We are on an incremental slippery slope
Lead Summary
By
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By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
On the night of Feb. 27, 1933, the Reichstag burned in Berlin. Widely believed to be an “inside job,” publicly a hapless individual was arrested, accused and guillotined for the act.
It was the seminal event that launched Hitler’s dictatorship.
In the last couple of months, we have seen widespread desecration of things sacred to the founding of the United States. The Heritage Foundation calls it an attack on the moral authority of our government. There have been numerous pieces in the mainstream media claiming these attacks have been spontaneous, local and independent. I believe that about as much as I believe Marinus van der Lubbe (the aforementioned guillotine) lit off the Reichstag.
So, what is next for us? We have been essentially inoculated against further statue desecrations and street paintings. Soon, these will no longer garner headlines. The game will need stepping up in order to stay on the virtual front page of what passes for today’s news media.
The logical targets to me are the houses and birthplaces of the same people whose statues were desecrated and maybe add a few more for good measure. I offer this not as a suggestion, but as a warning to those entrusted with preservation of such antiquities.
I certainly will not mention any by name, lending what meager protection I can. However, there are many easy targets and those in charge of preservation of these places should immediately move to a substantial 24/7 guarding plan in order to have a chance of keeping these relics intact and unharmed.
These arsonists will see being arrested and jailed after the fact as a mere inconvenience. They will have succeeded at their objective – obliteration.
Dictators do clever things to achieve and then maintain power. Hitler’s gang said they need full emergency powers in order to “protect” Germany from any more atrocities such as the Reichstag fire. That was a half-truth that conveniently served their purposes.
The public persona (read: the Democrat Party) behind what is going on in this country will come up with a similar half-truth that will look good on the surface and promise to yield stability in our country today. We have no idea what that is going to be. It will look good, right, fair and reasonable. It will take deep thinking to figure out where it really leads.
However, you can count on it leading to less freedom for the average citizen, among other points they will wish to achieve. Their efforts so far have led to words we can’t speak, clothes we can’t wear (if they have the logo of our favorite team before it was purged by the thought police) and things we can’t do. In the name of health safety, some local governments have already banned gatherings in churches, an obvious violation of the First Amendment, “for the sake of the common good.”
We are on an incremental slippery slope that, when taken as individual steps, looks innocent enough. Taken as a whole, we will be lucky to have the freedoms and prosperity currently “enjoyed” in Venezuela.
Starting in Russia, this is the way these sorts of coups have taken place for the last 103 years. The average citizens continue to go about their business, rationalizing that the latest loss of freedom is insignificant and adaptable. Then one day, all awaken in a terrifying world of which they never dreamed.
It not only can happen here; it is happening here while we attempt to go about our “normal” lives. The powers behind this are following the proven rule book and will soon be fully and completely in charge.
Time is short. How short? If matters continue in the next 12 months as they have in the last two, I suspect in another year I will not be allowed to write a column like this without being arrested.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.
HCP columnist
On the night of Feb. 27, 1933, the Reichstag burned in Berlin. Widely believed to be an “inside job,” publicly a hapless individual was arrested, accused and guillotined for the act.
It was the seminal event that launched Hitler’s dictatorship.
In the last couple of months, we have seen widespread desecration of things sacred to the founding of the United States. The Heritage Foundation calls it an attack on the moral authority of our government. There have been numerous pieces in the mainstream media claiming these attacks have been spontaneous, local and independent. I believe that about as much as I believe Marinus van der Lubbe (the aforementioned guillotine) lit off the Reichstag.
So, what is next for us? We have been essentially inoculated against further statue desecrations and street paintings. Soon, these will no longer garner headlines. The game will need stepping up in order to stay on the virtual front page of what passes for today’s news media.
The logical targets to me are the houses and birthplaces of the same people whose statues were desecrated and maybe add a few more for good measure. I offer this not as a suggestion, but as a warning to those entrusted with preservation of such antiquities.
I certainly will not mention any by name, lending what meager protection I can. However, there are many easy targets and those in charge of preservation of these places should immediately move to a substantial 24/7 guarding plan in order to have a chance of keeping these relics intact and unharmed.
These arsonists will see being arrested and jailed after the fact as a mere inconvenience. They will have succeeded at their objective – obliteration.
Dictators do clever things to achieve and then maintain power. Hitler’s gang said they need full emergency powers in order to “protect” Germany from any more atrocities such as the Reichstag fire. That was a half-truth that conveniently served their purposes.
The public persona (read: the Democrat Party) behind what is going on in this country will come up with a similar half-truth that will look good on the surface and promise to yield stability in our country today. We have no idea what that is going to be. It will look good, right, fair and reasonable. It will take deep thinking to figure out where it really leads.
However, you can count on it leading to less freedom for the average citizen, among other points they will wish to achieve. Their efforts so far have led to words we can’t speak, clothes we can’t wear (if they have the logo of our favorite team before it was purged by the thought police) and things we can’t do. In the name of health safety, some local governments have already banned gatherings in churches, an obvious violation of the First Amendment, “for the sake of the common good.”
We are on an incremental slippery slope that, when taken as individual steps, looks innocent enough. Taken as a whole, we will be lucky to have the freedoms and prosperity currently “enjoyed” in Venezuela.
Starting in Russia, this is the way these sorts of coups have taken place for the last 103 years. The average citizens continue to go about their business, rationalizing that the latest loss of freedom is insignificant and adaptable. Then one day, all awaken in a terrifying world of which they never dreamed.
It not only can happen here; it is happening here while we attempt to go about our “normal” lives. The powers behind this are following the proven rule book and will soon be fully and completely in charge.
Time is short. How short? If matters continue in the next 12 months as they have in the last two, I suspect in another year I will not be allowed to write a column like this without being arrested.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.