On a recent summer evening I spent a pleasant hour with a neighbor, a retired Air Force officer and international airline pilot.  As we discussed the serenity of life in our quiet gated community, surrounded by the rolling hills and crystal clear streams of eastern Oklahoma, our conversation turned to the head-in-the-sand attitude and the lack of real concern among many of our friends and neighbors for the dangers we all face… and how quickly those attitudes would change should their own loved ones become victims of radical Islam’s next attack on our country. 

 We agreed that such concerns are not high on the priority list of most Americans and my friend offered me, quite pointedly, a piece of unsolicited advice.  Aware that I have been known to occasionally share my political views with others, he suggested that to live successfully in a community such as ours, or in any community in America, it is best not to challenge others on their political beliefs or on their knowledge of current affairs.  It is far better, he suggested, to simply smile, say, “Good morning, how are you?” and go about our business.  In other words, we should never attempt to save others from themselves.

 

In response, I suggested that his was a prescription for disaster.  I suggested he try for a moment to imagine himself as a citizen of the Third Reich during the early 1930s when Hitler was coming to power.  Would he have seen Hitler’s “Brownshirt” bullies for what they were?  And, if so, would he have had the courage to challenge them?   

 

There are those who say it could never happen here.  But why not?  The propaganda barrages and the character assassination emanating from the hate mongers of the left have already begun in earnest.  For example, the September 2, 2004 edition of the CommonSense.org News Center, which claims to be a source of “Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community,” contained an article by Stephen M. Osborn, titled “Brownshirts Dressed in Blue.”

 

As a self-described “student of history,” Osborn claims to have observed a “Republican fascist takeover of our government.”  However, after suggesting that “the parallels with Germany of the 30’s are frightening,” he provides not a single shred of evidence to support his outrageous claim… only a litany of “boiler plate” left wing propaganda themes which masquerade as truth in liberal circles.

 

On the other hand, Osborn must be aware that the historic parallels do exist.  One does not have to be a “student of history” to see that the tactics and the modus operandi of American leftists are exact copies of those employed by the fascists of Nazi Germany.  There are countless corollaries.  For example:

 

• In pre-World War II Germany, the Sturmabteilung (SA), Hitler’s “Brownshirts,” functioned as a paramilitary arm of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party.  In the United States, beginning in the 19^th century and continuing through the mid-20^th century, the Ku Klux Klan functioned as a paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party, accomplishing through terror, lawlessness, and murder those things that the party could not accomplish within the law. 

• In Germany, Hitler created the Ordnertruppen, consisting of ex-soldiers and common ruffians, to protect Nazi Party gatherings and to violently disrupt opposition party rallies and meetings.  In the U.S., Democrats rely on violence-prone elements of the labor movement to assault Republicans and to disrupt their party functions… even going so far as to fire rifles and shotguns through windows of GOP offices and campaign headquarters.