
- Destination.
- Class of Mail.
Precisely how sender identification would be implemented is unclear. The suggestion is made that such advanced tracking as allowed by sender identification will help improve national security. This would of course require that each person be assigned their own unique identifier, and that a person engaging in a terrorist act (such as mailing anthrax) would actually use their assigned number. It is planned then to allow this data be stored centrally, and in a rather aspirational manner to allow postal transportation vehicles, local post offices and robust Internet systems communicate with this database to make the delivery of mail more efficient.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, employees at banks are filing “suspicious activity reports” on you, and you don’t even know about it. Maybe you deposited a wad of cash. Maybe you paid off a debt, and it seemed different from your usual financial behavior. Maybe you exchanged some foreign currency for U.S. dollars. All kinds of things set off red flags and put you on “the list”.
“The List” consists of nearly a million Americans who are considered domestic terrorists. There’s no way all of these people are terrorists. There’s no way. But all kinds of things get you on the list and once you’re on the list, you’re not ever going to get off. It’s a hotel you check into, but never check out. The lady who made the documentary I linked you to is on the list, just because she made that film. I’m probably on the list.
This is the dissident list. The first who will be wiped out when and if the government coup happens. These are the problematic people. Those who will likely resist and put up a fight. The private thugs are sent in to herd these people up, then they’re executed, imprisoned, and shipped off somewhere. Either way, they’re removed.
If you don’t believe it, then please, comment to this entry and tell me why there’s a database with 1,000,000 Americans in it. Why they’re all considered “domestic terrorists”, and what benign purpose the government has in store for these people? And with the Patriot Act, if you’re a “domestic terrorist”, your rights no longer exist. There’s no law protecting these people from a government thug grabbing them from their homes, dragging them off to some prison, without trial, detaining them indefinitely, and torturing them. We as a society should never have allowed such an atrocious piece of legislation to pass.
If you’re on the list, it’s highly likely your phones are being wiretapped, and conversations logged in a computer somewhere. ISPs are gathering all your information and sending it off. Your bank information is being watched closely. Everything you do is being watched. And under the Patriot Act, if you’re on the president’s “list” you have no rights whatsoever.
I’d like to say I’m making this up, but I’m not. Obama hasn’t abolished the list. He didn’t abolish the Patriot Act. This stuff is still going on.
5. Harass citizens’ groups
In the film you’ll see an entire group of peaceful protesters outside the Republican National Convention arrested. They’re just peacefully sitting in a park outside the convention when all of the sudden a huge swat team with guns and shields marches up to them, starts blaring in the megaphone that they’re all under arrest. They thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. They tried to confiscate all cameras of the event but one student was able to quickly hide his camera in the grass. So much for free speech and right to peaceful assembly.
Speaking of that, Bush was working on heavily expanding on the idea of “free speech zones.” Basically, he found free speech annoying, and protests a bother. So he started implementing special zones, way out in the middle of nowhere, which he deemed were the only places citizens could protest. That way no one could see them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone
This is completely against the constitution, and luckily he didn’t get very far with them. It’s amazing he was able to implement them in any capacity whatsoever. Shows how worthless our politicians are. I mean, how evil would you have to be to set something like this up? Seriously. Presidents make an oath when swearing in that they’ll do all they can to uphold the Constitution. Then Bush just ignores it on every count. These zones are completely against the First Amendment.
The film also talks about the government infiltrating various anti-war groups. The CIA and FBI have been sending their own guys in there to cause strife and dissonance. Get people fighting, yelling, and make the meetings unproductive.
Here’s just one of many examples:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/17/fbi-infiltrated-iowa-anti_n_204441.html
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
As the film shows, innocent people, including journalists, are being thrown into prisons and tortured, without trial. Some are stopped at our U.S. airports, the computer says they’re on “the list”, and they end up being shipped out to overseas prisons, where they’re locked in tiny cells and beaten with electrical cables. Electrodes are hooked to their testicles. This goes on for around six months to a year, and then they’re released.
No charges. No reason for it to happen. Just police state bullying.
In the film you’ll see a journalist detained in a “terrorist” prison for almost a year. He filmed a protest and refused to turn over the tapes. He was locked up for almost a year, in a little box. No light. Isolated in some tiny room, confined to nothing but darkness 24/7.
Then he’s released and they say, “Oh, by the way, we didn’t find any good reason to hold you captive. You’re free to go.” This is the kind of stuff the Patriot Act allows. It’s police state bullying.
Also, when the Patriot Act was in its infancy, Arab and Muslim immigrants were just grabbed off the streets, given no rights whatsoever, no trial, thrown in federal detention, and mistreated.
7. Target key individuals
The most glaring example of this I can think of is Bush’s dismissal of a whole slew of U.S. attorneys. Read the details of this scandal for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy is a United States political scandal initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration’s Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage. Allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters. The U.S. attorneys were replaced with interim appointees, under provisions in the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization.
8. Control the press and 9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors
The video shows several heads at the New York Times who were pressured by the White House. After reporting various things that Bush and Cheney felt were confidential, there was talk of treason, espionage, and executing them! Yes, execution! Cheney was threatening to execute people, and mainstream news had people commenting on it.
The information was apparently war secrets of some sort. Supposedly too confidential to be made public.
We all know the big media outlets are owned by big corporations. There’s not a lot of difference between the big corporations, the banks, and the government. The same small group of elites who run the banks and the Fortune 500, are the same guys who bribe the politicians and get their way.
These elites are controlling both the laws, and the media we’re receiving through the news.
That’s not to say they completely control “the press” though. They just have rooted themselves deeply into society, and there’s huge masses of uninformed people who listen to their propaganda. The government doesn’t completely tread on free speech, yet. It’s still legal to say what you want, even if it’s against the government.
So as for #8, controlling the press, I’d say they’re 3/4 of the way there. If it wasn’t for the internet, I’d say they control 90% of the press. But people these days are beginning to trust more in the internet than the major news networks.
The other day I wrote about Jay Rockefeller’s attempt to take over the internet. You can read up on that here:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
So who knows how long the internet has left. They’re going to try to take it over, and if they can, they will.
As the video also shows, Bush was trying to pass legislation against various anti-war assemblies.
Neither of these two points are fully implemented, but they’re a good ways in progress. If they’re not stopped, these liberties will continue to erode.
10. Suspend the rule of law
In his 2nd term, Bush seemed to think he could do anything, and didn’t care what Congress thought about it one way or the other. He was doing all kinds of illegal things. Take “bill signing statements.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_statement_(United_States)
During the administration of President George W. Bush, there was a controversy over the President’s use of signing statements, which critics charged was unusually extensive and modified the meaning of statutes. The practice predates the Bush administration, however, and has since been continued by Obama administration.[1] In July 2006, a task force of the American Bar Association stated that the use of signing statements to modify the meaning of duly enacted laws serves to “undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers”.
Bush was king of signing statements, and mangling the law to his own ends, and abusing his executive powers. And it’s still being continued by the Obama administration.
Conclusion
My personal conclusion on all of this? I think we’re headed toward a police state, run by financial elites, and big corporations.
Basically, all power is gravitating toward the bankers and big corporations, and people’s rights, and powers seems to be slowly eroding away.
The world I see is one where the rich get richer and richer, and the middle class erodes away. More and more wealth concentrates at the top, and life gets more and more difficult for the normal man and woman. Inflation eats away at wages year after year. Debts pile up more and more, eventually to a point where they’re impossible to pay off and possibly never will be. More military spending. More encroachments of our civil liberties. More surveillance. More and more federal government expansion, with less power in the state governments. More dependence on federal aid for everyday life. More bailouts. Higher and higher taxes, with less and less benefit.
We have lost our way. We need to get back to our founding principles, and remember what we as Americans stand for. We need to reverse the course George Bush started. The real question is whether or not Obama will continue in the footsteps of Bush, or reverse the trends. As for what I’m seeing, he’s continuing many of Bush’s steps so far. But, we’ll see.
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