During the 12-year insanity of the Third Reich, Nazis labeled their acts of aggression as “self-defense.” But they denounced acts of self-defense by others against Nazi assault or terror as “naked aggression.”
This remains the mindset and practice of American Right-wingers.
In Arizona, American Fascists had anticipated becoming victimizers of gays and lesbians. But on February 26, 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer dashed their hopes and vetoed Senate Bill 1062.
The legislation had been passed by the Republican-controlled State House and Senate. It would have:
- Allowed business owners to turn away gay and lesbian customers.
- Allowed employers to deny equal pay to women.
- Allowed individuals to renege on contract obligations.
- Allowed hospitals to refuse to provide care to a gay or lesbian patient.
American Rightists believed they had a God-given right to withhold their business services from gays and lesbians.
But they considered it unfair and even demonic for gays and their supporters to withhold monies from discriminatory Arizona businesses.
The Right had suffered a similar reversal-of-discrimination misfortune in 2012.
Karen Handel, vice president of public affairs for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, fashioned what she believed was a politically viable plan for Komen to pull its grant monies from Planned Parenthood (PP).
A fanatical anti-abortionist, she didn’t care that this money went entirely for breast cancer screenings for poor women. She cared only that about 3% of all PP revenues went toward providing abortion services.
The official version, as put out by Handel and the top brass of Komen, went: “We’ve halted grants to Planned Parenthood because it’s under investigation by Congress for misuse of funds.”
Unfortunately for Komen, the public instantly saw through the lie.
Any crank in Congress can start an “investigation” into anything.
And PP was “under investigation” by a crank: Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Stearns, a fanatical anti-abortionist, claimed he wanted to determine whether PP had spent public money on abortions over the last decade.
But Stearns didn’t hesitate to slander the patriotism of thousands of 9/11 “first responders”–the police, firefighters, construction workers and others who risked their lives to save their fellow Americans.
Rep. Cliff Stearns
He did so by demanding that they submit their names, birthplaces, addresses, government ID numbers and other personal data to the FBI to prove they were not terrorists.
Only then could they receive federally-subsidized medical care for injuries caused by exposure to toxic dust and debris at the site.
Not one terrorist was discovered in the resulting investigations.
Public outrage at Komen was immediate and overwhelming:
- More than 50 members of Congress signed letters asking Komen to reverse course.
- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly rebuked Komen and pledged $250,000 to PP.
- Approximately 37,000 people from all over the country signed a petition demanding Handel’s resignation.
- PP raised nearly $3 million in contributions.
Reeling before this onslaught of criticism, Komen issued a statement: “We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.”
Having failed in their latest assault on women’s rights, the Right’s would-be predators now portrayed themselves as victims:
- “The last time I checked,” Handel told Right-wing Fox News, “private non-profit organizations have a right and a responsibility to be able to set the highest standards and criteria on their own without interference, let alone the level of vicious attacks and coercion that has occurred by Planned Parenthood. It’s simply outrageous.”
- “Planned Parenthood campaigns to destroy anyone who questions them,” charged Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List.
- “Their attitude is that of an immature teenager with an enormous sense of entitlement. This is just more proof that Planned Parenthood will pulverize anyone who dares to question them,” Dannenfelser said.
- “What Planned Parenthood did to that venerable and honorable organization [Komen Foundation] is nothing less than a Mafia-style shakedown,” said Steven H. Aden, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. The Fund bitterly opposes abortion, gay marriage, birth control and the separation of church and state.
Many conservatives correctly defended Komen’s right, as a private charitable organization, to give–or withhold–its money as it saw fit.
But these same conservatives refused to grant PP’s outraged supporters the same right: To withhold their own monies from Komen.
National Review’s Daniel Foster called the backlash to Komen “disgusting,” attacking PP and “the Left” for their “gangsterism.”
During the battle for Stalingrad, in 1942, a young German soldier named Wilhelm Hoffman was appalled that the Russians refused to surrender. In his diary he wrote:
German soldiers at Stalingrad
“September 26. Our regiment is involved in constant heavy fighting. After the elevator was taken the Russians continued to defend themselves just as stubbornly.
“You don’t see them at all, they have established themselves in houses and cellars and are firing on all sides, including our rear. Barbarians–they use gangster methods! Stalingrad is hell….”
What held true for German Fascists holds equally true for those in America: Oppose their efforts to enslave you–and you become a gangster.
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AN ANCIENT WARNING THAT APPLIES TODAY
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Politics, Social commentary on May 3, 2017 at 12:10 amThe ancient historian, Plutarch, warned: “And the most glorious episodes do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.
“Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles.”
It’s well to keep this warning in mind when judging the character of Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who is now Secretary of Energy for the Trump administration.
Five years ago, he was a candidate for President himself.
Anita Perry, his wealthy wife, wanted voters to know she sympathized with the plight of the unemployed.
Anita and Rick Perry
For her, unemployment meant that her son, Griffin, had resigned from his job at Deutsche Bank to campaign for his father.
“He resigned from his job two weeks ago because he can’t go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations,” she said in a Pendleton, S.C. diner on October 14, 2011.
The Securities and Exchange Commission had recently adopted stricter rules for investment advisers undertaking political activity.
Anita Perry’s comment came in response to a question from a middle-aged voter who had lost his six-figure job and now worked as a handyman.
“My son lost his job because of this administration,” she added.
Griffin Perry
Blaming the Obama administration is, of course, second-nature for those on the radical right. But Anita Perry may have forgotten that, on October 13, 2011, she said that her son had eagerly resigned.
She recalled that her husband assembled the family to discuss his run for the Presidency last May.
“So, our son Griffin Perry is 28. He loves politics, and he just couldn’t wait. He said ‘Dad, I’m in! I’m in! I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I’ll resign my job. I’ll do what you need me to do.’” she said in a speech at North Greenville University.
Anita Perry might have considered that there is a difference between voluntarily resigning from a job and being involuntarily fired from it.
And she might have consoled herself with the truth that, having a family fortune and the income of his attorney-wife to rely on, Griffin Perry wasn’t in danger of standing in a breadline anytime soon.
So why would Anita Perry stoop to mingling with those she considers her social inferiors? And why would she pour out her woes to people she would otherwise cross the street to avoid?
Simple. She needed them. Or, to be more accurate: She needed their votes.
True, her husband was hauling in huge campaign donations that dwarfed those of his rivals. But money can’t vote.
And with an estimated 14 to 25 million Americans unemployed, the Perrys had to reach beyond the minority of voters who would qualify for their country-club membership.
Of course, the voluntary resignation of her son wasn’t the only complaint Anita Perry had to make.
“We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party,” she told a South Carolina audience on October 13, 2011. “So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith.
“He is the only true conservative–well, there are some true conservatives. And they’re there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them, too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose.”
Actually, it was Rick Perry–through his surrogate spokesman-pastor, Robert Jeffress–who had repeatedly attacked the Mormon religion of his then-campaign rival, Mitt Romney.
Jeffress told reporters at the Values Voter Summit in Washington he believed Mormonism was a “cult.” While Perry has said he didn’t agree with the charge, he refused to repudiate the remarks–or support–of the influential Baptist pastor.
It was the same strategy favored by demagogues like President Richard Nixon: The “respectable” Nixon took the high road, while ordering his subordinate, Vice President Spiro Agnew, to attack the patriotism of anyone who dared disagree with him.
Why is all of this important?
Because the priorities of the leader of an organization usually determine the priorities of that organization. And those priorities, in turn, derive from the character of that leader.
So consider the character traits that Perry has so far revealed:
It’s fascinating to imagine the verdict Plutarch would deliver on American politics today. After all, he did shrewdly analyze the ruthless political maneuverings of such despots as Alexander and Julius Caesar.
No doubt, would-be despots like Donald Trump and his self-righteous cronies like Rick Perry would find Plutarch’s verdicts highly upsetting.
And Americans who believe in liberty would find those verdicts incredibly frightening.
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