"Eradicating the Red"

1)

2) Do you remember this image? Of course you do. It's the 2016 Presidential voting map, by county.

3) It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Never gets old. I smile each time I see it.

4) There are powerful forces at work in an attempt to eradicate all that red. The methods being used are not new.

5) The time period from 1933 – 1939 is significant because during this time, the Nazi position hadn’t evolved to their eventual conclusion that the Jews must be exterminated.

6) Hitler made that shift in 1941. From 1933 – 1939, the Nazis were focused on establishing a totalitarian state. They crushed their opposition through legal moves, fear and intimidation.

7) They took key measures to execute their plan that included: 1) silencing political opposition, 2) fear and state terrorism, 3) propaganda campaigns, 4) foreign policy, 5) economic policy, and 6) social policy.

8) In 1933, a fire did significant damage to the Reichstag building, which housed the Parliament of the German Empire. Hitler opportunistically used that event to seize control and drive out his enemies.

9) This gave a pretext to the Nazis to suspend most rights provided for by the 1919 Weimar Constitution in two emergency decrees: "For the Defense of Nation and State" and "To Combat Treason Against the German Nation and Treasonable Activities."

10) The Nazis claimed that the decrees were necessary to protect the nation from the "Communist Menace."

11) Pause here. Do you see any parallels here between the above and The Left's response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Blue state governors and bureaucrats are opportunistically seizing on a disaster to "protect the nation" from a powerful "menace".

12) In the March 1933 election, the Nazis won control of the Reichstag. The Social Democrats, the Catholic Center Party and the Communists won nearly as many seats as the Nazis, but they were not unified and mistrusted each other.

13) What followed that election were a series of additional laws passed to further advance the totalitarian state. Prime example: The Malicious Practices Act, a law that made even the smallest expression of dissent a crime.

14) Those accused of "gossiping" or "making fun of government officials could be arrested and sent to prison.

15) I'll unpack more in the coming days. But the linkages are striking. Free speech has been under attack for some time. The Left continues to push the narrative: "If you disagree with me (on anything) you are a bad person and I must hate you."

16) There is no interest in discourse or debate - if you disagree, you must be silenced. And you must be controlled.

17) The COVID-19 pandemic has given The Left an opportunity to rapidly advance its agenda to oppress Americans. "We will tell you when it's safe to go out...to reopen your business, to return to your job."

18) Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer: "I'm going to keep doing my job, and I'm not going to apologize about that, I'm not changing the way I run this state because of some protests."

19) In other words: If you disagree with my opinions and decrees, you are a anathema to society and, because of you, innocent people will die. You will have blood on your hands. You must sacrifice yourself, your livelihood and your family for the greater good, which I define."

20) In another time, one would have read this and thought, "What fantastic hyperbole. This kind of stuff is never going to happen." Unfortunately, it's no longer hyperbole. It's happening. Now.