Liberty For All

by Jessi Winchester, Author of From Bordello to Ballot Box

“Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times.”

- Machiavelli; 1469-1527 Italian Political Philosopher

History is repeating itself right before our very eyes.  The current administration is following the blueprint conceived by Hitler only three-quarters of a century ago … and it’s working.

In the 1930s, the new Reichstag, or German Parliament, met in Berlin to consider passage of a deceitful act that would end democracy in that country and establish Adolf Hitler as dictator.  It was given an innocuous title of, “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich” but became known as the “Enabling Act.”  Today, we have the equivalent in America known as the “Patriot Act.”  As the quote above reminds us, we can foresee the future by learning from the past.  But we must be willing to not only be vigilant about our freedoms, but to take action to defend them.  Is America willing to stand up to the tyranny of its own government?  So far, even our spineless Congress has withered under the lies, propaganda, intimidation, and fear of the Bush Administration.  It very well may be too late.

 Let’s compare Hitler’s “Enabling Act” and Bush’s “Patriot Act” and see what similarities exist between the two and peek into the road in which America is traveling under this “good ole boy, just one of us” leader.

ENABLING ACT: March 23, 1933, Germany’s new Parliament met to consider the harmless sounding Enabling Act.  Governments with covert agendas always give deceiving bills titles that make the people think it is in their best interest.

PATRIOT ACT: Only five days after 9-11, a draft of the flag-waving bill known as the Patriot Act was rammed through Congress and passed within weeks, supposedly in the “best interest” of American citizens.

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ENABLING ACT: Nazi storm troopers surrounded the building in which the vote was to take place and even lined the aisles of the voting chamber, staring menacingly at anyone who disagreed with Hitler’s wishes.

PATRIOT ACT: Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee that if they weren’t “with us, you’re against us,” and declared anyone who disputed Bush’s wishes as “unpatriotic,” which intimidated Congress into passing the ill-named act.

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ENABLING ACT: Hitler made a speech before the vote assuring the Reichstag that he would use “restraint.” History, of course, proves otherwise.

PATRIOT ACT: Bush promised America the expanded powers would be used only to fight terrorists and not include innocent citizens.  That promise immediately went by the wayside.

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ENABLING ACT: The Nazis secretly created a crisis to make the new law seem necessary in order to restore stability by burning the seat of German government themselves, which caused mass panic.  They then blamed the event on the Communists and claimed they needed the new law to fight this evil.

PATRIOT ACT: The events of 9-11 created the crisis needed to pass the freedom eliminating Patriot Act.  Emerging evidence points to the fact the Bush Administration may have known, or even been part of drafting, the tragedy so that the Patriot Act could be justified and enacted, giving the president and his secretive cabinet vastly expanded power.  It is certainly suspicious that a bill the size of the Patriot Act, which would require massive time and research to prepare, was ready in five short days after the event.  Some speculate the bill was already drafted prior to 9-11 and presented to Congress as necessary to “fight terrorism.”  As we have since seen, the expanded powers have been enormously abused by including innocent American citizens and vast circumventing of the U.S. Constitution.

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Both the Enabling Act and the Patriot Act have legally torn down the democratic process and paved the way for takeover of each respective country.  Out of cowardice and fear, the Reichstag became a cheerleader for Hitler, much as Congress has become for Bush.

Can you spell d-i-c-t-a-t-o-r boys and girls???

Copyright © Jessi Winchester 2006 All Rights Reserved