A Victory Lap in Uncharted Territory
The Emperor did a victory lap today, according to cable news, visiting and speaking in several of the states that had given him the slim margin of votes needed to win the White House. Nauseated, I quickly changed the channel. In a moment I had turned the speech back on, unable to avoid that voice ringing in my ears, compelling me to face once more the twisted results of the presidential election. There was Donald the 1st attacking the media, calling them liars. The signal was clear -- a highly questionable political victory and another threatened death knell for the First Amendment.
I remembered our history. One of the first actions the beast from Austria took in 1933 was to grab control of the media -- news papers and radio at that time. Without a free press and an independent judiciary democracy is dead.
During the 1930's the rightists in Germany dismantled the multi-party system then in place, a move that not only brought about the demise of hundreds of newspapers produced by outlawed political parties; it also allowed the state to seize the printing plants and equipment of the Communist and Social Democratic parties, which were often turned over directly to the Nazi Party. The radio, press, and newsreels were used to drive fears of a pending “Communist uprising,” then channeled popular anxieties into political measures that eradicated civil liberties and democracy.
Many have noted over the past week the legions of millionaires and the billionaires that have been appointed to populate the Trump cabinet As the Regime prepares to take hold of the White House, a few questions linger: could we be witnessing nothing more than the attempts by America's wealthy to find satisfaction in cultivating new levels of greed or could we be the attendants at the birth of something infinitely more evil? As one pundit remarked: "Nothing would surprise me anymore --we are in uncharted territory."
I remembered our history. One of the first actions the beast from Austria took in 1933 was to grab control of the media -- news papers and radio at that time. Without a free press and an independent judiciary democracy is dead.
During the 1930's the rightists in Germany dismantled the multi-party system then in place, a move that not only brought about the demise of hundreds of newspapers produced by outlawed political parties; it also allowed the state to seize the printing plants and equipment of the Communist and Social Democratic parties, which were often turned over directly to the Nazi Party. The radio, press, and newsreels were used to drive fears of a pending “Communist uprising,” then channeled popular anxieties into political measures that eradicated civil liberties and democracy.
Many have noted over the past week the legions of millionaires and the billionaires that have been appointed to populate the Trump cabinet As the Regime prepares to take hold of the White House, a few questions linger: could we be witnessing nothing more than the attempts by America's wealthy to find satisfaction in cultivating new levels of greed or could we be the attendants at the birth of something infinitely more evil? As one pundit remarked: "Nothing would surprise me anymore --we are in uncharted territory."
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