Beware breaking rules that hold republic together

Early 20th century writer and philosopher George Santayana is often quoted as stating. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The parallels between Donald Trump’s messaging dovetail quite neatly, and most alarmingly, with the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s.

Hitler and the Nazis offered an opportunity to their followings who wanted simple answers. Nazis proclaimed that members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled. The Nazis were the great artists of victimhood. Hitler believed in telling lies so big that their very scale left some residue of credibility. They promised legal warfare against opponents who spread information they did not like. Germans were not rational individuals with interests, the reasoning went, but members of a tribe that wanted to follow a leader.

The violence the Nazis used to intimidate others meant that elections were not free in the normal sense. They used the system and rigged it in their favor. Constitutions break when ill-motivated leaders deliberately expose their vulnerabilities. The Nazis took advantage of an opportunity created by people who could destroy a republic while lacking the imagination to see what comes next.

They refused even the mildest comprise with their opponents. So, what does come next, America? To the MAGA crowd, please remember this. Do not break the rules that hold a republic together, because one day you will need order. And do not destroy the opponents who respect those rules, because one day you will miss them.

Wayne Bartosik

Wheaton