There was once a great nation, a leader among western civilization. Its economy, its science and its arts were among the best in the world.
But it fell into misfortune and suffered severe wounds — many, if not most, of those wounds being self-inflicted. And as its government began to crumble, and its economy took a nose dive, the citizens of this nation became ripe for change.
Indeed, they clamored for it.
And lo and behold, a new leader appeared, and assured them he was the answer to their woes. So he was given governmental power.
And after grasping that power, he reached and achieved more. His hunger for power could not be sated. So the new leader surrounded himself with sycophants and brownnosers.
He also formed a propaganda machine that was second to none. And he spread lies, sewed discord, and perhaps most importantly, he gave his citizens a racial scapegoat — those who were to blame for all that had gone wrong in the past.
His authoritarian iron fist filtered down to all levels of government, and in essence, control was maintained by brute squads. No one who spoke out against the new leader or disagreed with him went unpunished. And for several years, the new leader, now proclaiming himself a messiah, flourished.
But in the end, he failed and died. But not before untold damage was wreaked upon his country and the world.
It’s a bit overly simple, yet a reasonable assessment to say that about one-third of his nation’s citizens adored him in a cultish fashion, and could see no wrong in his actions, and that another third was abused, beaten, and even put to death by the first third. The last third did or said nothing.
There was ample blame to go around.
Of course the nation was Nazi Germany, and the messiah was Hitler. Are we seeing history repeat itself across the Atlantic?
Dang if it doesn’t sound familiar these days.
Rick Walker ~ Luray, Va.
•••
PageValleyNews.com offers an open forum for the public in its LETTERS section. We encourage letters of local interest by those who live in Page County, Va.; however, we welcome all letters on all subjects from all readers. PVN reserves the right to publish letters at its discretion.
SUBMIT LETTERS TO: publisher@pagevalleynews.com
Be the first to comment