Author: Forum for Healthcare Freedom

You may want to read the Smithsonian piece about the Reichstag Fire first, then consider it in light of the political events of the past year 4 years.

Here’s an excerpt:

“In January 1933, Hindenburg reluctantly appointed Hitler as chancellor on the advice of Franz von Papen, a disgruntled former chancellor who believed the conservative bourgeois parties should ally with the Nazis to keep the Communists out of power. March 5 was set as the date for another series of Reichstag elections in hopes that one party might finally achieve the majority.

Meanwhile, the Nazis seized even more power, infiltrating the police and empowering ordinary party members as law enforcement officers. On February 22, Hitler used his powers as chancellor to enroll 50,000 Nazi SA men (also known as stormtroopers) as auxiliary police. Two days later, Hermann Göring, Minister of the Interior and one of Hitler’s closest compatriots, ordered a raid on Communist headquarters. Following the raid, the Nazis announced (falsely) that they’d found evidence of seditious material. They claimed the Communists were planning to attack public buildings.

On the night of February 27, around 9:00, pedestrians near the Reichstag heard the sound of breaking glass. Soon after, flames erupted from the building. It took fire engines hours to quell the fire, which destroyed the debating chamber and the Reichstag’s gilded cupola, ultimately causing over $1 million in damage. Police arrested an unemployed Dutch construction worker named Marinus van der Lubbe on the scene. The young man was found outside the building with firelighters in his possession and was panting and sweaty.

“This is a God-given signal,” Hitler told von Papen when they arrived on the scene. “If this fire, as I believe, is the work of the Communists, then we must crush out this murderous pest with an iron fist.”

A few hours later, on February 28, Hindenburg invoked Article 48 and the cabinet drew up the “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State.” The act abolished freedom of speech, assembly, privacy and the press; legalized phone tapping and interception of correspondence; and suspended the autonomy of federated states, like Bavaria. That night around 4,000 people were arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the SA. Although the Communist party had won 17 percent of the Reichstag elections in November 1932, and the German people elected 81 Communist deputies in the March 5 elections, many were detained indefinitely after the fire. Their empty seats left the Nazis largely free to do as they wished.”

As you read THE SMITHSONIAN article, think about the convenient political alignment of ANTIFA & BLM with previously centrist Democrats. Consider how the FBI, under the Obama administration, spied on the Trump campaign as a predicate to construct a false narrative that Trump solicited Russian election interference (i.e. the Democrat funded, opposition research Steele dossier, etc). Recall the FBI sting of General Flynn where even the facts called for halting the investigation; yet hand written notes from those pushing the investigation spoke of the importance of “getting him to lie”. Or the heavily armed FBI assault team raid on elderly Roger Stone’s home home at 4 AM for allegedly making false statements to Congress and witness interference. Recall the January 2021 incident at the Capital where barricades were abandoned by police allowing easy passage of peaceful and not-so-peaceful protesters and subsequent accusations of seditious activity of Trump and any known sympathizer.  Reflect on the lopsided 17:1 ratio of left-leaning to conservative leaning professors that dominate the humanities departments of our universities. Or that over 90% of political contributions from teacher’s unions historically go to Democrat candidates and progressive legislation.

It seems obvious to me that the threat to our democracy doesn’t come from concerns of seditious activity on the right or unfounded fears of Trump refusing to leave the White House. The political lessons in the aftermath of the Reichstag Fire teach us that the threat comes from the radical left’s crackdown on free speech where any opinions not deemed mainstream are equated with subversion & violence; and a coercive political media-driven assault on our liberties and the protections outlined in the Constitution. Ask yourself if the experiment in representative republic self-governance called the United States of America can survive with one party rule.

The NAZI party rose to power by a carefully orchestrated & choreographed manipulation of public opinion against their political opponents, led by a compliant and often complicit media.  Considering the disastrous consequences to individual liberty, be it from the Statism of the radical left or the Autocratic Fascism of the far right, the left’s political tactics and agenda should set off alarm bells in our collective heads.  

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-reichstag-fire-and-nazis-rise-power-180962240/