Looking for a quote for Absolved this early morning, I found this in How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War by British historian Donald Cameron Watt (Pantheon, 1989). In his final paragraphs, Watt speaks of the English people's fears about the Germans lingering on after the war. And, he adds:
So do the fears of a war which stems from the will or miscalculation of a ruler or ruling group intent on global hegemony to the point of unreason or mental instability. Hitler willed, wanted, craved war and the destruction wrought by war. He did not want the war he got. Its origins lay through his own miscalculations and misperceptions, as much as through those of his eventual opponents, not least in their belief that he was bluffing, that he would recoil, that in Paul Claudel's words, "Croque-mitaine se degonflera" (the boogeyman will go away). Be firm and it will not happen. . . Neither firmness nor appeasement, the piling up of more armaments nor the demonstration of more determination would stop him . . . The only people who could have stopped him permanently were those least conditioned to do so, his Generals, and their soldiers, if they had been ready to obey, by coup d'etat, or an assassin capable of penetrating into the Reichs Chancellery from which, in the last days of peace, Hitler never emerged. History knows this did not happen.
The German generals' original sin, of course, was to accept the Fuehrer "blood oath" in place of the oath to the German Constitution. History never repeats exactly, yet certain patterns always remain. A leader may direct his people to war not because he loves war, but because he loves power and is willing to use violence, internal or external, to get his way.
Since we live in interesting times, let me be explicit. Obama is no Hitler and I am not indirectly soliciting his assassination or an American coup d'etat. Surely not even the West Point Protective Association could be maneuvered into slavish obedience as the Prussian leaders of the Wehrmacht allowed Hitler to do to them.
But if Obama is no Hitler, he may be a Mussolini. He has, after all, the arrogant jutting jaw and narcissism of that Italian tyrant. Only time will tell.
If he is allowed to accrue that much deadly power, however, it will be because the rule of law has collapsed and the Oath our Founders provided has failed.
The rule of law is collapsing around us. Pray that the Oath never fails. For the tyrannical boogeyman, in all its manifestations, will never go away.
6 comments:
I've seen a number of people liken Obama to Mussolini.
I see him frequently imitate Mussolini poses.
What is amazing is how many people DON'T seem to see it.
It's obvious to anyone who has seen old newsreels.
You want a quote, I've got a quote.
From Terminator 1, by the character Kyle Reese (for those who arent' familiar, he's the guy who came from the future to stop the Terminator's attempt to kill Sarah Connor, and who later fathered the future leader of the resistance to the Terminators, John Connor):
"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."
Modified to our past and present circumstances, that quote would read:
"Listen, and understand. Those statists are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They doesn't feel pity, or remorse, and they fear only armed resistance. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are powerless before them, or until they are dead.
While I agree Obama at present does not liken to Hitler as we now know him, but look again at his rise to power and as he "led the people" into a frenzy of passion for his "words and ideas".
Too many indeed waited and watched within Germany's military, glad to build the military and subsequently hiler's power, never believing he would use that power to the maddening ends that he did.
No, i DO see a likeness to hitler and it scares me to death. He would take our guns, and that renders us uncapable to fight any tyranny he may later implement.
Great post, we all need to be watchful and not be lulled into submission.
Mike,
I did not read your words as calling for anyone to do anything untoward, but it troubles me that there are those who would read these words and twist them to mean something other than what you say. It is the cause of the fear that pervades the land these days. Remember during the campaign, when a woman got into an argument with an Obama campaign worker? She was subsequently visited by two people claiming to be Secret Service, but who would not give their badge numbers or their names. They were probably impersonators, but it does make one more cautious. We do not live in the USA anymore.
PolyKahr
Obomination may not be Hitler, but that's a fine picture of him in the article. ;o)
Here's some more for you...
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors"
~Plato, 427-347 B.C.
"If the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded."
~Noah Webster - (1758-1843) American patriot and scholar, author of the 1806 edition of the dictionary that bears his name, the first dictionary of American English usage.
"A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable for he is known and carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself... for the traitor appears no traitor: He speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their faces and their garments, he appeals to the baseless that lies deep in the souls of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is to be less feared." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman Constitutionalist.
Why is it that one generation after another, not of individuals only, but of whole communities and nations, are found pursuing the same general course, committing the same errors, suffering the same evils, and finally perishing from the same causes? Simply because they learn nothing from the history of those who have preceded them.
The three main reasons the roman republic fell;
Fiat Currency/central bank
Military spread too far...not protecting the citizens/nation but "going off to conquer"
Unprincipled men in government changing it from within, from a republic to a collectivist society
Sound familiar?
Post a Comment