A truly masterful magician knows the value of sleight of hand. He gets his audience to watch the first hand and when everyone's attention is focused there, he uses the other hand to perform the magic trick. The end result is always remarkable - things appear out of nowhere just like magic and we've all been fooled and conned to the delight and entertainment of all.
The first peril of freedom is exactly this - the fooling and conning of the masses. This sort of thing does not occur in societies of oppressed people, because there is no reason for the pretense. If a dictator says something will happen, it will happen. And if that thing does not happen, the people will know it did not happen. There is no need to fool or con the people. They have no choice but to live with the consequences. But in a free society, where the people decide who shall lead them, the fooling and conning of the people is prevalent. The masses must be entertained, or they shall become informed.
I have always been fascinated with the rise of Naziism in Germany - not because I'm a big fan of Hitler or anything, but because the rise of Naziism went part and parcel with the fall of German democracy. How did the German people give away their freedoms? How did they allow Hitler to come to power?
The answer, of course, is not a simple one. Hitler used every trick in the book. He dazzled them. He charmed them. He threatened them. He bullyed them. He fooled them. And he conned them. To be sure, the German people were not in the best shape. Their once great nation had been rocked by a series of terrible setbacks. They were afraid of the world around them and just wanted a little sanity restored to their daily lives. Hitler seemed to be the answer.
And Hitler didn't just fool and con the freedom loving people of Germany. He tried to fool and con the rest of the world as well. For the most part, it worked.
A strong clue as to when a nation is being fooled and conned is when a leader tells a people where the danger is located. If the people didn't know there was a danger there before, look out - chances are you're being conned. The People of India, for instance, don't need to be told that the nation of Pakistan hates them... and vice versa. If the leader of India, then, suddenly points to... oh, say... Australia and says that Australia poses a threat to them, the people of India should be very wary.
Prior to World War II, it was first the Austrians threatening the Germans inside their country. To "help" the Germans there, the Nazi's invaded Austria. Then, it was Chechoslovakia. Then, it was Poland. Then, France, England, Russia, Africa... etc... But, by then, the German people knew... and it was too late to do anything about it. The spell had already been cast. The die had been thrown. Their fate had been sealed.
Without directly comparing George Bush with Hitler, I find that my senses are immediately alert when George Bush has to point out how much of a threat Iraq is to the American people. Iraq, which got their butt thrashed in the first Gulf war, was suddenly such an imminent threat that we just had to invade this country. My alarm bells went off. If one hand was getting the American people to look one way, what was the other hand doing?
The peril of freedom is this - constant vigilance means constant vigilance - both foreign and domestic. We can never be content to accept the word of anyone as truth, but must be wary at all times, lest we find ourselves hearing terrible rumors about supposed "enemies" being shipped off to camps in other countries for crimes against the United States.
Keep your eyes on everything the politician does. And when they try to get you to look one way, keep an eye on the other hand. That's the only way to remain free.
4 comments:
Where I take heart in the American political system is that for such a thing to happen would require such an extraordinary series of circumstances and a complete failure on all fronts, including the Congress, the courts, and the media.
I am convinced that conspiracies rarely occur, if only because we, as humans, can't shut up. If we have a juicy piece of info, we're going to tell someone else. The vanity of our ego prevents us from being able to keep secrets.
In our modern American society, there are so many of us who are cynical against the other aisle, or are cynical against BOTH aisles, that I find it hard to imagine ANY HUMAN to be able to do to us what Hitler did to Germany.
If we can't keep the identity of a CIA agent secret...
Ah, but I think that's the trap. That's what they want you to believe - that it could never happen here. But there have been secrets kept from the American people before, and there are secrets being kept from the American people now.
Beyond that, though, is the other trap - the one that my mind can't seem to comprehend. In order to believe that it could never happen here, you must believe that it could happen there. You must accept as fact that there is something inherently wrong with the German people that they would allow such things to happen to them - that we would never allow to happen to us. You must believe, in essence, that we have a moral superiority to them. And that's exactly what the German people thought when Hitler came to power.
I don't think it has anything to do with moral superiority - it has everything to do with a stronger democratic system.
Now are secrets kept from us? Of course. Have administrations from both sides of the aisle done that? Of course.
I don't think there was anything inherently wrong with Germans or the Italians that they allowed it to happen. I will allow that specific sets of extraordinary circumstances would have to occur in order for such a charismatic leader to arise. That's how it could happen here...that a great orator comes and unifies, and our system of checks and balances don't check and don't balance - and we're okay with it, because this guy's just what we want, says what we want to hear, and unites the blue states and red states. Sounds awesome, right?
But therein lies the paradox - we complain that there is no great American leader who can unify, but if one were to arise, would we be so enamored of this person that we would be willing to let things go unchecked?
Perhaps the great lesson that the 1960s protest movements capped with Vietnam and Watergate taught us was to have a healthy cynicism of our political leaders. Ultimately they are as self-serving as you and me - that most are willing to do just enough to remain in their elected positions.
Maybe I'm being idealistic about cynicism - but healthy cynicism helps us maintian the necessary checks we need for our democracy to survive.
There's no easy answer. Frankly I think the outcome of such a thing would be the second American Civil War.
Thank you brother...
Believe it or not, we agree. The end result of both our arguments are the same - a healthy cynicism keeps the country safe. But its got to be more than just cynicism. Cynicism without actions is just apathy. Only 44% of registered voters voted yesterday. We're getting close to that point. People need to be cynical and involved.
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