In the early 1920s, a couple of blustering bullies were ranting about everything they thought was wrong in their respective countries. All that was necessary to fix things, of course, was to put them in charge with absolute power. Each had a lengthy list of scapegoats responsible for their nations' ills, the usual suspects, naturally: Jews, Communists, immigrants, corrupt government officials, liberals, clergy, intellectuals, etc.--basically anybody who disagreed with them or lacked the "proper" genetic background.
They used terms like "vermin," "poisoning the blood," "enemies of the people," and "parasites" for their targets, and offered numerous reasons why such "sub-humans" needed to be culled from the citizenry. Both were quite explicit about the drastic actions they would take to eradicate such "undesirables." Tragically, unlike most politicians, not only would they keep their campaign promises, they would greatly exceed them.
At first, many in their homelands, other European countries, and various nations around the world ignored them; just a couple of clowns strutting and preening in pseudo-uniforms who would never attract enough support to gain power. Even after both did achieve control of their respective governments, the naysayers believed things wouldn't change much outside the borders of their two countries, so they sat idly by while the new dictators built massive military machines.
Four months before the 1930s ended, the two blowhards previously dismissed as amusing buffoons had managed to engulf much of Europe in yet another all-out war. A couple of years later, their ally on the other side of the planet--a similar racist-minded totalitarian militaristic power--set in motion events forcing the United States into World War II.
By the time the fighting ended, tens of millions of people--some estimates approach 100 million--were dead, the vast majority of them civilians. Many were victims of systematic genocide by the Axis Powers in Europe and Asia. Untold millions who survived the catastrophe did so with life-altering wounds, both physical and emotional. Anything remotely resembling an accurate tally of the casualties is impossible to compile. Some parts of the globe have yet to fully recover.
Nearly 80 years after the war's end, it seems surrealistic that for months, about half the United States population has been buzzing about, and extremely concerned, that a serial liar and disgraced former president of this country seeking to reclaim the office has been crisscrossing the land making his own bombastic speeches using--sometimes virtually verbatim--the same hateful rhetoric that brought Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to power almost a century ago, threatening to repeat the steps they took to "cleanse" society of all that's "wrong" with it, should he succeed.
Beyond surrealism--deep into the realm of incredulity--is that much of the other half of the country is echoing and enthusiastically embracing such language; an open invitation to establish totalitarianism as our new form of government.
Two years following its final draft by delegates from the 13 original colonies who fought for and won independence from Great Britain, the United States Constitution was officially implemented in 1789 after its ratification. After another two years, its first 10 amendments--collectively known as the Bill of Rights--were added. Less than 235 years later, the "Great Experiment" launched by those founding fathers sits on the brink of plunging (voluntarily, no less!) into the abyss.
In Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention had just wrapped up a long hot summer of writing, debating, and compromising to adopt a final proposal for ratification by the former colonies. Strange as it may seem--despite all the blood and treasure spent to rid themselves of the oppressive King George III--a substantial number of the delegates (and the general populace) initially favored establishing a monarchy under a new King George: George Washington. To his credit and all subsequent Americans' benefit, Washington adamantly rejected their idea, stopping it dead in its tracks.
Outside Independence Hall that September day, Benjamin Franklin, one of the more prominent contributors to the draft Constitution, and a major force behind the revolution that established a new nation, was reportedly asked whether the delegates had created for its citizens a republic or a monarchy.
In his famously terse (and now prophetic) reply, Franklin said, "A republic--if you can keep it."
Should he show up today, survey the current political landscape, and be asked the same question, he might be only slightly more verbose in his response: "A republic--if you want to keep it ..."
It's become painfully obvious many Americans no longer desire that republic created for them. God help the rest of us--and the rest of humanity--if they succeed in scrapping it.
Doug Szenher of Little Rock retired from doing public/media relations with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality after previously working as a newspaper reporter in Hot Springs and Texarkana.