Last week I was watching a documentary about the Night of the Long Knives, Germany 1934. It was a brutal execution of political opponents to gain absolute power. One of the victims was Willi Schmid, a well respected German music critic and cello player, in a case of mistaken identity. A very sad story about someone who dedicated his life to music. I also watched the news about two policemen who executed an unarmed man and shot him eight times in the back. Later on I watched on social media a 17 year old boy with a semi-automatic gun killing two people. On a web-page he adored the police with the slogan 'Blue lives matter'.
The upcoming elections in the U.S. reminds me of the situation in Germany in the mid thirties and there are a some similarities:
Unemployment, poverty, racism and an ongoing crisis;
More poverty and unemployment for middle class people;
Overwhelming wealth for a small percentage of the society;
Low educated policemen, who are prepared to shoot without hesitation;
Civil militia on the streets with lots of guns, and people who are willing to use these guns to protect their livelihood with a strong political conviction;
A very strong weapon lobby like the National Rifle Association, that makes it almost impossible to reduce weapons in society.
The Republicans will try to win the elections by claiming Law and Order. To win this elections they are using all kinds of methods to blame the Democrats;
This president is prepared tot send his Federal Army to restore Law and Order in Kenosha (Wisconsin), Chicago, Kansas City, Portland and Albuquerque and there is more to come;
A government that's not interested in the promotion of art, public health or connecting people, but using political slogans like 'Make America great again';
A policy of 'Divide et Impera' like the Romans did, is not the recipe for a country to represent the free world.
Thinking of Willi Schmid, who was playing his cello when the personal army of the Reichskanzler took him from his home, was not an action of greatness in Germany, but was collateral damage in a power play to make Germany great again. Thinking of the German people I can understand the frustration in losing World War One, and the poverty during the depression in the thirties, the fear for socialism and communism and so on, but a slogan like 'Make America great again' I do not understand. Where does this frustration comes from? It still is a great nation. But it behaves in a strange way. Federal Army and Federal Agents in the streets reminds me of a sad past in Europe. Civil militias in Germany counted over 4 million members in 1934 and later on they were allowed to wear guns after the incorporation in the party. There was more fear to come and the end of the story was the total collapse of Germany. In my opinion is at this moment Germany an example of tolerance and hope for the democratic and free world. It hurts to see the struggle in the U.S. with its fear for civil uprising and its inflation of democratic values because of this fear.
What do you prefer in your country?
This picture?
Or this picture?:
