This is not about the apathy of the German citizenry, or even about the wickedness of the National Socialist regime. This is more about the failure of the people of the United States to learn the most important lesson to be learned about the rise to power of the Third Reich.
Germany was dealt a humiliating and totally debilitating defeat in World War I and consequently, Germany's infrastructure was decimated. I want to just briefly but reasonably speculate on the state of the common German citizen. Currently in America, we're experiencing the worst economic trial since the Great Depression in the late 1920's through the start of America's entry into World War II. Even with part-time work, unemployment insurance and government assistance with subsidized housing and food stamps, times are difficult for millions of Americans- we haven't had a war fought on Anerican soil since the Civil War of the mid-1800's. Imagine Germany then, with the currency completely devalued, natural resources depleted or unable to be accessed, tens of millions of young German men, who had been the backbone of a robust work force dead or physically handicapped but in both cases, unable to work.
Imagine having arguably the most advanced society on planet earth, a center for higher learning, industry, and technological innovation, and a very high standard of living replete with almost every amenity imaginable. My point in stressing Germany's high standard of living is to point out how as human beings we become attached, expectant of our comfortability. This is true all over the world. (Look at the violent civil unrest in Greece right now, or in France over asterity measures.)
The German people went from plenty to nothing. From banks, full of Goldmarks and Papiermarks, grocery stores exploding with food to living off of rodents, even garbage. Imagine proud fathers, who wanted no handouts, who actually wanted to work to provide for their families as they always had, to the torture of having to watch wife and children starving and in want. Imagine dutiful mothers who desired nothing more than their family's well-being, foregoing food and comforts for children or aging parents.
Then suddenly, a man, strong-willed and brandishing the most powerful, irresistible oratorical skills one had ever seen before by anyone- a war hero as well- appears on the scene. He clearly and effectively lays out a plan to propel the nation back into its "superpower" status and that no longer would anyone be in need for anything whatsoever.
A people with empty stomachs will agree to almost anything. Anything.
Germany gave Adolph Hitler their everything in exchange for their lives back. The cost-? Close to fifty million men, women and children dead, billions of dollars in property damage and the Final Solution.
America is at a critical point in her history. The population continues to become more and more apathetic, increasingly less engaged in the political process, and almost totally engrossed in materialism and hedonism. We have fallen in love with our comforts and we expect- we expect- our stomachs to be full.
We are perfectly set up for some terrible disaster, whether natural or man-induced, to empty our bellies, deprive us of our cellular phone gods and other shiny pacifiers to force us to our knees for some American fuhrer to promise us our comforts in return for our very freedom. Americans have believed that "it can't happen here" but it can and will if we do not learn this harsh but crystal clear lesson from history.
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