Featured image from Smithsonianmag.com. Follow for more info.
Yesterday’s events in Washington D.C. have left a pit in my stomach, a deep and visceral sense of dread at the future of this country. It feels as if we’re living through the rise of another totalitarian structure, and it is what the people clamor for.
During the brief life of the Weimar Republic, the Communist Party in Russia and the National Socialist party, both spurred in growth from the inflation and damage inflicted as punishment for their role in World War I after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression, competed for power and control over the fragile government. To keep the Communists out of power, other groups allied themselves to the Nazi party, creating a working majority within the German government, opposed by the communists who had a smaller share of the representation. During the runup to another set of Reichstag elections, Hormann Göring ordered a raid on a Communist headquarters, “finding evidence” that they had planned to attack public buildings.
An attack came five days later, as the Reichstag was set on fire. Communist Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested at the scene. Hours later, freedom of speech, assembly, privacy, and the press were abolished with the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State (Translation from the Holocaust Memorial Museum). Thousands were arrested by SA stormtroopers, including 81 Communist deputies from the elections of March 5th. But the damage was already done. The Nazis, unfettered by their political rivals, used the Reichstag fire to dismantle their chief rivals and cemented their hold on power.
Historian Anson Rabinbach writes, “Behind the controversy stood the larger issue of the nature of the National Socialist seizure of power: was the dictatorship the result of a political crime or simply an opportune event?”
Mark Twain is credited with saying that History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The events precipitating the rise to power of quasi-fascistic groups like Antifa and the Proud boys seem to echo the uncertainty of the early 1930s Depression Era Germany. Years of warfare, a stagnating economy, mass death, inflation, heavy government spending, and a population struggling to make it day to day seem to echo back to the environment facilitating the rise of these unspeakable evils. The stage seems to be set again for such things to happen.
Yesterday, January 6th, a group of Pro-Trump protesters broke into the Capital building, shattering windows, looting various objects, and disrupting the certification of the Electoral College results from the election. Charges of election fraud, interference, and vote tampering filled the air and the minds of the people. And I went to work, reading in disgust the events as they unfolded.
Today, I found out that a young woman died after being shot in the neck (graphic image warning). Reports are coming out that four have died during this rally turned protest turned riot. Destruction of property, fighting with police, looting and vandalism. I swear we were just transported back in time to the summer. Trump’s message of “law and order” fell apart in one afternoon as a small group of his followers crossed the line.
Between the fall of the Roman Republic, the Weimar Republic, and the Civil War, today’s air has the feeling of dread. We’ve gone so long without full conflict, without the realities of war being real, without the consequences of our actions being felt, that the need for combative release is boiling over. Our fights have become digital and warfare is about inflicting collateral damage.
Ladies and gentlemen, watch the fallout from yesterday’s events carefully. Be aware of how this event is used for political gain. Be vigilant so that this stanza of human history doesn’t lead to the next one in historical sequence, one that is soaked in blood.
Many people believe that these types of things could never happen to this country, that somehow our existence and history transcends the patterns and desires of human nature. The cold reality is that as long as we are human, we are vulnerable to our inner demons.
A Place 4Politics 