Brief History Lesson

A local political leader recently likened our governor to Adolf Hitler.

Really?

Twenty-first-century American politics keeps finding new lows. And of late there seem to be more words from individuals likening this figure or that on the other side of the political divide to Hitler.

Adolf Hitler was a murderous madman who came to power in a wealthy, advanced nation nearly ninety years ago. He was clear with his ambitious, though duplicitous and sometimes cautious about how he would bring them about. He murdered more than six million Jews. At his orders, nearly another six million "undesirables" were murdered. He initiated a war that killed more human beings than any other conflict in history.

He was a demagogue. A racist. A murderer. A perpetrator of evil that we have not seen in this modern day.

Those who liken modern day political adversaries to this man cheapen the suffering that took place as a result of his deeds. They demean the bravery of those who fought him. And they show their own ignorance.

Several months ago, when it was fashionable to label Democrats socialists (Do you hear the hiss?) I urged my students to resist the name calling. After all, the historical opponent of socialism was fascism. And I suggested to my students that engaging in discourse in which they denounced liberals as socialists set us up for a harmful and non-sensical debate . . . that one side in our country were socialists (or communists . . . take your pick) and the other were fascists. And surely, in 2020 America, we must be in some place other than Lenin vs. Hitler.

We're better than that, aren't we?

America is handling this epidemic about as badly as possible. Which is a shame. Countless nurses and doctors and janitors and police officers are bravely fighting an exhausting battle. They're consistently let down, though, by an impatient populace and political leadership that cannot reach compromise.

(How can they compromise? One cannot make a deal with the devil.)

Brave soldiers slog through a challenging fight against a stubborn and somewhat-mysterious foe. Self-interested and jealous leaders let them down. The public gets impatient and demands more. Where have we seen this before?

Perhaps if we stopped paying attention to the leaders, we can better honor the soldiers.

***I've really tried to shut the news out of my life. I write this after a day in which the news kept finding me. American politics in this era has become like a bad show that many keep watching even though it makes us increasingly miserable. I'm fighting to keep it out. I don't mean to sound sanctimonious. Any attempt to sound even-handed is going to sound disingenuous for my opinions on our president and his party is pretty clear. That being said, I'm trying my best to step away to arm's length at least from the hell's vomit that passes for today's political news. And let's see if I can avoid it better today than I was able to avoid it yesterday.