Today on CNN, Ben Carson was quoted as saying: “If people don’t speak up for what they believe, then other people will change things without them having a voice. Hitler changed things there and nobody protested. Nobody provided any opposition to him.”
Boy how right he is! The problem is that most of the people who are speaking out now are the ones that have the most to gain from a Hitleresque regime. The far right likes to point at the President and call him Hitler, but when pressed they can’t provide a single example of what makes him like Hitler. There is one example but since they agree with it they never use it. The continuation of prisoners held at Guantanamo without due process. That’s DEFINITELY an accurate comparison. However, I can make the argument that they are there because the political pressure on the right is so great that it would make it impossible for there to be a change.
So for the next few paragraphs I’m going to show how the right is closer to Hitler than the left. Hold onto your hats folks, it’s going to get bumpy:
1. Promoting slave labor of Mexicans to build a wall along our southern border.
Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has said repeatedly in speeches that he would imprison Mexicans and require them to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. This would be something you could laugh off as not being a core value to Republicans. However, he’s the leader in the Polls and that says a lot about their attitudes toward the brown skin folk.
2. Making laws and policies that are directed specifically at Muslims.
Oklahoma, and Texas have both passed laws that are directed specifically at Muslims. These laws are geared to prevent them from enjoying the same Constitutional rights as Christians. Many communities across the country, as different as New York, and Ames, Iowa have passed ordinances to prevent the building of Mosques in their communities. School boards have passed rules to prevent students who are not Christian from wearing the hijab. All these policies are geared toward expressing a fear for those who are different from themselves.
3. Suppressing Ideas through book banning.
There’s a whole host of examples across the country of Republican controlled school boards banning books they don’t fine “suitable” for young readers. We wouldn’t want them having ideas would we? A Texas school board even removed Thomas Jefferson from their history books because he didn’t fit in with their idea of America. That’s right, the author of the Declaration of Independence is not American enough. The real reason was that his writings criticized the Christian faith and promoted a liberal idea of how religion in America should be addressed. In short, he thought freedom of religion was more important than State sponsored faith.
4. Demonizing the poor
The far right has been pretty consistent about the demonization of anyone who isn’t wealthy. Not a day goes by that the poor aren’t attacked by and blamed for their situation. The right goes after the disadvantaged as if they are lazy, worthless, welfare grabbing drags on the economy. They see anyone who isn’t white, middle class, or rich as people who don’t deserve the right to life. A right they say is so important to them. In fact when during the 2008 elections Ron Paul was asked what should happen if someone doesn’t have healthcare. The crowd responded “Let them die.” Yep…how Christian of them!” Jesus would be so proud.
5. Denying atrocities ever happened
This is my favorite. They deny things ever happened. All of a sudden the Civil War was a war that had nothing to do with slavery and people are just whining about things that never happened. The problem is that history flies in the face of this. If someone points out the facts that the Confederate Battle Flag is racist they scream and holler that “oh…you’re just being a baby…that isn’t racist.” The flag isn’t a racist symbol they say. The problem is they are dead wrong. As Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy wrote:
“Our new government…corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
But I guess the Confederates weren’t racist.
These are just a few of the ideas that are promoted by the right wing that illustrate how they are more like Nazi Germany than any other group in the United States. They talk about freedom for all while promoting the suppression of any group that’s not them. All the while within the back doors of government they get support from groups like the KKK, FDLS, Whites for Justice, and many others. Show me where there is a Liberal organization that wants to enslave a people, kill off the sick and injured, imprison others for their faith, or espouse a constant and complete message of hate for everyone who isn’t white, and I’ll change my tune. However…I bet you can’t.