As anyone who has read the weekly hate mail palooza posts on this site knows, the angry attacks on DK, the bloggers who post here and liberals in general regularly accuse us Dems of being Nazi's (note: if you are not familiar with these posts that link is definitely NSFW). It's such a recurring theme that a common editorial comment by Kos references Godwin's Law which states that the longer an Internet discussion continues the more likely you are to get a Nazi/Hitler reference. I honestly can't say I've ever compared someone to the Nazi's before, though as an admin on a large strict baseball message board I've been accused of being one. However, the other day while making a post on another political forum I remembered that famous quote by German Pastor Martin Niemölle regarding the silence of many well known German's as the Nazi's rose to power. I hadn't ever read the whole quote and admit I was stunned when I did as it sounds like a condensed version of GOP talking points these past several years. There are different versions of the quote and the originator may have presented it differently on separate occasions but the two most common versions are the official one:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
and the more widely used version here in America:
First they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
Really anyone who's been paying attention the GOP over the last several decades should recognize this theme. In the 1950's and on through the end of the Cold War they used the word
"communist" to attack anyone who disagreed with them. Even prior to that and continuing to this day they comdemn what they term socialist policies enacted during the New Deal. Those attacks remain a
recurring theme in their
attacks on the Obama administration. Of course the GOP attacks on unions both public and private are so common I could
provide more
links than you would
ever have time to
read.
Ah, but what of the Jews I hear you cry. The GOP hasn't attacked the Jews at all. In fact they staunchly defend appropriations to Israel and as Mitt Romney implied in his acceptance speech they seem poised to go to war with Iran to preemptively defend our Mideast ally:
But on another front, every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran's nuclear threat.
In his first TV interview as president, he said we should talk to Iran. We're still talking, and Iran's centrifuges are still spinning.
And to that I simply suggest you replace the word "Jew" with the word "
Muslim" and you can clearly see that this is a near perfect description of the GOP's talking points,
platform and actions in the last several decades.
We are seeing the fruition of those efforts right now with the rise of the extreme Christian right and it's efforts to teach Creationism as Science, crush reproductive freedom and enshrine bigotry in the law on the basis of their beliefs. Of course the Nazi's also demonized Gypsies and homosexuals, much the way today's GOP blames Mexicans and um... well... homosexuals.
It's been suggested that today's GOP is actively supporting and benefiting from the rise of an American, Christian version of the Taliban, and based on the use of religious zealotry to create their platform and talking points this is a very valid comparison. However, the roots date from long before the Taliban even existed, to a time and ideology that led to the most destructive war the world has ever known. Back then America was the good guy. Now one has to wonder if the GOP has it's way if that will still be the case. Closer to home one has to ask, "If we do not speak up now, then who will be left to speak for us?"