- March Madness – History ignored
- March 23, 1933 . . . March 23, 2010 . . .March 3, 2013
- Human frailties, fears enable lusts for power
March 23, 1933: A day that should live “in infamy” perhaps as much as Dec. 7, 1941. The profoundly tragic consequences of each date are immeasurable in terms of human suffering and death.
The importance of March 23, however, should have unique significance to the American people. For the last several generations the US educational system seems to have gone pretty light in teaching our young the important lessons about the freedoms this nation has enjoyed along with the unrelenting efforts of an envious world to diminish them.
The ingenious principles on which America was founded, set out in the US Constitution has protected those freedoms and has accounted for the greatness, prosperity, and the immense force for good this nation has been for the world. It is a fair question to ask. Are students today taught and do they understand those freedoms, how they were won, the systems designed to safeguard them and the nature and method of those who would threaten those freedoms?
America’s unique system of governance has also been under constant attack. There are always ambitious men (and women) who seek power and are willing to do anything to seize it. Our system has provided strong safeguards against the wiles and scams of those who would try to destroy it: a ‘bright line” separation of powers of the three branches of our government; a free press to hold our leaders worst impulses in check; an unrivaled and robust freedom for the population to speak out and hold accountable our elected leaders, and an electoral system designed to promote and ensure fair and honest voting; and a “two-party” system of governance along with a republic which recognizes the division of rights and responsibilities of states and a carefully monitored federal government.
It should be a cautionary message to all Americans that in the first half of the last century, Germany had many of those same characteristics in its governmental structure.
But, as though it must be proven over and over that when good people do nothing, are not vigilant against threats to their freedom, elect leaders who may claim to share their values and seek to protect their rights, but do not, that entire structure can be dismantled in less than a generation, with the most terrible consequences.
In Germany, it was a charismatic leader, an effective orator, much-loved and duly elected by the people, who promised to restore their nation to greatness and deliver prosperity and security to its people. Instead, what the German people got was a leader who would seek to seize total power by whatever means, unopposed in his quest by a strong opposition political party, dealing with a weak and indecisive legislative body, during a period of widespread civil unrest amid a divided populace, largely created and fueled by that leader.
Obama’s now almost daily “executive actions” ignoring Constitutional restrictions, Congressional authority, and the clear will of the majority of Americans which recalls for me the actions of another very prominent political figure of the 20th century. His actions were such that no politician or opinion writer or media personality dares to compare with the actions of any other modern national leader…well, almost any, and certainly not the current leader of the most powerful nation on earth. To do so is to be castigated by all sides of the political spectrum…so evil were the products of that man’s actions.
And so, I will not make such a comparison. I will only call attention to a single political event which occurred 82 years ago on this very date, March 23, 1933. It was called the “Enabling Act” and it was voted in by the German Reichstag (legislative body). And it gave the political leader of that nation, who had gained power by “legitimate means” the authority to issue a decree “suspending all political and civil liberties as a ‘temporary’ measure for the ‘protection of the people and state’.
The Reichstag had, in effect, voted away its power. Congress by failing to check Obama’s executive orders has in effect voted away its powers.
The Enabling Acts – Germany 1933
The Enabling Act – a summary from Harper Collins event oriented History in an Hour Series.
In March the last parliamentary elections took place. Only Hitler, it was claimed, could save Germany from the communists, and the SA, using violence and intimidation, silenced all other parties. The Nazis polled 44% of the vote, not enough for a majority but enough to squash any future political resistance.
The Enabling Act (Germany, 1933)
The post of Chancellor was one that lasted four years before another election. But Hitler requested more than the prerequisite amount of time to deal with the nation’s problems. He proposed the Enabling Act in order to allow him greater time, and to dispense with the constitution and the electoral system. Constitutionally, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority to pass the act. Having bullied and threatened any potential opposition into silence, the Reichstag convened in the Berlin Opera House, its grand hall lined with Stormtroopers. Only the Socialist Democrats were brave enough to vote against the proposal but the Enabling Act was easily passed by 441 votes to 84.
Those temporary measures were never revoked. I doubt that there are few public educational institutions in America today which even notes the historical steps which led to the enactment of the “Enabling Act” and its tragically historical significance.
I hope that our president doesn’t send a congratulatory message on this day to the German people to mark the anniversary of the “Enabling Act”. Although maybe he should to the the United States Congress, and its Republican leadership.
Recent “acts” and omissions by Congress March 23, 2010 and March 3, 2015
Five years ago today, President Obama’s government takeover of health care was signed into law. The implications continue to be profound. Government dependency inculcated, personal privacy gone. And Republican leadership in Congress continues to fecklessly foster it with continuing resolutions. This is all the more historically pathetic because they are threatened for any opposition by no more than political repercussions from Democrats, but which have worked in their favor!
Earlier this month the Republican led Congress gave up its power of the purse, independent responsibility as a branch of government and responsibility under the Constitution to check encroachments of another. On March 3rd the Boehner/Pelosi led House enabled, as far as Congress was concerned, the implementation of unconstitutional actions by essentially voting to pay for full funding for the Department of Homeland Security without restrictions on Obama’s illegal alien amnesty provisions in his executive orders directing the department.
Also this month, President Obama made clear that he considered Congress superfluous as regards foreign policy. Obama has decided to go along with the demands of the Islamic Republic of Iran for nuclear weapons . . . something Obama and John Kerry prefer to characterize as an “agreement” of which the US Congress has no say, and may not even to be let in on all of the terms of the final pact. Congress enables such usurpation when its responses are so ignorable – an open letter to Iran (and Obama). Where is the sting in that to the likes of either regime?
DLH with R Mall
Quotes to ponder
“Gamora: History repeating itself? Warlock: History doesn’t repeat itself, Gamora, but sometimes it rhymes.” ― Dan Abnett, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 1: Legacy
“Humans are capable of so much more. Power mongers like you have stripped away what is most valuable to us, the importance of our heritage and family values. We have been robbed of this, blinded by your authority, while you encourage us to burry ourselves in debt and rely on our corrupt governments. Men and women around the world have been forced to work long hours to keep up with inflated debts, all the while abandoning the families they struggle to support. History repeats, and repeats. It’s time to break the cycle and start anew.” ― Aaron B. Powell, Doomsday Diaries IV: Luke and the Lion
oh, we get it > Obama is a Nazi at heart? I know the game.
Following passage of the Act, “He preferred to govern via decrees and personal orders.” (Wikipedia, the “Enabling Act of 1933)
Now what national leader would attempt to do that?