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Vigilance is The price of Freedom Pt.II. [1]

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Date: 2023-01-12

Only We Can Stop Steve Bannon

In the 1932 election in Germany, Paul Von Hindenburg, head of the Social Democratic Party won a clear majority with 53% of the vote. His Social Democratic Party platform was committed to freedom, democracy, and justice. The Social Democratic Party was committed to allow those who disagreed with the party to speak and write on issues without interference.

On January 30, 1933 President Von Hindenberg appointed a minority member of the Reichstag, one who had just become a German citizen a year earlier to be Chancellor of Germany. Jews were unconcerned, convinced the institutions in place in Germany would protect them. Der Israelit, a Jewish newspaper in Germany printed this editorial on February 2, 1933.

“We do not subscribe to the view that Herr Hitler and his friends, now finally in possession of the power they have desired for so long, will enact the proposals circulating in the Angriff or the Völkischer Beobachter newspapers1; they will not suddenly divest German Jews of their consti- tutional rights, lock them away in race ghettos, or subject them to the avaricious and murderous impulses of the mob. They not only cannot do this because many other crucial factors hold their powers in check, rang- ing from the Reich president to some of the political parties affiliated with them, but they also clearly do not want to go this route, for when one acts as a European world power, the whole atmosphere is more conducive to ethical reflection upon one’s better self than to revisiting one’s earlier oppositional role: operating as a European world power means that one seeks an enduring place in the harmonious exchange of peoples of culture. And beyond that, it is clear that the powers at Wilhelmstrasse2 no longer see demagogic appeals designed to heat up mass gatherings of the Volk as strictly necessary. The new Prussian Minister of the Interior [Hermann Göring] can perform a far greater service to the old comrades in arms and party friends by rejuvenating the huge, state civil service along National Socialist lines than by making open concessions to the brutal manifesta- tions of hatred of Jews.”

With the exception of Marjorie Taylor Greene, we all know what happened. And it happened by dismantling the very institutions that had made Germany, Germany. Hitler’s first act was known as “The Enabling Act.” It allowed him to take action without constitutional limitations.

Donald Trump recently called for the termination of the Constitution. Steve Bannon is calling States to hold Constitutional Conventions. If 34 States were to do this and make changes to the Constitution, rural, conservative states with a minority of the population could alter our Constitution and basically impose a one party conservative government. The Tea Party, now known as the Freedom Caucus advocates for this. Wisconsin in this past election, almost became one party state.

The Freedom Caucus, a minority of about 50 out of 222 Republican Congressman, 50 out of a total of 435, dominated the rules committee in trade for electing Kevin McCarthy speaker, whom they now hold as hostage in order to achieve their goal. The majority caved. They gave up on being vigilant to protect our institutions. The guarantees of our Democracy are under attack in 2023 as they were in Germany in 1933. Only our vigilance will prevent them from falling. Only our action, by often communicating not only with our representatives, but with the freedom caucus members, will save our Democracy. Will we all answer the call? Will we all be vigilant.

If we fail, if we are not vigilant, Bannon succeeds in bringing everything crashing down, and destroying all of today’s establishment.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/12/2146978/-Vigilance-is-The-price-of-Freedom-Pt-II

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