“Behind Me are Millions”

February 15, 2021February 15, 2021 gdrthinktankLeave a comment

A German warning to America from History

From my Writing Room

It would be a mistake to assume that Donald Trump, the mob-president, depends on the Republican Party. Instead, it must be feared that the bulk of his 74 million voters will foolishly follow him, if not within the GOP, so in any other political movement – after all, idiocy is sufficiently established in this society to serve as the trailblazer. No law will be an issue anymore.

This man with limited intellectual faculties, stricken by pathological egotism and vindictiveness, will very likely be back in public “in one form or the other”, as he himself put it in his last hours in office. America’s democracy, including a shocking number of citizens, has failed in the most despicable manner, which will result in more consequences for this country.

Of course, Trump is not Hitler, who once boasted “Behind me are Millions.” Unfortunately, it was true. And yet, the situation is insofar comparable as Trump, still supported by millions, can play cat and mouse with the Republican Party, and, as the attack on the Capitol has proven, challenge the American democracy and its institutions to the core, virtually at will and without being punished. This fact will not have escaped his followers.

In 1932 and before, when Hitler did pretty much something very similar even before he became Chancellor in the following year, the illusory “Cabinet of the Barons”, the stirrup holders of the Austrian corporal, had degraded itself to powerlessness, because after all the assurances it was now too late to do something against Hitler – for millions were following him in ecstasy, spurred on with simple paroles against the establishment. Notice something?

To be sincere: If there had not been an American 1 June 2020 (when local law enforcement cleared peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square) and a 6 January 2021 (when the Capitol riot occurred), any comparisons with Hitler would not have even remotely entered my mind. As an historian, like so many Americans, I would have never thought such events possible as it happened in Washington D.C.

The darkest chapter in German history will certainly never repeat itself in an American way. For this, in retrospect, not least the foreign and domestic policy accents are as different as day and night, not to mention the historical and economic situation of both countries – Germany back then and the US today. But the danger that something more entirely atypical by American political standards could happen on a grand scale, can no longer be considered impossible. Much will certainly depend on the outcome of the next elections, and also if any of the various criminal investigations against Trump as a private individual will derail him.

It is much to be hoped that Nikki Haley, former Republican South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, who broke with Trump, is right about her prophecy: that Donald Trump will not return.*

But, how does she know that?

Note: *Nikki Haley, interview with “Politico”, 12 February 2021.

Blue Grass

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021 gdrthinktankLeave a comment

A Clueless President Might not be Responsible?

From my Writing Room

In a recent interview with “Politico”, Nikki Haley, former US-ambassador to the United Nations, whose parents were born in India, made the following, intriguing statement about Donald Trump and his belief that the election was stolen, quote: “That would be like you saying that grass is blue and you genuinely believing it. Is it irresponsible that you’re colorblind and you truly believe that?”*

I have often used the same expression, “Blue Grass”, in a very similar context, not only assigning it to Trump, but rather to at least half of the US populace. Instinctively, one could also compare it to the tale of the people jumping out of the window from the tenth floor because they were told to do so. This is exactly the central issue in this country and the reason why things more than likely will not change as they certainly would have to in order to facilitate social progress: People, not seldom trapped in religious delusion in their desperate quest for stability and thus restricted in their mental powers, have great difficulty to recognize facts and truths – because they have lost the ability of independent thinking.

The telling anomaly of human error refers not only to the election, it is much more: It is the reality of the virus and facts about wearing masks; it is the issue about man induced global warming; it is the propagation of insane conspiracy theories; and it also is, as an example of many, the gun mania in this country. The latter is also a very dangerous problem, and those who think they have Second Amendment rights are simply on the wrong track, to put it mildly. All it would take for them to recognize their error is a look into the history books of their own country and listen to their own scholars, and have the capacity of being candid with oneself: It is not what you wish it would be, because facts and evidence prove otherwise.

But, anticipating the ability from obstinate people to separate fact from fable will be nearly impossible. It is no accident that Trump literally could say and do what he wanted during his term, and he still received the votes of more than 74 million Americans in the past presidential election. There are certainly several reasons that might have contributed to an individual decision voting for Trump. But the core factor remains that Trump perverted the facts nearly on a daily basis, which was visible and audible on-camera, and he furthermore violated and imperiled the standards of American democracy even before he was elected. Those who voted for him anyway should question themselves about the stability and sincerity of their own mentality and character.

As an aside: The same lady mentioned at the outset of this little story, Nikki Haley – a potential Republican candidate for the presidency in 2024 -, also said this a few days ago: “Give the guy [Trump] a break.”

Note: *Haley in an interview with Politico, published 12 February 2021.

The Myth of the Second Amendment

February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 gdrthinktankLeave a comment

From my Writing Room

The Second Amendment “has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word ‘fraud’, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.” ^[1]
Warren E. Burger, Republican, 15^th Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1986

Americans who think they have Second Amendment rights are deluding themselves, and they do so either knowingly in their blindfolded, uncompromising passion for guns, or in blunt ignorance of their own country’s history. The latter, in all probability, may present the larger segments of the population fascinated with gun smoke.

On that score, it is not easy to ascertain the mindset of a sole, highly educated county commissioner who found himself in the position to publicly expressing his personal support for the Second Amendment per resolution – as if his district of responsibility, Union County in North Georgia, had all of the sudden ascended to the hub of the universe. More likely, as an alleged Democrat in charge of an area where 81 percent of the constituents chose Donald Trump, the local man named Lamar Paris might have felt pressure from several sides alike to assure the gun freaks that nobody will take their toys away – just like a kindergartener would comfort her little flock.

In a packed meeting on January 21, 2021, the riflemen’s ardor took on overheated forms in such a way that Paris seemingly had to press every button of his appeasement skills to prevent his county possibly named a “Second Amendment sanctuary county.” Festus, Marshal Matt Dillon, Miss Kitty, and Doc Adams – that’s for sure – would have gotten a real kick out of so much rampant devotion, had they only been able to attend such exceptional meeting.

The alleged background of the commotion constituted fearful gun owners emotionally backfiring on imaginary government attacks directed at their “Second Amendment rights”, particularly after the political signals in their home state had just recently turned from red to blue.

In such an atmosphere, it is hard to imagine that historic facts, let alone rationality, will play any role to people still roaming through the woods in search for animals like once Daniel Boone. These folks take nothing but their own version of truth to their heart and will never be convinced about the functionality of any logical mechanisms in the human brain. And they will always and with all possible self-confidence stick to their own convictions or whatever they were told by their deluders, come hell or high water, and no matter how surreal these convictions to others might appear.

But, as is mostly the case, historic facts speak a different language and seldom neither match nor serve ardent escapist’s wishful thinking. The Second Amendment, written 232 years ago by a founding father named James Madison, who later was to become the nation’s fourth president, never gave any American citizens the right to bear arms – neither back then, nor today. The infamous lines were clearly born out of necessity, namely, the state’s then-insistence to maintain their own militias, responsible for their defense themselves in preference to a standing, federal army. At the will of the states, the state militias were to constitute the foundation of the national defense.

As a result, the draft for the Second Amendment Madison was working on, originating from Virginia, read as follows: “The people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well-regulated militia composed of the body of the people trained to arms is the proper national, and safe defense of a free state. That standing armies in times of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided.” ^[2]

Warren Burger was not the first chief justice expressing his truthful interpretation of the Second Amendment. Alluding to the groundbreaking 2008 “District of Columbia versus Heller” decision by the Supreme Court, US-Historian Professor Joseph Ellis writes: “The Heller Decision by [Justice Antonin] Scalia purports to be an originalist interpretation of Madison’s meanings in the spring of 1789 and the meanings ordinary Americans at that time shared concerning ‘the right to bear arms.’ It is nothing of that sort. And no federal or Supreme Court between 1789 and 2008 ever reached the conclusion. Scalia did. Indeed, the true originalist opinion in Heller is by Justice Stevens, who argued that “bear arms” meant serve in the militia.” ^[3]

In this context, legalistic legerdemains within the branches of the US-government, conducted by some if not many of their representatives influenced by lobbying, have made this fraud possible and turned the Second Amendment and its true meaning literally on its head.

Epilogue: To me, chief justice’s Warren Burgers remarks from 1991, very likely aimed at the National Rifle Association (NRA), left an even deeper impression since he used the term “special interest groups” – an extremely applicable term from the beginnings of human history on, and distinctive as always. For thinking Americans living in present times, a careful observation of these special interest groups might lead them closer to a more realistic perception about the true reasons for the misfortune in their country. These are the groups (institutions) of interests (the few versus the many – see John Adams) that – undisturbed by law and government – take advantage of people’s widespread simplemindedness, and in addition they are perfectly skilled to clandestinely line their own pockets with billions, sometimes under the pretense of the Good Samaritan, and even referencing to God on their holy Sunday morning sessions. Restraining the veritable, greedy sources that cause bitterness for the majority in this society, is a better approach than according credibility to conspiracy theorists and any other blabbermouths – no matter where they place themselves in front of a seducible audience.

Notes

[1] The quote is taken from “Six Amendments – How and Why we Should Change the Constitution”, page 127; John Paul Stevens, former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Also available in “American Dialogue – the Founders and Us”, Joseph J. Ellis, page 161. – On the subject: Interview Warren Burger/PBS News Hour on 12/16/1991: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eya_k4P-iEo

[2] See Joseph J. Ellis, “American Dialogue – the Founders and Us”, page 147.

[3] US-Historian Professor Joseph J. Ellis in a letter to the author of this article, dated 04/10/2018.

Worldview of a Local Yokel

October 16, 2020October 26, 2020 gdrthinktankLeave a comment

From my Writing Room

If churches tell people how to vote, then these churches should be taxed. They invest in the stock market from their sheep’s tithing and own property worth more than 600 billion free of tax. At the same time, Joe Schmo toiling for Walmart has to pay his share into the coffers, thereby subsidizing the heavenly phrase mongers and their Sunday morning story time. According to a study from the University of Tampa, poverty in the United States could be eliminated if religious institutions would not be granted a pass on taxes.

“The only way to make any real money in this world was to start a religion.” L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of the Church of Scientology

In the countryside of Guns and God, where church comrades Jim Bob and Joe Bob happily shoot through their neighborhood and a widespread mentality seems out of step with realness, one will wonder no longer how things could change for the better. In lockstep with such obvious backwardness and a meticulously fostered system of “good old boys”-connections, serves a local newspaper in the scenic north Georgia mountains. The provincial paper, distinguished by its perpetual dullness, was capable of publishing the reader’s letter of an alleged Reverend, whose name I do not even want to cite on my blog.

On pages 4 and 5 in the paper’s October 14, 2020 edition, the presumed minister jabbers about a topic he in his perfected bigotry obviously never heard much more about than through dull propaganda widely distributed in the United States. His assertions culminate in the sentence that America is – quote – “on the verge of becoming a socialistic state, which is clearly the work of the great deceiver Satan.” End quote.

I wonder how much time this scriptural genius has spent with lunatic conspiracy ideologists to utter such nonsense. At this juncture, I could go through his absolute baseless gibberish about Socialism line by line and confute him, factually accompanied by verifiable historic facts and first-hand experience. Instead, I would like to refer the reader to my various writings on this blog site.

Apart from that – and probably more importantly – is the rationale that a Reverend as a religious servant should never convert himself publicly into a political ideologist. But that’s exactly what this man does, for he not only uses a poor language in a baseless and repulsive propagandistic style, but rather makes his intention abundantly clear: namely, suggesting to his readers not to vote for the Democratic candidate because the consequence would be nothing but Socialism. This, Mr. Reverend, is not only shameful in attitude and false in itself – it also incapacitates you as your boss’ servant, always in service, whose public rhetoric consequently should be separated from his political bias.¹For what you did, you should change your job.

I am more inclined at this point to express my incredulous astonishment about how in the world, in the United States of America and in the 21^st century, a newspaper can publish such horrendous, ultimate mischief without at least labeling a customized warning notice, especially when the personified existence of Satan is mentioned². This has nothing to do anymore with freedom of speech, but rather with the journalistic obligation to exercise diligence. Or do the protagonists of this newspaper assume that their own children will get educated by being exposed to such ultimate stupidity?

1 And therefore again comes George Carlin’s quotation in mind: “I don’t know how you feel, but I’m pretty sick of church people. You know what they ought to do with churches? Tax them. If holy people are so interested in politics, government, and public policy, let them pay the price of admission like everybody else.”

2 I am aware of Satan’s central character in the Bible, although the unforgettable, genuine Lutheran Pastor Thoms in his religious instructions never mentioned this horrible figure toward us children. The spook probably would have scared the hell out of us. – I had encounters with Satan in a more appropriate place – in the book of fairytales sent in 1969 over the Iron Curtain by my aunt in West-Germany. It is still on my book shelf.