Showing posts with label Hitler and Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hitler and Germany. Show all posts

Sunday, January 29, 2017

RESISTANCE BEGINS WITH WOMEN'S MARCH AND ENDS WITH EACH ONE OF US





We thought we were free but with the tainted election of Donald Trump we have come face to face with an Orwellian 1984 world where civil liberties and freedoms which were once taken for granted are gradually restricted or ended and always for the same reason ~ National Security and never ending war. The Revolution has officially begun with the world wide millions strong Women's March on January 21st which has sent a message to the world and it will end with each one of us. We will no longer be silent and we have the power to change the system: Allen L Roland, PhD  


"A member of the pre-Hitler Prussian cabinet, asked what caused Nazism, said: “What caused Nazism was the clubman in Berlin who, when he was asked about the Nazi menace in 1930, looked up from his after-lunch game of Skat and replied, ‘Dafur ist die Regierung da. That’s what the government’s there for.'  They Thought they were Free / Pg. 159 – Commentary: Submission to Authority
 
I was born in January of 1934, just as the rise of fascism was reigning in Germany and Hitler (like Trump) was rapidly seizing power from the same bedrock of national apathy and disenfranchisement that exists today.
For German exceptionalism in the 1930’s was really not too different, in many ways, than American exceptionalism in the last decade and very likely headed for the same disastrous fate.
We have moved from the Dark side of the Bush Cheney administration to the Black cesspool of disintegrating moral values and America First at any cost values of an unfolding Trump administration ~ fueled by Trump's enormous ego and lack of empathy.
"Our would-be emperor needs constant watching. More than anything else, he craves adulation. Boycott his brand. Remind his enthusiasts of every broken promise. If he senses the nation's mood harden against him, he will likely respond. Coup leaders habitually entrench themselves with firepower and mass arrests. They tear up existing laws to write their own. Ours depend only on our apathy and ignorance. If we can't stop them cold, we deserve whatever befalls us."   Mort Rosenblum, Reader Supported News, http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/41381-focus-this-is-a-coup-detat-plain-and-simple
In that regard, I am reminded of Milton Mayer’s classic book THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE (The Germans 1933 – 1945).
Mayer’s book describes the slow seduction of the people as their liberties, freedoms and moral values were gradually stripped away by Hitler’s fascist government ~ while waving the flag of national security, celebrating the Military and German patriotism.
Apathy sets in with each step, as it most certainly has in America, and Mayer knowingly describes the consequences for Germany in the early 1930’s ~
 Pg. 171 THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE
 The world you live in ~ your nation, your people ~ is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed.  Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the wayYou have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined … Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven't done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing).”
 
QUOTATION OF THE DAY REGARDING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND THE OLIGARCHY TAKE OVER
"We've never seen anything this bizarre in our lifetimes, where up is down and down is up and everything is in question and nothing is real."  Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity and the author of a book about presidential deception, on President Trump's first days in office.
Democracy Now's must see video on the Women's January 21st March summarizes that day of resistance to the obvious take over by the Oligarchy ~ a March which involved well over 4 million people worldwide but also emphasized that Trump's victory is a serious threat and not to be taken lightly. As the women of the world have shown us on Saturday ~ it's time to organize and resist .
See Democracy Now video / Women's March on Washington ~ 20 minutes  https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2017/1/23
 As Samuel Johnson once correctly said in 1775  "The last refuge of a scoundrel is Patriotism" and be forewarned , for Hitler used Patriotism to great effect in the 1930's to cow the masses ~ and one of Donald Trump's first executive orders was to declare January 20th, Inauguration Day ~ Patriotism Day ~ which was something Hitler continually did in Germany in the 1930's.

"The Trump executive order is an effort to keep Muslims out of the country and has nothing to do with security,"   says New Internationalism Project director Phyllis Bennis ~ Real News Network / See interview ~~ https://youtu.be/kSftDmVKZ1w

 But I digress and In the concerned spirit of the Women's March on January 21st, 2017 ~ we all have a constitutional right to dissent especially if we feel our moral and constitutional rights are being violated ~ and then our voices must be heard.
But there are road blocks within the Trump Admiration to control dissent and control the news ~ mainly his chief strategic advisor, Steve Bannon (Breitbart News) who recently told the media to Keep your mouth Shut   Watch must see Amy Goodman's 10 minute share the truth about Breitbart News and Steve Bannon ~ 12 minute video / https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/27/the_media_is_the_opposition_party
The ultimate dissent, of course, is Impeachment and Democracy Now reports that there already is more than enough evidence to introduce an Impeachment investigation against Donald Trump ~ which has already gained over 250,000 signatures. John Bonifaz, National Voting Rights reports ~ https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/27/hundreds_of_thousands_sign_petition_to
 
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"
Howard Zinn


Allen L Roland, PhD

Heart centered spiritual consultant and advisor Allen L Roland can be contacted at allen@allenroland.com Allen is also a lecturer and writer who shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com. He is also featured columnist on Veterans Today and is a featured guest on many radio and Television programs.


Saturday, November 19, 2016

AMERICA APPROACHES SPIRITUAL DEATH / CORNEL WEST









Make no mistake about my words, America is fast approaching a spiritual death with the election of Donald Trump and no one describes the causes and proportions of this eminent spiritual blackout better than teacher and philosopher, Cornel West. President Obama has, in essence, put an African-American face on American neoliberal Imperialism and Cornel describes our spiritual death throes with a knowing candor and honesty: Allen L Roland, PhD

 

"We may fight against what is wrong, but if we allow ourselves to hate, that is to insure our spiritual defeat and our likeness to what  we hate." George William Russell



 Four years ago, I wrote that the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two hundred years and that these nations have progressed through a nine stage sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacence to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage. See VT Article ~ http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/03/19/the-nine-stages-of-civilization-were-in-the-seventh-apathy/

 

As Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, once correctly said”We’re not a democracy. It’s a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we’re a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy.” 

 

In our present Plutocracy, we made the transition last year from complacency to national apathy ~ but with the passage and implementation of Obamacare, along with an increasingly militarized surveillance state, we have now entered stage eight, Dependence on the state ~ which will soon be followed with militarized Bondage by the state and eventually spiritual death.

 

Donald Trump's campaign vow to register Muslims is a frightening echo of the shameful treatment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.

 

The British Economist magazine wrote in a worried editorial that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, “history was said to have ended,” bringing with it the final triumph of “liberal democracy.” With Trump’s victory, however, “that illusion was shattered. History is back ~ with a vengeance.” The election is a “hammer blow both to the norms that underpin politics in the United States and also to America’s role as the world’s pre-eminent power.”

 

We are now ironically the Germans in the 1930's as they slowly viewed their freedoms being taken away with each new fear based edict and political appointment or announcement from their newly appointed Chancellor, Adolf Hitler.  They could feel the ground slowly shift beneath them and they became spiritually numb. They silently watched in disbelief and shock as these events rapidly unfolded ~ as we are now ~ and as they always do before spiritual death.


Following the Reichstag fire, the Nazis began to suspend civil liberties and eliminate political opposition. The Communists were excluded from the Reichstag. At the March 1933 elections, again no single party secured a majority. Hitler required the vote of the Centre Party and Conservatives in the Reichstag to obtain the powers he desired. He called on Reichstag members to vote for the Enabling Act on 24 March 1933. Hitler was granted plenary powers "temporarily" by the passage of the Act . The law gave him the freedom to act without parliamentary consent and even without constitutional limitations.


Employing his characteristic mix of negotiation and intimidation, Hitler offered the possibility of friendly co-operation, promising not to threaten the Reichstag, the President, the States or the Churches if granted the emergency powers. With Nazi paramilitary encircling the building, he said: "It is for you, gentlemen of the Reichstag to decide between war and peace".

The Centre Party, having obtained promises of non-interference in religion, joined with conservatives in voting for the Act (only the Social Democrats voted against).


The Act allowed Hitler and his Cabinet to rule by emergency decree for four years, though Hindenburg remained President. Hitler immediately set about abolishing the powers of the states and the existence of non-Nazi political parties and organizations. Non-Nazi parties were formally outlawed on 14 July, and the Reichstag abdicated its democratic responsibilities.



 





Adolf Hitler addressing the Reichstag on 23 March 1933. Seeking assent to the Enabling Act, Hitler offered the possibility of friendly co-operation, promising not to threaten the Reichstag, the President, the States or the Churches if granted the emergency powers

 

All we need for a similar unfolding of events at present is another false flag event, similar to 9/11, and away we go. But there are many other voices sounding the alarm, besides myself, and one of them is Cornel West.

 



 












Cornel West / 2016

 

Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, academic, social activist, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The bulk of West's work focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness." West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004).


On  November third ,2016, West wrote an opinion piece for the Boston Globe entitled Spiritual Blackout in America: Election 2016 ~ in which he brilliantly builds on the themes of Plato, King and others as he describes our impending spiritual blackout and demise;


"The most frightening feature of the civic melancholia in present-day America is the relative collapse of integrity, honesty, and decency ~ an undeniable spiritual blackout of grand proportions.


The sad spectacle of the presidential election is no surprise. Rather, the ecofascist catastrophe called Donald Trump and the neoliberal disaster named Hillary Clinton are predictable symbols of our spiritual blackout.


Trump dislodged an inert conservative establishment by unleashing an ugly contempt for liberal elites and vulnerable citizens of color ~ and the mainstream media followed every performance (even his tweets!) for financial gain.


Clinton laid bare a dishonest liberal establishment that was unfair to Bernie Sanders and obsessed with winning at any cost ~ and the mainstream media selectively weighed in for pecuniary ends.

In short, the rule of Big Money and its attendant culture of cupidity and mendacity have led to our grand moment of spiritual blackout.


The founder of Western philosophy, Plato, foresaw this scenario. In “The Republic” ~ history’s most profound critique of democratic regimes ~ Plato argues that democracies produce citizens of unruly passion and pervasive ignorance, manipulated by greedy elites and mendacious politicians. The result is tyranny ~ the rule of a strong
man driven by appetites, corruption, and secrecy.


There is no doubt that Trump meets this description more so than Clinton. Yet neoliberals like Clinton bear some responsibility for the anger and anguish of Trump’s followers ~ especially those white male working and middle-class citizens who have been devastated by neoliberal economic policies of deregulation, NAFTA, and Wall Street protection.


The vicious xenophobia toward women, Mexicans, the disabled, gays, Muslims, Jews, and blacks are the sole fault of the Trump campaign. Yet the rule of Big Money in capitalist USA downplays the catastrophic effects of global warming, of poverty, and of drones killing innocent people ~ all the common ground of Trump and Clinton.


For over a century, the best response to Plato’s critique of democracy has been John Dewey’s claim that precious and fragile democratic experiments must put a premium on democratic statecraft (public accountability, protection of rights and liberties, as well as personal responsibility, embedded in a fair rule of law) and especially on democratic soul craft (integrity, empathy, and a mature sense of history).


For Plato, democratic regimes collapse owing to the slavish souls of citizens driven by hedonism and narcissism, mendacity and venality. Dewey replies that this kind of spiritual blackout can be overcome by robust democratic education and courageous exemplars grounded in the spread of critical intelligence, moral compassion, and historical humility. The 2016 election presents a dangerous question as to whether Dewey’s challenge to Plato’s critique can be met.

Yet Clinton is not a strong agent for Dewey’s response. There is no doubt that if she becomes the first woman president of the United States ~ though I prefer Jill Stein, of the Green Party ~ Clinton will be smart, even brilliant, in office.


But like her predecessor, Barack Obama, she promotes the same neoliberal policies that increase inequality and racial polarization that will produce the next Trump.


More important, she embraces Trump-like figures abroad, be they in Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Israel, or Syria ~ figures of ugly xenophobia and militaristic policies. The same self-righteous neoliberal soul craft of smartness, dollars, and bombs lands us even deeper in our spiritual blackout.


Instead we need a democratic soul craft of wisdom, justice, and peace ~ the dreams of courageous freedom fighters like Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Joshua Herschel, Edward Said, and Dorothy Day.


These dreams now lie dormant at this bleak moment, but spiritual and democratic awakenings are afoot among the ripe ones, and especially those in the younger generation."



 

 

Speaking for the younger generation, although a senior member of an older generation ~ when we collectively surrender to the universal love that is deepest within ourselves and take full responsibility for this love in our actions with one another and the planet ~ we will finally realize that we have never been alone in the Universe and that we are all one.

 

And as we do this, one by one, we will experience, planet wide, a Unified Field of love and soul consciousness which exists not only beyond time and space but also beneath our deepest fears and whose principle property is the universal urge or propensity to unite ~ and we all have a part to play in this spiritual transformation and evolution.

 

 

"If there were no real propensity to unite, even at a prodigiously rudimentary level, indeed, in the molecule itself, it would be physically impossible for love to appear higher up in the 'hominized' or human form": Teilhard de Chardin, The phenomenon of Man.

 



Allen L Roland, PhD

 

Heart centered spiritual consultant and advisor Allen L Roland can be contacted at allen@allenroland.com Allen is also a lecturer and writer who shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com. He is also featured columnist on Veterans Today and is a featured guest on many radio and Television programs

 


Friday, June 3, 2016

TRUMP AND HITLER / BOTH ROSE FROM POLITICAL APATHY AND OPPRESSION












Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump both have been spawned from the same swamp of political apathy and oppression and both share the same ego driven fascist arrogance, sense of entitlement and aversion to empathy ~ which unfortunately mirrors the mindset of a growing majority of America's electorate: Allen L Roland, PhD

 

 

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”  ~ H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: Third Series

 

 

When you fully open the window of the 2016 American Political scene ~ you will see the true face of our plutocracy as revealed in our Imperialistic wars, interventions, the suppression of human rights, the demands of the corporate state and it's all apparent in the face and words of Donald Trump ~ much like it was when Hitler became the angry fascist face of Germany in the 1930's ~ reflecting the same right wing polarization and distrust of the government and media.

 

We have almost reached that great and glorious day where the plain folks of this land have reached a place of such desperation, powerlessness and distrust that they are seriously considering electing a downright moron and fascist to the White House ~ Donald Trump.

 

Flying the banner of resentment, distrust and anger towards the establishment, Republicans have united behind the one establishment candidate who appears to be talking their language and is willing to disregard the political correct rules that hamper the other candidates.

 

Patrick Martin, WSWS, offers the most appropriate description of Republican Presidential candidate Trump ~ "His crude rhetoric shatters the official pretense that America is the defender of “freedom” and “democracy,” which has been used by Democratic and Republican administrations alike to justify imperialist wars and interventions throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. Trump rips off this democratic mask. He stands openly for the violent suppression of anyone who might dare to oppose the demands of corporate America, either abroad or at home."  See WSWS article ~ http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/12/10/pers-d10.html

 

Fascists (Wikipedia) believe that liberal democracy is obsolete, and they regard the complete mobilization of society under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary to prepare a nation for armed conflict and to respond effectively to economic difficulties. Such a state is led by a strong leader ~ such as a dictator and a martial government composed of the members of the governing fascist party ~ to forge national unity and maintain a stable and orderly society.

























TheWrap’s Itay Hod interviews his father, a holocaust survivor, Zeev Hod, about his research and Trump’s rise.

 

"One of the questions I never thought I’d ask my father: Does Donald Trump truly resemble Adolf Hitler?"

 

"Given that people from Louis C.K. to Bill Maher to Glenn Beck have compared Trump to Hitler, I wanted to know if my dad also believed there were similarities between Trump and the man who killed an estimated 200 members of our family ~ including my father’s father."

 

"My dad, Zeev Hod, is not only one of the smartest people I know ~ he’s also had the unique experience of being both a Holocaust survivor and a history teacher who spent years educating high school students about the Third Reich."

 

"Was he worried? Did it bring back any memories? Did he think that Trump was in fact borrowing ideas from “Mein Kampf?”

 

The short answer is “yes.”

 

One of the things people used to say about Hitler when he rose to power in the early 1930’s was that he was saying it like it is,” my dad told me over the phone from Tel Aviv. They thought he was a bit of a clown, with his big speeches and over-the-top showmanship, but they also admired his ability to say what everyone thought, but didn’t dare say out loud.”

 

“Are you worried?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he answered. “But there is definitely room for concern.”

 

Here is our conversation, translated from Hebrew.

 

So, how much does Donald Trump truly resemble Adolf Hitler?

"There are slight similarities between the two. But there is a difference. Germany was in much worse shape economically in the ’20s and ’30s. It was still recovering from WWI, having to pay reparations to the Allies. Hitler was able to tap into the Germans’ frustration by zeroing in on an enemy, the Jews. He claimed the Jews were taking over the country, stealing high-paying jobs. He was able to galvanize the uneducated by saying that Jews had stabbed Germany in the back."

 

Can you give me more examples?

"Sure. Now that America’s minority population is becoming a majority, Trump is able to tap into that same fear among its disenfranchised. Asking his supporters to raise their hand during his rallies while proclaiming their allegiance to him is eerily reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi salute, which was meant to inspire loyalty and sympathy towards the regime."

 

Did Hitler have a lot of fights and scuffles at his rallies? 

"Absolutely. If anyone dared to heckle Hitler, the S.A. would beat them to a pulp. They were essentially thugs. Not that different from those we see at Trump’s rallies today."

 


 

 

Fascism promotes the establishment of a totalitarian state The Doctrine of Fascism states, "The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people."

 

 

In The Legal Basis of the Total State, Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt described the Nazi intention to form a "strong state which guarantees a totality of political unity transcending all diversity" in order to avoid a "disastrous pluralism tearing the German people apart".











An excerpt from ‘They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45’ by Milton Mayer

 

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

 

This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter."

 

 It was from that deep right wing polarization and distrust of the government by the people that Hitler became the outspoken lightning rod voice of the disenfranchised and disillusioned in the 1930's and the Jews became marginalized and virtually eradicated as the nationalized fascist corporate state was born ~ much as Donald Trump has become the outspoken lightning rod of the disenfranchised and disillusioned in 2016 and Muslims have become marginalized by a growing corporate state.






















Click on to enlarge


"Hitler always seemed pleased at the plaudits of the crowd but never without smirking as if to say, "the poor saps are being taken in." He despised the masses as so many sheep. They have always in his mind been led for causes almost always profane, but whatever the cause the leader must never forget to impress upon the masses that God has thus commanded and molded him in His image, though the truth be the reverse. The secret of Hitler is found not in him, but in history" See article ~ http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-sb-duess-02.html

 

 

Mr. Trump, who has called for monitoring mosques and even barring Muslims from entering the United States, has been the clear beneficiary of this moment of deep anxiety and oppression among the vast majority of electorate. More than four in 10 Republican primary voters say the most important quality in a candidate is strong leadership, which eclipses honesty, empathy, experience or electability.

 

These voters heavily favor Mr. Trump ~ and now white supremacist groups are capitalizing on Trump's ride on the dark side of American politics.

 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has emerged as a high-profile Democratic surrogate prosecuting the case that Trump might not be as rich as he says he is. “We don’t know what Trump pays in taxes because he is the first presidential nominee in 40 years to refuse to disclose his tax returns,” Warren said in a fiery speech last week, followed by an extended Twitter war with the presumptive GOP nominee. “Maybe he’s just a lousy businessman who doesn’t want you to find out that he’s worth a lot less money than he claims” ~ or maybe, I would add,  he is not paying any taxes and most of his income is illegally sheltered.

 

Finally, in this election year, we must look deep within ourselves to find our truth and our true choices in life and I for one choose to live in truth, love and gratitude versus Lies, anger and hatred ~ and I also deeply feel that the only political candidate who comes close to my moral values is Bernie Sanders.

 

And perhaps Bernie best describes the Trump phenomenon in a recent article in Rolling Stone ~ "To the media's great shock and to the pundits' great shock, there are millions of Americans who are very, very angry. And they're angry because they're working longer hours for lower wages. They're angry because they're working two and three jobs. They're worried about the future of their children – getting decent jobs and getting homes. And then they look at the leadership of the Democratic Party and the leadership of the Republican Party and they don't see people addressing – or even paying attention to – their needs. And Trump comes along and starts to blame Mexicans or Muslims or women for the problems facing society. The people are seeing that someone at least is speaking to their anger. And that's unfortunate. That's a very ugly approach. But that's why he's succeeding " ~ which, I would add, is exactly what happened to Germany in the 1930's with the rise of fascism and Adolf Hitler. See Rolling Stone article ~  http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/37233-bernie-sanders-qbringing-millions-of-people-together-to-stand-up-and-fight-backq

 

 

“A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.”
~ George Bernard Shaw

 

 

Allen L Roland, PhD




Heart centered spiritual consultant and advisor Allen L Roland can be contacted at allen@allenroland.com Allen is also a lecturer and writer who shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com. He is also featured columnist on Veterans Today and is a featured guest on many radio and Television programs.