Authoritarianism Then and Now

Photo by Frederick Wallace on Unsplash

In the wake of the 1929 world economic crisis, the German Nazi party encouraged its citizens to use hate and blame for their lack of jobs and the ongoing financial crisis. The leaders of that party turned citizens’ anger toward their neighbors, particularly those of Jewish descent.  

In addition, Germany’s Nazi party: 

• Ignored Parliamentary Laws and began to govern by a violent fascist dictatorship.

• Eliminated opposition voices and transformed the media into a propaganda tool. 

• Eliminated legal “due process” and granted the secret police (Gestapo) unchecked power to round up and imprison all Nazi political opponents without trial and move them to concentration camps where 20.9 million were killed, of which 6 million were Jewish.

By 1933, Germany had quit the League of Nations and between 1936 and 1938 Germany took control of the Rhineland, Austria, portions of Czechoslovakia and finally Poland, thus triggering World War Two.  

In 2024, in the wake of a financial crisis triggered by high inflation, the United States elected Donald Trump as President and elected Republican majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

From the start, the Trump Administration encouraged U.S. citizens to use hate and to blame “illegal immigrants” for the lack of jobs, the high cost of living, and crime.

In addition, Trump and his accomplices have: 

• Ignored the Constitution and used Executive Orders to bypass Congressional approval, freeze federal grants and loans, impose tariffs, and govern by a fascist dictatorship using violence. 

• Attacked the Media, eliminating reporter access or threatening to revoke media licenses for unfavorable coverage.

• Purged 300,000 Civil Service employees, losing years of expertise.

• Dismissed criminal cases against political allies while targeting political opponents and institutions with retribution. 

• Eliminated legal protections of “due process” for immigrants and allowed thousands of masked, secret ICE and Border Patrol agents to break into people’s homes without judicial warrants and to ignore the rule of law in making arrests at immigrants’ homes, workplaces, on the street, in courtrooms, and in schools.

• Held thousands of men and women (and some young children) in cruel, dirty, dehumanizing U.S. and foreign detention centers. 74% of those detained have no criminal convictions.

• Provided ICE and Border Patrol agents with immunity for their actions in mis-treating immigrants, harming (beating and killing) bystanders, and placing immigrants in unaccountable detention centers.

• Used the Military National Guard to police several (liberal) cities in violation of federal law, which prohibits the use of military to conduct law enforcement except when authorized by Act of Congress or when requested by State governors.

• Pardoned more than 1500 criminals convicted of the Jan 6 violent storming of the Capitol and attack on Capitol police.

• Fully gravitated toward other authoritarian rulers while alienating America’s liberal allies in Europe. 

• Used military force to attack or threaten Iran, Venezuela, and Greenland.

  
  

Please call your Congressperson and Senators and strongly urge them to ensure this administration abides by “the rule of law” established by Congress.  Demand that they do their jobs by holding the DOJ and Homeland Security (ICE and Border Patrol) accountable for all their actions and requiring them to treat immigrant detainees with basic human dignity. 

Ken Peterson

MAJ U.S. Army (Ret.)

Buchanan, MI