Are we still heading towards Fascism?

 

Are we still heading towards Fascism, or are we already there?  That's a question that bothers most of us, as we are seeing the GOP repeat the same old lies.  They feel that is a lie is repeated enough, people will begin to accept the lie as truth - the same tactic the Joseph Goebbels used in Nazi Germany during the 1930's.  Yet, only the unthinking proletarians in the party actually believe this bunkum and act against their own interests, while the cynical elite gains from these lies. 

But why do I ask the question as "Still Heading Towrards" Fascism?  The answer lies in what is being reported by both the mainstream (old) media, and that being reported by "independent" (new) media, such as YouTube videos and Podcasts. Lately, I have found that the quality of the independent media varies greatly, as both progressives and conservatives tend to spin the news to favor their groups.  Yet, these same people are covering things that old media isn't reporting, such as our president's gradually failing health.

Yet, the question still remains: Have we become a Fascist state?

If we haven't become a Fascist state, we are awfully close to becoming one.  High level military officials have resigned, rather than carry out unlawful orders. DOJ Prosecutors have regigned, rather than subject people on our president's "enemies list" to wrongful prosecutions, and people are actively protesting in the streets.  Our president (and his henchmen) have called the recent "No Kings" protests as Anti-American.  What about protest is Anti-American?  Our country was built on protest, and our civil rights were gained through protest.  The ability to protest without fear is essential to a functioning democratic republic.  And we still have that ability for now.

The warning signs of impending fascism are disturbing.  We have a president who has caused major broadcast networks to cancel their late night comedic hosts for skewering him in their monologues.  (Fortunately, public outrage forced the network to restore one of these late night hosts to his platform.) This man labels any network who tries to report the news fairly as "Fake News" and reduces access to their reporters when they ask him embarrassing questions. To make things worse, the president has violated the "Posse Comitatus" law, preventing the use of the US Military for domestic policing activities. This man keeps testing the limits of our republic, and has so far found little push back against him.

So what can be done?

Right now, we need to "force" the old media to report all the facts available.  This will mean write-in campaigns, as well as using the new media to cover our resistance efforts.  Most Americans, including MAGALoonies have a sense of right and wrong.  Expose the crimes being committed by the current regime in ways that get their attention, and that's half the battle of winning their hearts.  Right now, people consume their news within news bubbles.  Find ways to break into the bubbles to get our voices heard.  Once people start to feel how unjust this regime is, its support will fall off.  The war in Vietnam ended because key voting blocks stopped giving the government the support it needed to continue the war.  The same can happen to this law-breaking regime.     

Language - We all use it, but not well.

This is one of my favorite scenes from Blazing Saddles.  To me, it is one of the best anti-racist films ever made.  And that's because of Brooks' use of language.  Could you imagine the impact of this scene if it were limited to politically correct language?  Try this comparison:

"One move, or the black fellow gets it!"

or

"One move, or the n----r gets it!"

Which is more funny in the context of this film?  Given how dumb the racist whites in the film are being shown to be, I feel the latter line used by Brooks has a greater impact in more ways than one.

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What a person says, how it is said, and the context in which something is said gives much meaning to an utterance.  This is why Germany has strict rules regarding the display of Nazi symbols to this era.  I find it sad that America has greater freedom in the use of Nazi symbols, and with it, a larger neo-Nazi movement.  Sadly, symbols can carry meaning more effectively than words. And during the Trump era, we've seen more Swastikas and Confederate Battle Flags on display than I'd ever have dreamed would be socially acceptable in any part of America.

I was sickened when our former president said "there were good people on both sides" when referring the the Charlottetown protests.  Are Nazi sympathizers good?  How so?  Does this mean that black rights are bad?  I still remember them chanting "Jews will not replace us."  How can they do that, given how few there are in this country?  Maybe, it's because these people don't want want to invest in the education needed to get the jobs of the future?  Maybe, it's because these people don't want to move to where the jobs are?  Maybe, it's because they don't value people who are not as bigoted as they are, and employers reject them because they want a healthy workplace?

Over time, we saw how bad a person our 45th president was. Recently, Business Insider posted an article noting how the Russians have been cultivating this man as an asset for years. The article links to another in the Guardian, that references a new book on the KGB's development of assets in America. Given what is now known about our 45th president, it's easy to see how a foreign power could manipulate a person's use of words to harm a nation while plausible deniability is spread all around.

It's hard for me to say this, but maybe we need guardrails on the 1st amendment.  Germany strictly regulates the use of Nazi symbols.  But it does allow them to be used.  How many of us know that in a country that generally prohibits the use of the Swastika, that Mel Brooks was allowed to use it in a theater where "The Producers" was being performed?  Yet, Germany prohibited the use of the image outside the theater. So, a pretzel flag was used instead. Even Germany realizes that a symbol of hate has to be exposed to the contempt it deserves.  

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Sometimes, freedom of religion conflicts with other people's property rights.  Several years ago, a bunch of ultra orthodox Jews sued to allow their Eruv to be extended from Rockland County, NY into neighboring areas of New Jersey.  What couldn't be openly discussed in the courts is that the neighboring New York religious community had a much higher rate of poverty (50%-60% on public assistance) than in the community on the New Jersey side of the border. The folk in New Jersey wanted to keep their parks for their own community, and not be crowded out by outsiders.  They wanted to make sure that their properties would not be bought out, then turned into illegal multi family homes.  The 1st amendment actually got in the way of free and responsible speech in this case.

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All of our freedoms come with responsibility.  Sometimes they come into conflict with each other.  When I contrast our 45th president's encouragement of a mob storming the capitol on January 6th with the court battle regarding the Eruv, I see evil (as evidenced by the 1/06/21 mob) vs. good (both sides of the Eruv dispute).  In the former case, people had no respect for the law, and would use any and all tools to get what they want.  In the latter case, the court system was responsibly used.  Although the settlement was not perfect, it is being adhered to, and has had a peaceful outcome.  

Language when used effectively is powerful. But without law, it can also be dangerous.  My question is: Do we need explicit limits on 1st amendment freedoms?

Refusing to question authority is tantamount to treason!

"I was only following orders...."  We've heard that line before. And we're in danger of the same thing that happened to the Germans. People refused to stand up and question authority out of peer pressure, and later out of fear. And as the Nuremberg trials showed, this was inexcusable and was a betrayal of a great nation.

We now have a corrupt leader in Washington, DC who is not being openly challenged by his own political party.  They are only interested in being in power, and not the purpose of being in power - to govern.  Gradually, we're seeing the state houses pass laws which are meant to restrict the right to peaceably assembly and protest wrongful actions by government.

The most egregious offenses may yet come from the Federal Government.  We're seeing provisions meant to protect whistle blowers being repealed by executive order. We're seeing an attack on a health care plan, that in spite of its many flaws, has succeeded in bringing health care to millions who were not able to afford health care before. We're seeing an attack on Women's rights by extremists who want to limit a woman's access to birth control AND prohibit her from having the choice of having an abortion if that birth control method fails. We're seeing attacks on the LGBT community, by attempts to ignore the community's existence AND remove protections established by both the courts and executive orders. We're seeing a rollback of environmental safeguards, as well as ceasing to collect data which helps to prove that global warming is real.

Yet, what offends me most is not what one might expect from a "far right" shift in government. Instead, it is that "far right" government has been enabling a president to betray his country. Our president is tainted by his direct and indirect connections to the Russian oligarchy. The GOP fears betraying the man who would betray us all. They still act as if he is a leader who should be respected - even though he shows no loyalty to those below him. 

Several times over the past couple of years, my friends and I have discussed the alarming signs that America is about to have a Fascist government. Most of these friends are on the left, and never would have voted for a Republican candidate. However, today I had a similar discussion with a friend who never likes anything coming from the left - and even she is seeing the signs of Fascism coming from the right. If this doesn't make a person think, I don't know what does....

Hopefully, I am wrong. And I hope that the midterm elections make it possible for the left to check and balance the current unchecked power of the right. Only time will tell....

Does anything said make a difference at this point?

By this point in the campaign, I'd expect that in a normal Presidential Race, we'd have more undecided voters. This year, we have people from both parties who are sick of the choices given to us by the two major parties, and want another choice.  Given the above chart (issued on 10/16/2016), it looks like 9% of the public wants to vote "NO" to both Trump and Clinton, leaving 6% of the public in the "Undecided" category.

If we factor out the two minor parties, the chart looks like this:

This chart implies that 8% of the vote is up for grabs, making it highly likely that Hillary will win.  Although anything can change up to election day, the above two charts do not look good for Trump.

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The big problem with elections is showing the public that they have not been rigged.  It is much harder to falsify votes once cast. Instead, the two parties fight to keep people loyal to the opposition from getting to vote.  But what happens when a vote is as close as it was in Florida's  Bush v. Gore battle?  One could legitimately say that the election was stolen by Bush and his friends. Yet, Gore had the grace to concede, knowing that he could have destroyed America's faith in this most important of citizen rights and duties.

In some states, the incidents of election fraud are not myths.  Elections can and are being rigged by corrupt politicians who manipulate vote casting machines.  In other states, even the dead have voted. Yet, for the most part, our elections are reasonably honest and can be counted on to accurately reflect the will of voters in the territory covered by the ballot.

Unfortunately, Trump is now putting the electoral process into question.  He is accusing unnamed "others" of trying to rig the election. He is taking legitimacy away from the process in the eyes of his supporters, and this is dangerous. Assuming that Trump loses, his followers will not believe the results of the election.  (Gore's supporters had a better claim that the election was stolen from them, but the need to hold the electoral college election for POTUS may have been more important than the accuracy of Florida's vote.) Can you imagine what could happen if a bunch of disaffected, armed Trump followers don't hear an honest concession speech from Trump on November 8th?  I shudder at the thought.

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If one studies German history of the 1920's and early 1930's, one sees eerie parallels to what is happening in the United States.  In Germany, hyperinflation destroyed the financial power of Germany's middle class. In the United States, the effects of globalization did the same to many in the middle class, as there was no safety net or shock absorber for these people.  No wonder why they both sought out a "messiah" to deliver them from their suffering. Sadly, neither group could articulate its problem, nor could they come up with a leader from their own ranks who could challenge a corrupt elite.  As a result, the Germans put Hitler into power, and we risk putting Trump into power.  

In America, we have systemic unemployment, and no one dares to speak those words. People in rural areas do not have access to the opportunities of the city, and they couldn't even afford to move to the cities if they could leave their homes. The one factory, mill, or mine has closed down, leaving people with no way to escape poverty.  A similar situation exists for those in the inner cities, as we have neglected the needs of the poor, and avoided addressing both social and educational needs that would help them break the cycle of poverty.  We warehouse those who break laws in prison, permanently tainting them with a scarlet letter of a criminal record, and then expect that they compete for the few jobs left for those with "checkered backgrounds".  The prison-industrial complex is hurting both rural and urban areas equally, and is helping to keep the poor in both areas from advocating for their own interests.

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Globalization has hit America hard, and both rural and urban areas have suffered because of it.  No job is safe any longer.  Yet, no one is proposing the form of safety net or shock absorber we need for our labor force.  We do not provide for workers to retool themselves for the future.  We do not limit the export of jobs that can be done anywhere, so that Americans are only serviced by American workers,  Why is it that we place call centers in India, when this work can be just as easily done by people in rural West Texas, a Lakota Sioux reservation, and Chicago's South Side?   There is no reason that we don't reserve most of these jobs for Americans, and pay the higher product prices needed to bring this labor back home.  

Our elites are the problem, and they must be replaced.  However, we must be careful to make sure we know how to operate the levers of power as we throw the bums out - or we will make things worse with a rebellion that is not thought out.  Years ago, General Patton recognized the need to keep some ex-Nazis in charge of operations in occupied Germany. Contrast this with George Bush and the occupation of Iraq - he threw all ex-Baath party members out of power, and they had chaos.  

For those who still want to vote for Trump, I have one question:  Are you ready for the chaos that his election or defeat will likely cause?

Would you trust him with his finger on the button?

It's a little unfair to be using the image of Hitler.  But it's easy to understand Germany's acceptance of this man, given the humiliation that Germany endured after World War One. With riots in the streets, the German people could be easily seduced by any demagogue promising peace, order, and good government - none of which were delivered to the people of the Reich.

Today, we know more about how people choose authoritarians, and why people choose them.  An article in Vox describes how the Trump phenomenon came about, and why he is attracting support. Sadly, all the signs of another authoritarian government coming to power are there - people who value order above freedom, people who sacrifice liberty for security, in short - people who are afraid of the future, and want to restore the glory days of the past. It is no accident that Trump's motto is "Make America Great Again."  But when did it stop being great?  

Trump is known for making deals that benefit only himself.  Is there any evidence that his MO has changed?  A Trump administration is likely to be one of the most corrupt administrations America will have ever endured, as he has used questionable business practices to build his empire.  He is a con man, someone only interested in making his deal, and has no interest in seeing that the I's are dotted and T's are crossed.  

Recently, on Vice TV, they documented about the squalid working conditions that "guest workers" (read, defacto slaves) live in while building the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai.  Trump ignores laws that require we try to hire domestically first, and has staffed his exclusive resort, Mar-a-Lago mostly with imported labor. The man is a hypocrite and a total liar.  Yet, none of his supporters give a damn.

What frightens me is that this man is so fickle.  He has no consistency in pattern. He threatens to blow up any nation that doesn't bow to the power of a Trump America.  Can we trust him with "the Button?"  I doubt it.  I'm afraid that America will make the same mistake in the 2010's that Germany made in the 1930's - with the same disastrous results.  

How will we know this is happening?  Let's look at what happened in Germany.  In the 1930's they first rounded up the Homosexuals and Political Dissidents. Of course, we can not forget how many Jews were persecuted. Within 2 years of Hitler taking power, these people were persecuted.  If we change the nation to America, go after Homosexuals, Transgenders, Socialists, and Muslims, we'd have the same situation as Germany had roughly 80 years before.  We have already herded Indians onto reservations, and put Japanese Americans into internment camps, and lynched Blacks.  It's not such a big step, given the size of our prison system (which incarcerates over 1.25% of our population, the highest percentage in the world) to expand it further to hold "undesirables". And it would not be inconceivable to make the new prisoners engage in hard labor.  Does "Arbeit Macht Frei?"  I doubt it.

If you think that going to Canada will make you any safer, please remember that Canadians are also under attack from their own authoritarian politicians.  Could you imagine an "Anschluss" between the two countries?  Heck, we were once both part of a larger British North America.  I could see this happening.

Do I fear too much?  Maybe.  But stranger things have happened, and I am not comfortable (nor should you be) that Trump is running neck and neck with Hillary.  I once said that I want America to be scared shitless with Trump.  Sadly, I think that wish may just come true - and that Hillary may win a victory even closer than that won by Bush in November, 2000.

Trump - Off the deep end!

Joe Scarborough is a conservative host on a network that has leaned to the left. And he has said that he can not support Donald Trump because of Trump's refusal to disavow the endorsement of David Duke, former head of the KKK.  Sadly, Joe's outrage, and the outrage of the GOP elite is too little, too late.  The only chance that Trump can be stopped is if the Democrats put up a winning candidate.

Sadly, Hillary Clinton is a weak candidate.  Even worse, in an election where the public (for the most part) wants to vote to "throw the bums out", Hillary represents the interests of the ruling elite.  In the past 30+ years, the elite of both parties have praised the benefits of globalization, without providing a safety net for the structural unemployment that this trend would create.  Neither political party has given a damn about the growing inequality between the working class and the wealthy elite.  In fact, people like Trump have said that our national minimum wage is too high.  Too high?!?!?!?  When I was young, minimum wage was enough for a person to feed his/her family and put a roof over their heads.  Now, a person working minimum wage would be lucky to be able to take care of one person's needs while working 3 jobs!

Where was the outrage in the GOP when Trump insulted Mexican-Americans?  Where was the outrage when Trump insulted Muslims?  Where was the outrage when he acted like a bully, destroying healthy political discourse?  Sadly, the GOP reaps what it sows, and may possibly fall apart as the Whigs did in the 1800's.  And this would be a healthy thing, if centrists were to regain control of the party.  Unfortunately, I don't see that happening.

Recently, Chris Christie came out in support of Trump.  What will he get for his endorsement?  We now have bombastic blowhards who have seduced a large part of society in the hope that a "fearless leader" can "Make America Great Again."  We've seen what happened in Central Europe did this in the 1930's.  

Why do I mention Central Europe?  Two things happened today that give me pause for concern.  At my office, two people were having a political conversation (both moderates) about Trump, and got concerned about my overhearing their chat - as if I were a Trump supporter.  They were pleasantly surprised to find out that Jimmy Kimmel, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane did a spoof of "The Producers", and that I had a sense of humor.  Instead of being worried about being open around me, they became relaxed because they found out I may have the same sense of shock that Trump is a viable candidate for the GOP nomination.  And then, on the way to the railroad station's parking lot (on the way back to my car), one woman and I had a more serious conversation, both of us seeing the parallels between the USA and Weimar Germany.  

How can Trump be defeated?  One can't do it by being mean.  He's a mean person, and can out do any civilized person who has any sense of ethics.  But he can be defeated - by humor.  If people laugh at him, make fun of him, he will lose power each time a person laughs.  One of my favorite spoofs at the expense of Trump came with a person echoing Trump's words from a South Carolina speech with a "gay voice". Once you hear these words coming out of someone else's mouth, you'll realize how insane these words sound. And the clip is funny - unlike Trump....

We have an important choice to make in November.  But the work to make sure that dysfunctional leaders don't get elected starts now.....

Yet another who is unfit to serve

A dog with good taste!  He shows this candidate the respect he truly deserves.

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If Trump is someone we could compare with Hitler, then Cruz would be a more dangerous version of Mussolini.  Cruz has said that he would Carpet Bomb ISIS - and then demonstrated his lack of sensitivity to the rules of war which prohibit attacking civilian targets.

The animosity shown towards us in much of the Islamic world has been caused by our actions over the past 60 years. Cruz even has the gall to state that the Middle East is a safer place than before our "War on Terror."  This does not jibe with objective reality.  How many people remember the role the USA played in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran, and our actions, such as the Second Gulf War, that destabilized much of the Middle East?  Can we afford to have a bellicose, bombastic, bullshit artist running America?  I doubt it very much. 

Right now, Cruz is making sure NOT to publicly cause Trump any problems.  For the most part, Cruz is laying low, hoping to scoop up Trump's followers if Trump crashes and burns out.  For the most part, Cruz is playing the role of "Trump Lite".  But given Trump's statements in regard to the Middle East, does this bode well?  I doubt it. Recently, a retired 3 star general hinted at "Mass Resignations" if Trump were elected.  I'm pretty sure the same would happen if Cruz were elected.  This retired general went on to say:

“...The American military studies these kinds of things. They know the moral and the values implications associated with these kind of decisions. They will attempt to persuade their leaders the right approaches to take and the various options available. But they won’t do things illegally or immorally.”

In the past, I wouldn't believe this general, having been tainted by the reporting of the Vietnam War.  However, I have more faith in our military than I had 30-40 years ago, and I feel that many of our top military leaders would rather resign than allow America to make the mistakes Germany made in the 1930's-40's. But would enough resign (as a vote of "No Confidence") to make a difference, if a leader like Cruz was to be elected?  I'm not sure, and I don't want to take the chance. 

If I don't feel that even the military would be comfortable following Cruz as a leader, he is likely unfit to serve as President of this country.  Hopefully, most Americans will feel the same way in both the GOP primaries and on Election Day....

The fear of markets, and the disciplines they enforce.

It's hard to believe that the New York Stock Exchange once looked like this.  The stock market was less regulated then, but never a place for a timid person to risk his/her money.

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One of the things I've said for years is that I believe in open, fair, and transparent markets. In an ideal world, these markets would be self regulating. However, powerful players love to distort markets via the use of rules, and via a lack of transparency.  In the case of the stock market, most disputes are settled via arbitration - which is often rigged in favor of the large firm by the nature of familiarity.  Precedents from one settlement are not applicable in the next case, so the large firms have an edge which is almost impossible overcome.

However, the lack of transparency affects more markets, and has an even greater effect. For example, the current practice of "Non-Standard" sizing makes it much harder for a person to "compare apples to apples" when determining the price of goods. In the case of a carton of Orange Juice, the standard 64 oz. size was shrunk by all players to 59.5 oz. - making it much harder for people to determine what the real price was.  Also, the shrunken size went less far, so the customer had to buy more containers to sate their needs for Orange Juice.  Something similar happened in the size of Tuna cans - a few years ago, the standard size was 6 oz. - now it's 5 oz.!  No one asked the consumer (in these terms) whether we wanted to pay the same money for smaller size packages, or more money for the same size packages.  If they did, the marketplace would have chastised the sellers of these goods - something they avoided by obfuscating their price hikes with package size changes.

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Right now, people are starting to see a crisis with student loans.  This is another example of marketplace interference creating disastrous effects.  A little over 150 years ago, it was "easy" for a person to attend some of the nation's most prestigious universities.  All they had to do was learn the "basics" - which included Latin, and other skills no longer needed in the real world - and then pay the bills for school - which weren't that expensive.  However, after World War 2, the GI Bill made it easier for students to afford college - and a college education was seen as the ticket to middle class success.  Years later, our nation's policies changed to provide poor people with grants to go to college, trying to create a more diverse student base in these schools. And then came the age of college loans - which I see as a total disaster.  Instead of increasing the supply of college seats (which would have reduced prices and increased availability), policy simply increased demand for college seats by making student loans cheap, easy to get, and with no demand that a student comes out with a salable skill.  The only effect here was to raise the price for seats in a good school.

What happened to the students?  Many got saddled by debt, studying in majors that would not prepare them for jobs in the outside world.  When a student owes money on a student loan, it is almost impossible for it to be discharged in bankruptcy.  As a result, the interest on the debt makes the student loan virtually impossible to pay off.  

But what would happen if we eliminated the Federal guarantee of payment?  What if these loans could be discharged in bankruptcy?  Well, many of the private lenders would cease lending money, marginal students would stop going to college, and colleges might be forced to lower their prices for study.  The powers that be don't want that.  The banks making a lot of these student loans would cease making loans - and making guaranteed profits.

I posed a question to a couple of people and got the same negative response - therefore I know I'm on to something....  What if (1) there were no guarantees of student loan repayment by any level of government, and (2) a student loan lender could insist that a student loan borrower major in a field likely to result in a job?  Both people said that this would be wrong - the student has a right to study what he/she wants to study.  But at whose expense?  The student is usually way too immature to make many decisions which will impact the rest of his/her life. Part of college's function in society should be more than that of a trade school - it should teach a person how to think, and how to look at life with a long term perspective.  One of these people said that if he were to take out a bank loan for a car, that the bank has no right to tell him what car to buy.  Yet, one could counter - that if a car manufacturer's finance arm offers you the loan on the car, it should have the right to tie you into buying one of their cars.

In short, the lack of a efficient market (with rules for proper debt discharging) for funding higher education has caused a crisis in higher education that also affects non-students. If a former student is saddled with too much student debt, that same person may not be able to afford getting married and having children. And if this person has children, he/she may not be able to pay enough in school taxes to educate the children - a long term risk for society.

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Not all problems in society can be resolved by market forces.  Other methods must be used to limit consumption of resources.  Great Britain spends about 35% of what America does on health care, and has a roughly equivalent standard of national health.  Canada spends about 50% of what America spends.  And other developed nations are in the same league. What is different?  They all recognize that health care doesn't work with a marketplace model. So, instead, they ration care in ways that Americans would consider unacceptable. Britain uses results based medicine, and when in doubt, chooses the cheapest alternative. There is a waiting line for almost everything except acute emergency care - and even then, there are rules and regulations that apply - as if one were part of a giant HMO.

I do not advocate the British or Canadian models, because they err in ways Americans would not accept.  But the German and French models have a lot to offer - if only we would examine them more closely.

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Americans like the idea of free express roads that take them from town to town, and city to city.  There is one big problem - the price - FREE.  This has encouraged the growth of the trucking industry over that of the railroads who pay for the upkeep of their track.  One might say that truckers pay gas taxes that should maintain the roads. But in many states, especially in the South, these gas taxes have not been raised in years, nor have they been indexed to inflation.  As a result, we're seeing part of our transportation infrastructure neglected by lack of proper funding, and now at great risk - as many structures are at the end of their life spans.

What happens when people have to pay to use a road?  People actually think - do they need to make this trip?  And this is an important question, as it reflects a market helping to shape a behavior. There is a discipline that takes place in a well functioning market.  The trick is to design a market well, regulate that market well (but minimally), and make sure that only the right things are governed by that market.... This, as I see it, is the big challenge of the 21st century.

"Southern Heritage" = Racism

Does anyone really believe this?

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The Rebel battle flag means many things to many people. Most of all, it is a symbol of rebellion against a country which was moving towards abolishing slavery,  There were many good men caught up in this battle, brother fighting brother, and a way of life destroyed. But can anyone say with a straight face, that flying this flag is not a slap in the face to any Black person who sees it?

In Germany, the non-museum display of the Nazi flag is highly regulated. In most cases, it is banned. But even the Germans know when the Hackenkreutz can be displayed - when the Swastika's extremely bad taste is used for humor, as in "The Producers" when it played in Germany.

Outside the theater, the Pretzel banner flew - a little bit of humor, spoofing the former symbol of the Reich.  Inside the theater, the Nazi banner flew - where there was no way that it could be taken to honor the values of the Reich.

This was an elegant way to deal with a sensitive issue in Germany - they know that the seeds of hatred are easily sown, and they know that symbols as powerful as the Nazi flag can be easily abused.  Sadly, our 1st amendment in the Bill of Rights gets in the way of dealing with the most important symbol of American treason, racism, and hatred - the CSA battle flag.

If many in the South wanted to celebrate "Southern Heritage", they could just as easily flown one of the other flags of the Confederacy - such as the one below:

Why isn't this one flown?  Because behind all the politically correct and sanitized talk lies a background of racial hatred.   

In two books I've read that included trips across the American South ("The American Home Front: 1941-1942" by Alistair Cooke, and "Travels with Charley - In search of America" by John Steinbeck) the authors both got disgusted with the attitudes of most Southerners they encountered, and couldn't wait to be out of this land. Although things have changed a lot since the 1960's when Steinbeck wrote his book, we still have far to go.

When I was last down South in 2001, I visited a couple of friends from the AOL chat group for Widows and Widowers. While there, I ended up chatting with the woman of the house. She complained that "them N----rs" are getting everything from the state, leaving us poor. (Of course, the 2 of them could have saved a lot of money by kicking their 3 pack a day cigarette habits - but that wasn't going to happen.) This lady loved to blame Black people for the problems that she and her White friends were having. Although this was 14 years ago, it left a very foul taste in my mouth when it comes to the values of our South.

Recently, 9 people were killed by a lone wolf terrorist inside a church.  One of those people was an elected representative in South Carolina's legislature. And it was amazing how quickly many people in the government realized that they needed to remove the Rebel Battle Flag from the Capitol. Yet, when members of the GOP POTUS candidate "Clown Car" were asked about whether the flag should be taken down, most of them hemmed and hawed - not wanting to alienate the racist lunatic fringe that makes up a goodly number of loyal GOP voters in the South.

In a recent article in Der Spiegel (International), they wonder why it is only now that America is addressing its long history of racism.  Der Spiegel notes that we have a prominent museum dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust in Washington, DC (which I've visited, and discussed in another blog entry), but none to remember the evils of slavery.  They go on to note that Thomas Jefferson has a big monument in our nation's capital, but only when you go to Mount Vernon, his homestead, do you find out about the abuse of slaves that went on in his era. 

I am glad to say that former POTUS candidate Mitt Romney said in unquestionable terms that the flag MUST be taken down - something most of the "Clown Car" won't do.  And I am even more glad to see that Strom Thurmond's son, Paul, has taken an honorable stand and will vote to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.  Knowing his father's pro-racist stance for most of his political career, it's good to see that the son will do right by history - and help to get the flag removed before the Black legislator killed by the terrorist lies in state in the Capitol building. And this gives me hope for the future....