Like
most in our SASS gang, I think the history surrounding our great country is
intriguing. Intriguing yes, but why
really study it? The best reason for studying the past is to help shape the
future. And it’s not the major
events of history that I focus on—it’s those preliminary events that led up
to and prepared the way for those major events to occur. It’s only through constant vigilance and our ability to
recognize the significance of preliminary events that enables us to take the
action necessary to shape the direction and nature of major events that may
follow—that’s why I study history.
Norman
Cousins said, "History is a vast early warning system" and
George Santayan, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to
repeat it"– two of the more profound observations ever made.
Constant vigilance coupled with timely and effective action is the key to retaining freedom. As two stellar Americans once told us:
"The
price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Thomas Jefferson
“But
you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is
the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the
blessing. It behooves you, therefore, to be watchful in your States as
well as in the Federal Government."
Andrew Jackson
Other than to help shape our future or merely satisfy idle curiosity, there is no reason to study past events.
Question—are there common threads that weave their way through history that we should watch for that would shape our own future? You bet.
Tyrannies
throughout history have followed amazingly similar paths in taking over nations
and millions of people worldwide. A
few of those common threads I’ve seen have included the confiscation of
private property, restricting or denying free speech, confiscation of firearms
and concocting national threats or enemies as an excuse for expanding
governmental control over just about everything.
In every historical episode, I look for nuggets of wisdom that can be related to current events. Let’s focus on one familiar example as a case study. What lessons can we learn from the Holocaust? People that lived through this era vividly describe the human catastrophe in detail and the German words “Nie Wieder” (Never Again) tolls a warning to all generations. But what exactly is it that we should never again allow to happen? Is it the concentration camps or the torture and slaughter of millions? Most certainly that was a chapter in history that should never recur. The camps however were but the end result of a series of ground laying events that led to that major tragedy. By the time the concentration camps were operating, it was too late to turn back the clock—prevention was no longer possible.
To
my way of thinking, it was the incremental violations of rights that paved the
way to the Holocaust and Germany’s eventual destruction that are the lessons
we should vigilantly recognize, study, and learn from so we can prevent their
recurrence. What were some of those
preliminary events that led to this particular disaster—what were the
“warning signs” along the trail?
Pitting
one group against the other—Hitler
and crew vilified the Jews and targeted them as a major cause of evil and
misfortune in Germany. The
government simply created a common enemy. Jews
were painted as a plague that had to be eradicated for the good of Germany’s
future—for the children so to speak.
Loss
of private property rights—The
Jews were subject to losing everything they owned with no due recourse to an
out-of-control regime. The
government simply concocted a reason to take private property and they took
it—eminent domain run amuck as it were.
Extreme
government control—Who was
ever better at this than the Nazis? Government
papers, permits and approval were required for everything.
Registration
and confiscation of personal firearms—In
1928 and 1938 Germany passed gun control laws that called for all firearms to be
registered which eventually provided the comprehensive list used later to
confiscate those weapons. Jews were
denied the means to fight back—denied their God-given right of self-defense
under the guise of a law that was in the interest of protecting society.
“This
year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full
gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the
world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolf Hitler
The
combination of these few examples, among others, enabled Hitler to lay the
groundwork required to undermine Germany’s freedom and implement the slaughter
to come.
Stripped
of their dignity as citizens, their property, their independence and their means
of self-defense, the Jews and Germany were vulnerable to all that followed.
Consequently,
to me, the phrase “Nie Wieder” refers to the acceptance of incremental
violations of inalienable rights. Never
again should people benignly accept such erosion of their God-given
rights—that is a proven pathway to hell.
Had
the German people risen up in unison to strongly resist their government when
the first violation was imposed, the story could have been much different.
Although easy to say, such unified/coordinated action is tremendously
difficult for any nation’s people to undertake against a despotic government
growing in power and wildly out of control.
Not all of the general population thought things would or could ever go
as far as they eventually did. Only
those within Hitler’s inner circle could have known the full extent of that
“Final Solution.”
What
are the most important lessons from this? Is
it the lesson about life in the camps or would it be more beneficial for the
world to be able to recognize the preliminary signs along the way that warn of a
potential recurrence of tyranny? That
ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure and the pound of cure in the
40’s came at a price of a world war and tens of millions dead.
It’s
those seedling little signs from history’s lessons people must learn to
quickly recognize because when those seeds sprout, they have a bad habit of
growing rapidly. We simply can’t
afford to ignore history’s lessons and expect to remain free.
Patrick
Henry gave us a critically important mission when he instructed, “Guard
with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that
jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force.
Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.”
And
just how valued should our liberty be? “Liberty
must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense
of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.”
John Adams
What
of the consequences then for any nation that’s either ignorant of history or
fails to vigilantly guard the jewel Henry and Adams referenced?
Ben Franklin addressed that. “It is in the region of
ignorance that tyranny begins.” Jefferson
added “If
a nation expects to be ignorant and free…it expects what never was and never
will be."
Indeed
true and I’ll add that those who remain ignorant of history’s little lessons
today will most probably have to face its big ones tomorrow.
Just
the view from my saddle…
Contact Colonel Dan:
coloneldan@bellsouth.net