Kansas candidate Steve Fitzgerald is not backing down from his prior comments about the fact that most of the world represents uncivilized barbarians — but he tossed in a few caveats, most notably Russian Oligarch Vladimir Putin and .. Joseph Stalin?
The Topeka Capital Journal
“Moving away from our values,” Fitzgerald said, “moving away from our Judeo-Christian heritage, does not take us anywhere except for a very bad place, and we don’t want to go there.”
North Korea, he said, has no regard for human life. But, he said, Vladimir Putin strongly supports the Russian Orthodox church.
“By the way, so did Stalin when he had to,” Fitzgerald said.
The comments seemed to indicate a new understanding of what it means to represent what is Western Civilization, as Fitzgerald tied the role of Western Civilization to the stripping of a woman’s right to choose as a paramount point of proof.
While American GOP members have struggled to disarm the tie to Russian interference or the seeming foreign policy moves that directly benefit the Russian economy — sometimes at the expense of our own with regards to wheat & grain, Fitzgerald’s highlighting of Stalin seems.. a bit too far. For those who needed a quick history refresher:
History.Com:
Stalin ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to eliminate anyone who might oppose him. He expanded the powers of the secret police, encouraged citizens to spy on one another and had millions of people killed or sent to the Gulag system of forced labor camps. During the second half of the 1930s, Stalin instituted the Great Purge, a series of campaigns designed to rid the Communist Party, the military and other parts of Soviet society from those he considered a threat.
Additionally, Stalin built a cult of personality around himself in the Soviet Union. Cities were renamed in his honor. Soviet history books were rewritten to give him a more prominent role in the revolution and mythologize other aspects of his life. He was the subject of flattering artwork, literature and music, and his name became part of the Soviet national anthem. His government also controlled the Soviet media.
But, I guess, he.. kept Western Civilization going with the Church.. or .. something?