Why Didn’t The German People Do Something? Why Aren’t We?

During my lifetime the question that many people have asked, “The German people had to have seen what was happening to their country with the fascist’s coming to power, why didn’t they do something to stop it, while they still could”? It wasn’t something that just happened overnight. It took the Nazi’s over twelves years for the power grab to be complete.

All it took was for some of the good German people to step up and warn the country about what was happening. And stop the the power grab that this group of thugs were reaching for. Very few Germans did. Why?

Never forget these words!

“In Germany they [the Nazis] came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” Pastor Martin Niemoeller, living in Nazi Germany, who spent a year in a Concentration camp, for his speaking out, at last.
~Pastor Martin Niemoeller~

The way to stop an incipient police state is by defending its first victims. Remember: It’s next victim could well be you. Part of the problem was the “them, not us” mentality. The “I agree that these particular people are the problem. So I don’t care if they are getting a raw deal. They are not Real Germans! They are not Patriotic. Do not question the leadership.” They very quickly slid into the “let’s not make waves, because I may get into trouble”. Fear became the motivating factor of not standing up for what was right. Fear of being branded unpatriotic. Fear of being put on some watch list. Fear of being interviewed by the S. S. Fear of being arrested and jailed without anyone knowing where you were, no charges and no court appearance. Fear of being put into one of those prisons.

I find myself asking :Where are all the true Patriotic American’s? Why aren’t they marching and protesting these abuses of power, this power grab that is going on with this Administration? Why are we not telling them NO?

NO! to Torture!

NO! to Extreme Rendition!

NO! to Arrests and Imprisonment without a court appearance!

NO! to the Black Prisons in foreign countries!

NO! to no attorney or counsel!

NO! to No Fly List!

NO! to Wiretapping!

NO! to the Patriot Act!

NO! to Searches of our houses, businesses

NO! to Searches of our Library & Bookstore purchases

without a 4th Amendment Warrant!

NO! to anything which is Unconstitutional!

We have an agreement between us and the Government. We are abiding by our agreement. We must demand that they keep their end of it.
They have the power that we give to them, ONLY by the consent of the governed. They may not break this agreement, this Constitution without our consent. But, as long as we do not stand up, march, write and let them know that we do not consent, they will always grab the power they want. We must not let them.

ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL,
IS THAT GOOD MEN DO NOTHING!
~Edmund Burke~

Now is the time. Let us hope that it is not too late. Or in the future, some other country’s children will study our history and wonder: Why we did not stop them while we had the power to do so!

“The truth is, there is a government in office which seeks such complete power and dominance that even some conservatives have started to notice. Too blind to see the true intentions of this bunch, they can at least figure out that an imperial presidency created by George Bush might one day be inherited by Hillary Clinton …. so now even these fools are getting nervous about where this goes. They know that the only difference between the monarchism our Founders so reviled and contemporary Cheneyism is that the technology of our time allows George Bush to turn George III into George Orwell.

It’s Munich in America, people. We can dream the pleasant dream that if we just stand by quietly while the Boy King gobbles up some of our liberties, he won’t want any more, but that would be a lot like Chamberlain dreaming that a chunk of Czechoslovakia would be enough to appease Hitler. It wasn’t, and it won’t be.

Do I overstate the concern? The New York Times recently editorialized ‘We can’t think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers and just trust him. We also can’t think of a president who has deserved that trust less.’ The Times should know. Between rah-rah’ing the war for Bush, sitting on the Downing Street Memos as if they were banana import trade policy documents, and covering for Judith Miller while she covered for The Cheney Gang, they have about as much blood on their hands as does Donald Rumsfeld. But if even the Times can work up the concern to print a line like that, we’re in a world of hurt.”

by David Michael Green

The rest can be found here. A really great work on the subject!