Are We Doomed to Repeat the Past?

Not too many years ago, the government of one country was threatened by the prospect of one the "isms" taking control and robbing them of their freedoms. At the time, it was a different “ism” from terrorism but just as frightening.
...To assure the people that their freedoms were protected, they were told that if they didn't support this new party of the people fully, there was no way to know what these enemies would do.

So in fear they were made to understand that they would lose what they so painfully sacrificed to achieve. In the end, people supported this party that promised protection for the masses.

And through use of fear, this party helped make the population uncertain and doubting of any and all threats—either real or imagined--to the hegemony of this country and its ability to survive an onslaught from this foreign country that threatened it.

In the process, the people were told that some of the freedoms inherent in their democratic system had to be sacrificed in order to assure that the government would have the necessary power to act in their behalf. And the people acquiesced figuring that their first priority would be for protection of their interests and their families.

But it didn’t end there. The threats posed by this enemy seemed to grow even larger. The party that stood up to the threat explained that to provide the people with the necessary level of security, the people would have to vote this party into power above all of the other parties.

Moreover, they were told that some of the citizens of this country were sympathizers of this great "ism" and should be identified and separated.

Later, they were told that they were a great people infiltrated by people who were not up to their standards. Using standards of Eugenics, it was easy to identify who these people were who stood in the way of this country achieving the greatness they deserved.

The people accepted the words of the new leadership and took pride in their greatness. Those who didn't fit the true standards of this people were identified and segregated. It turned out that many people were “imposters” seemingly living as if they were loyal citizens when in fact the new leadership of this country knew otherwise. They were all identified and separated from the main body of the people despite their more than significant contributions to mathematics, physics, the law, education, education, technology and other seemingly worthwhile pursuits.

To avoid future incidents of enemies of the state taking over, gradually the rights of these "other" citizens were removed until they had no more rights left. At that point, you could look around yourself and see only people like you. Diversity, creativity and culture suffered under the austere programs of the leadership who demanded more conformity and ruled increasingly by fear. Eventually, there were spies everywhere and mistrust so that eventually no one trusted no one else. In their pursuit of their deserved greatness, they had made enemies all over the world.

As we all know, this was Nazi Germany. But in the interests of fighting terrorism, may we be pursuing a path that denies us the very things that made us great as a people?: Have we too willingly accepted the government's arguments without subjecting them to the litmus tests of debate and investigation? Was our own congress to willing to defer to the Executive rather than serve as a form of check and balance to protect the liberties of the American people? Are we too willing to abdicate our own responsibilities as a people and deferring decisions to a leadership that says things that don’t seem to ring true or pass the test of credibility?


Les Aaron