ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: TALKING IT OVER
TWO EVENTS, 60 years apart but eerily similar, prey persistently on my mind. In January 1933, in my native country, Adolph Hitler was appointed chancellor. The appointment was then confirmed by a 44 percent plurality for the National Socialists. In 1992, in my adopted country, Bill Clinton was elected by a 43 percent plurality. Significantly, both won weak mandates from minorities of each electorate, but by cunning manipulation asserted far broader support.
Many thoughtful Germans, recognizing Hitler's true character, foresaw chaos and destruction. They were harassed, pursued, had ``accidents'' or disappeared.
Hitler's party expanded national health care, thus enlarging each citizen's records; federalized public schools; set curricula and programs for young and old alike. Religion was actively discouraged. Obedience was demanded of each citizen. Thirteen years of national socialism institutionalized fear by constant verbal terrorism, lies and fiendish distortion of truth. Government held the citizenry hostage through dread.
A cowardly judiciary silently acquiesced. Government controlled an intimidated press. In 1945, the awful consequence of terror, silence and fear stood naked before the world. The cost in human lives and dignity was inexcusable. I saw, I lived there. We're not immune. The tragedy can repeat itself here!
America today is confronted by the depreciated values of socialism advanced for 35 years. Its self-discipline undermined, a disoriented society lost faith in itself and now denies the value of character. Clinton continues to disdain character. America has been seduced by dependency on governmental solutions lacking integrity, thus avoiding personal responsibility. Expediency rules. The sickening spectacle of partial-birth abortions is an abomination. Government corruption is rampant. Our society is sick with tragedy. It's imperative that increasing regulation by an overpowering government be halted and reversed.
-Elinor Wright
Our Reply:
WRIGHT'S lamentation contains an important germ of truth - that dependence on government, by undermining personal responsibility, can devalue character. But, like some other commentary we've seen that reacts to the possibility of President Clinton's re-election, her argument takes frustration and anger to an extreme. The analogy with Hitler cries out for rebuttal on several grounds:
* It lacks a sense of proportion. Not only does it trivialize the enormity of Nazi crimes while exaggerating Clinton's flaws and the decadence of American society. It also overestimates policy differences separating the major party candidates. (If Clinton is a socialist, so is Bob Dole.)
* It neglects the fact that fascism wasn't merely about totalitarian regulation of society. It also was about the politics of division. Fascists sought power by exploiting resentment, identifying scapegoats and talking about moral purification.
* Her argument is implicitly anti-democratic, in at least three ways: It undermines democratic discourse, which requires a modicum of civility. It suggests that a loss at the polls should be regarded not as an election outcome, but as an absolute moral tragedy. It underestimates the resilience of democratic institutions and the common sense of the American people.
-The editors
The Last Word:
YOUR REPLY confuses ``a modicum of civility'' with necessary civil debate between opposing philosophies to advance democratic discourse. Our Constitution was created by such civil debate between differing political views.
My letter is not intended to portray the enormity of Nazi atrocities. Cited are tactics Hitler employed to gain the power of totalitarian control common to all socialist regimes. President Clinton employs identical tactics evoking these analogies. For example:
* Travelgate. Billy Dale was falsely accused and replaced by Clinton's friends. In the Reichstag fire, "enemies of the state'' were falsely accused and convicted. Hitler's own arsonist set the fire.
* Filegate. White House operatives illegally acquired FBI files. Hitler, too, suspended civil liberties.
* Both Richard Morris and Joseph Goebbels practiced the big lie. Morris advised misrepresentation of Republican proposals to reduce the rate of growth of expenditures as actual cuts harming the elderly.
Your comment that fascism ``was about the politics of division'' is valid. Clinton masters the technique with ``targeted tax cuts.'' Special tax treatment for different groups exploits resentful, disparate constituencies.
Elinor Wright of Lexington is a small-business owner and artist.
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