SOME SCARY SIMILARITIES

By Ruth Sheets

Lately, things in the good old US of A are getting a bit scary, and that is on purpose.  One of our political parties, Republicans, has decided that democracy might not be what they want for America.  The party and its corporate managers want something else.  It is not clear just what that would be, but they are throwing spaghetti ideas against the wall to see which stick. 

OK, calling what Republican leaders are throwing against the wall, “ideas,” is probably inaccurate, but the truth is, what they are tossing with the greatest arm strength are ways to ignore our Constitution, how to lie incessantly and break laws with impunity, models for cheating the American people of our rights, while gaslighting their supporters and the rest of us that they are doing no such thing.  You’ll probably remember that gaslighting comes from the movie “Gaslight” in which a husband tries to drive his wife mad by changing lighting levels and other things around the house and either pretending he doesn’t notice the changes, so they must be all in her head or that she must have made the changes herself and doesn’t remember. 

Republicans no longer hide their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, or xenophobia.  These have been integral to the party for decades but what used to be said behind closed doors is now spoken openly, while practitioners claim “I don’t have a racist/sexist bone in my body” or other inaccuracies.  Then, We the People are told we really didn’t hear what we heard, see what we saw, and aren’t being threatened the way we are being threatened.  The Republican in Chief brags of violence erupting if he is indicted on charges for crimes he actually committed.  He doesn’t admit the crimes or simply claims he had the right to do them by virtue of him being president or just being Trump).

We’ve seen some of the Republican-inspired violence at Charlottesville in 2017, the attack on the US Capitol in 2021, and smaller outbreaks all over the country.  Now, Democrats and anyone who does not go along with the Republican playbook of lies, hatred, targeting, and dehumanization of women and non-white people, often receive death threats and warnings. Trump himself warns that if he is elected president again, he will take revenge on all of those terrible people who crossed him.

To me, this is sounding an awful lot like Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  The economy was bad after World War I and the people’s anger and frustration were carefully funneled into blaming and hatred of Jews, despite the fact that Jews had fought on Germany’s side during the war, were making significant scientific advancements for their country, and were integrated into nearly every part of German life. 

When the fires of hatred had been sufficiently stoked by Hitler and his band of thugs, they moved on to maligning political figures who opposed the newly powerful Nazi Party.  When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, he had those political leaders rounded up and thrown into prison camps, those who were not killed.  Once Jews were safely on the nation’s hit list, the Nazis needed more groups to hate, so the net expanded to include:  Communists; the Roma people; Jehovah’s Witnesses; “homosexuals,” then, disabled persons as burdens on society.  The thought must have been that everyone in Germany would find at least one group among the many targets they could hate sufficiently to permit harm to be done to them.  

The horrors the Nazis and their allies perpetrated on the people named above did not begin all at once.  Those in power had to do it a bit at a time so the German public could get used to seeing Jews and others, men, women, and children, at first humiliated, then beaten, then murdered in the streets.  When the trains rattled toward the concentration camps filled with those Germany had decided had little or no right to live, neighbors might notice some folks missing, but they could lie to themselves they had just left the country for somewhere else.  And, the freight trains were carrying trash, right?  It seems we humans can convince ourselves of just about anything with the right motivation.  Hitler et al could not have done what they did without a whole lot of community participation.  Many Germans after the war said they didn’t know what was happening.  I suppose they thought it made their post-war suffering seem undeserved, even righteous.  They may not have known the details, but they knew enough. 

Our current position is at the top of the slippery slope toward some kind of autocracy or oligarchy (it is uncertain which Republicans and their rich puppeteers are hoping for).  Either type of government would be disastrous for this nation.  Loud-mouthed Trump painted a picture of revenge that soothes the hearts of people who believe they are entitled to something they don’t yet have.  Clearly if they don’t have everything they want like the rich men they admire, someone must have kept them from it, sounding similar to the propaganda that was ubiquitous in 1930s Germany.  In both cases, the leader claims to be the only one who can save them from this horror. 

 German media played classical music while regularly breaking in to spew lies, both the positives the leaders were supposedly doing and the negatives about the targeted groups.  All day into the late evening it played.  One could be fined for not having the radio on.  That’s kind of like Fox for many Republicans, twisted/alternate facts, all day, all the time, (no good music, though).

 Our media, owned by rich corporations rather than a corrupt government as in Germany, is failing our people as the media of Nazi Germany failed the German people.  Our media claims to be “fair and balanced” even when it gives as much coverage to an extremely minor, unsupported viewpoint as to a viewpoint that has a strong majority, even scientific support.  Whatever Donald Trump, an ex, twice-impeached president does or says is covered extensively by the media, often with no indication as to whether what he has said is the truth or what he has done is legal, a continuation of a practice for the past 8 years. 

By the mid-1930s, the German courts no longer even pretended to hand down justice, just the rulings Hitler and his crew wanted.  Our courts are acting in similar ways.  They care little to nothing for what the American people want or need, mostly what matches their personal beliefs and their corporate donors’ desires.  One might think the Supreme Court, having lifetime appointments and decent salaries wouldn’t get donations, but alas, there are plenty of corporations, in exchange for judgments on their behalf that will donate.  Who can call them out on it since there is no standard of ethics for the Supremes?

Last year, the media spent more time worrying over who leaked the Alito draft of the anti-woman, anti-Roe BS at the Supreme Court than what pain the decision would cause women in the poorest states with the least ability to withstand forced birth.  It was clearly Alito who leaked the anti-Roe draft to his family or friends.  He was just so proud of his poorly reasoned, ignorant draft he just couldn't stop himself.  His targets, women of reproductive age.  The Alitos in our society are still going after women and our right to bodily autonomy.  They hope this will all be taken care of soon and women will be properly cowed.  Like the Germans, once one group is dealt with, move on to the next target to keep the people off-balance fearful they might be next.  Scared people can be manipulated. 

Trump and Kump’s next target is the LGBTQ community, trans children and youth in particular, vulnerable young people who often require some medical intervention and counseling to manage their gender dysphoria.  Through laws passed by mostly ignorant, pseudo-Christian legislators, families and doctors are threatened with severe fines and imprisonment if they treat trans young people.  Women protested after Roe fell and are trying to find ways to get around the rabid red state white legislatures.  Some people are standing with trans youth, but who will help get those young people what they need when basic medically proven treatments become illegal and unavailable?  We have seen the “drag” community targeted in several states as though “drag” is a new thing.  The Germans didn’t like “drag” much either and stomped on that too.

We have seen the police brutalize communities, kill young Black men just because, break up peaceful protests, and other tactics used by the German police 90 years ago.  Back then, people who spoke up were often silenced while the police became more and more powerful and unethical.  Sound familiar?   

The really scary part for me is, what’s next?  Which states will begin the killing?  Imprisoning folks for almost nothing, including inability to come up with bail, is already going on.  White men (only) are encouraged to have guns and the laws in many places now let them open carry with no permit or background check.  All they have to do, just as the police have been doing, is say, "I feared for my life," when they shoot someone they don't like or approve of.  Children are murdered in schools, but somehow Republicans just can’t manage to outlaw military-type weapons in the civilian community. 

Some members of our congress are insurrectionists who claim the various elections have been stolen when they are clearly lying.  A representative, albeit from a backwater part of Georgia, says she wants a civil war and with others, is trying to get things going.  The House of Representatives has as Speaker, a fool, Kevin McCarthy who wanted the Speaker title more than he cared about our Constitution and our nation and proves it every day in office.  The media seemed mostly OK with this.  Congressional Republicans were OK with McCarthy’s handing over classified materials to an insurrectionist media madman.  How is this acceptable?  This too parallels the Nazi rule. 

German corporations weren't too concerned about what Hitler was doing as long as they were bringing in the bucks.  Heck, they even got the slave labor of Jews and the other hated groups to keep them going while "the boys were at war."  If fascism happens here as some Republicans would like, would our corporations be right there, thinking up ways to use their fellow American citizens for their corporate profit and other benefits?

We the People need to find ways to stop a repeat of the suffering of 1930s Germany here.  We can't wait and hope things will blow over.  There are already a bunch of scared white people who believe they deserve power over those they think of as “non-humans.”  Why, they should be able to make them servants (slaves maybe, or dead).  I am guessing many of the MAGAs would be happy to participate in harming, mass-imprisoning those people, a few at first, then more and more of them over time to get even, for something they wouldn't have to name. 

Many conservatives/Republicans don’t want students or really, anyone to study the holocaust.  Probably, it’s because if we study it, we will start to notice the scary similarities between what happened to get the horrors going in Germany and the taking away of citizen rights here and now, , the rights to:  vote, bodily autonomy, medical care, be LGBTQ or whatever we are meant to be, affordable housing, seek asylum, learn the full flow of American history, read books we choose, have dependable media, know the truth without the lies and gaslighting  by Republican politicians.  It's time for the downward slide into ignorance and cruelty to stop!  We can’t pretend we don’t know what’s going on!

WHEN HATRED AND LIES BECOME THE NORM

By  Ruth A. Sheets

Lying is an integral part of Donald Trump's public behavior.  He lies whenever it occurs to him that a lie might work better than the truth, that is if he has any idea what is the truth.   

Yesterday, the Supreme Court's conservative majority confirmed as acceptable, Mr. Trump's hatred of Muslims.  They used as justification Mr. Trump's lie that travelers from a specific set of countries, mostly Muslim, puts the security of the United States at risk.  Alas, there is no evidence of this, but the Supreme Court majority says, that doesn't matter.  Mr. Trump says it is, so it is.  Wow!  That's a lot of power for someone who didn't win the popular vote and has little regard for the Constitution.

Everyone knows that throughout his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump told the nation of his intent to stop all Muslims from coming here.  That intention was never hidden.  Like everything else he says in hatred and most of his lies, it was loud and clear and harmful to many people, the kind of people Mr. Trump doesn't like.

Lying and some hatred (of women and abortion) was front and center in another Supreme Court ruling yesterday.  The conservative majority  basically said it is perfectly OK to lie to citizens, particularly women about their health care options. 

Fake health care centers have been set up all over the country to lie to women.  They have no medical help to offer, only lies about abortion, pregnancy, and a host of other issues facing women related to health care. 

California decided to order fake clinics to inform potential patients that other facilities could take care of their needs, while the fake clinics could not.  The Supreme Court has now said the state can't make the fake clinics tell the truth.  They can lie through their teeth, trapping mostly poor women into maintaining pregnancies they can't afford or physically handle.  Yep, lying is in the ascendency.  Free speech, you know.

These rulings  coincide with the cheating allowed in the June 25th decision permitting racial gerrymandering in Texas and probably other places too.  The justification is not very clear.  Are conservative justices OK with cheating and subverting the American voting system?  Or is it something more? 

One might have expected Mr. Thomas, the African-American justice to stand on the side of voting rights in this decision, but alas, no.  It is no surprise, however, that white conservative men are in favor of whatever will give white people the most power.  Racial gerrymandering, why not!  We'll find a reason to OK it.

These days, one cannot be shocked that Mr. Trump lies about immigrants, the activities of his staff, and just about everything else.  His followers love it.  They, themselves must lie regularly to be so positive concerning the lies so freely tossed off.  It's like a kinship. 

Conservatives want to have the Ten Commandments in every courthouse.  How is that possible.  One of the commandments is "Thou shalt not bear false witness."  False witness means lie.  Have they convinced themselves that the things Mr. Trump says are not lies?  Isn't that a kind of pretense?  Another word for pretense is lie.  So, perhaps they are lying to themselves too.  If you can't tell the truth to yourself, who can you tell it to?

Which other president has lied to the American people more than 3,000 times in just over 500 days?  No one, of course.  Even if one did not agree with the person in the White House, there was a sense that the person had some integrity.  That cannot be claimed for this White House occupant.  His hatreds and lying make him unique, and not in a good way. 

I get it that Mr. Trump often has no idea what is true and really doesn't care.  As long as everyone is bowing to and cheering for him, giving him everything he wants, like a spoiled child, he is happy and can gloat.  He does not want anyone challenging his hatreds and need for vengeance.  And, for the most part, people comply.  Republicans in Congress and in the states comply.  We learned yesterday that Even the Supreme Court complies.  

Hatred, lying, and cheating, the three pillars of Mr. Trump's presidency do not seem to be helping anyone but him.  He hopes Americans will ignore his lies because if he says something long enough and loud enough, he thinks we will all believe it.  What many of us believe is that we don't want lying, hatred, and cheating to be a norm for our society and will do what we can to see that these three are ultimately moved off the main American stage along with Mr. Trump. 

HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

By Ruth A. Sheets

I just finished reading the book "The Seamstress" by Sara Bernstein.  It is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.  I nearly stopped reading it numerous times.  I read it as an audio book and the reader's storytelling voice made it all seem almost normal by the end.  What was normal, the experiences of a young Jewish Romanian woman, a victim of the Holocaust. 

As I read, the old question kept surfacing, How could this happen?  How do whole groups of people lose their humanity while they are working hard to destroy the humanity of others?  Do the perpetrators realize they have lost their humanity?  Is there any way to let them know what they are doing in time to save them and everyone else from the horrors to follow?

In the memoir, a young girl, her friends, and a multitude of Jewish women are brutalized, starved, forced to work as slaves, deprived of all dignity, herded like animals because of religion.  Christians performed unspeakable acts on people they did not know just because they could.  They had the power of the state behind them.

The hardest part to read was just how slowly and methodically it all happened to Ms. Bernstein and her friends and family.  Pay was cut, jobs became harder and harder to find if you were Jewish.  Christian citizens of Romania and Hungary had no problem hurting, spitting on, and otherwise humiliating people they thought were Jews.  They restricted where they could live, where they could shop, where they could go.  The Germans had not even entered these countries when these actions were happening, so they can only be indirectly blamed for the way things got started there.  Much of the brutality was home grown in Hungary and Romania.

By 1942, life even in the cities became nearly impossible.  People were arrested and accused of spying, when they were actually charged with being Jews.  The military was everywhere and if they happened to shoot someone, well, that was only a Jew, so who cares.

The labor camps where thousands were driven by overwork to their deaths, then the concentration camps where millions were starved and murdered are so hard to imagine because there has been nothing like them.  The Germans and other leaders built upon each other to devise more and more horrific acts to use against their captives while they pretended they were just doing their duty.

I have read other memoirs of the Holocaust, but this one was the recollections of a woman.  Had I been born in a different time and place, it could have been I who faced the horrors of watching her sister shot in front of her, watching women beaten to death for singing, seeing the bodies of dead and dying women tossed onto piles to be carted away.  The author was 44 pounds when rescued in 1945. 

I know many conservatives don't like anything they do or say being compared with the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s in Europe, but I am seeing clear parallels.  We Americans are told "That could not happen here.  No one would allow it."  Having read this woman's story, I am not so sure.  It came on so slowly most people didn't even recognize what was going on until it was too late to do anything about it. 

A nebulous anger about jobs and working condition led Christians who felt entitled to good work at a decent wage needed someone to blame.  For centuries, Jews had provided fodder for their hatred.   How were Jews responsible, just by existing.  It was easy to target Jews in small communities, but more challenging in cities where there was more education and more religious mixing.  Begin limiting their rights, a bit at a time, make it difficult for them to earn money or have businesses.  Call them "Christ Killers," so you are excused to do whatever you want, in the name of Christ, whether you were actually religious or not.  See Jews as foreigners with no right to be in the country.

Some people in power in our country work hard to limit the rights of those they feel are beneath them, perhaps even inferior to them.  They have helped to create fear of people of color, a disdain of women, resentment of the poor - the takers, a belief that their religion is the only true faith and that one religion in particular is filled with terrorists.  They glorify the military, no matter what it does. 
They champion a kind of American nationalism that leaves many in our nation and the world vulnerable.

Immigrants are bad, except my ancestors "who came here the right way."  These folks are OK with incarcerating children for life, if they are of the feared groups.  They will deport the parents of
American citizen children just because they can, they are illegal immigrants, you know.  Racists and sexists are "fine people" and we have to protect our culture and its statues.

Remember, America has had its own concentration camps during World War II when more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were interned for being Japanese.  We still have Guantanamo which can hold a lot of people in a place that could easily be closed off to all inspection. 

Is this how it begins?  Is this how it happens?

LEGALIZED HATE

by Ruth Sheets

I am  currently listening to an edition of This American Life on NPR.  It describes the results of the recent Alabama immigration law.  The law essentially legalizes the worst aspects of human behavior.  It encourages law enforcement, employers, and non-Hispanic Alabamans to treat their neighbors so badly that they will want to “return” to wherever they came from. 

One woman reported that clerks in a store wouldn’t serve her and another described her experience in church of neighbors not wanting to share the “Peace of Christ” with her.  How Christian of them!  Students, born in Alabama reported harassment by classmates including making them sit in the back of the class.  (Sound familiar?)

I can’t help but think that this now legalizes the hatred that has been so much a part of Alabama life for a couple hundred years.  Before, it was White against Black.  Now, it is about White and other Alabamans against anyone who looks foreign.   

A white state representative, a strong supporter of the bill, told a story about a woman who came to him claiming she couldn’t get a job because illegal immigrants took those jobs.  He said that the drop in unemployment in Alabama was because “illegals” had left the state and employers were now hiring “citizens.”  There is no evidence that his story is true or that the unemployment rate was in any way affected by immigrants leaving the state, but he clearly believes it.

There was no problem regarding immigrants in Alabama before 2010 according to another representative, but Republicans needed an issue that would get them more power.  He claims that the National Republican party chose to “try out some new legislation” in Alabama.  If it worked there, it could work elsewhere. 

It seems that a Republican strategist, Kobach, from Kansas is busy writing laws for states regarding immigration.  He is smart and physically looks like some kind of “superhero,” and he is a manipulator and really proud.  He plays on people’s fears and uses his intelligence to stir up hatred that is already present.

His hatred movement is now spreading to other states, especially those where Republicans currently have power.  His plans are grandiose.   He wants to enlist the aid of state law enforcement on his behalf to drive out “illegals” all over the country if we let him. It’s too bad he didn’t find something  more humane to do with his intelligence.     

The Alabama majority Whip wants to “tweak the bill,” but when asked if he thought Jesus would vote for the new provisions, he admitted “probably not.”

Self-deportation, that’s the way to drive people from America who “don’t belong here.”  So, we can hate people out of this country and be commended for it.  How good of us! 

I suspect that many people from Alabama and other states would like to have done that to their former slaves.  They did drive many of them north.  Passing such restrictive hateful immigration laws lets these “Americans” have an outlet for their frustration.  This frustration may have nothing to do with their immigrant neighbors, but that’s OK, “I am angry and afraid.  And, they’re here.”