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<div>Amen! When we were pastors of a church near Pittsburgh, I had that Niemoller quote on my des'k! It does seem more applicable to the US these days. Let's work to turn The Donald out of The White House! An editorial in the St. Louis paper this week said essentially the same thing!</div>
<div>Carleton Stock</div>
<div>St. Louis</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Linda and Milan Hamilton via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net><br>
To: George Holcombe <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net><br>
Cc: Linda and Milan Hamilton <lindaandmilan@gmail.com><br>
Sent: Sat, Jul 20, 2019 12:44 pm<br>
Subject: [Oe List ...] Who Will Speak Up!<br>
<br>
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<div><img id="yiv92440047530C56BC62-9CB0-4F54-AE3A-9EAB7515ED74" alt="image1.jpeg" src="cid:6EbUehHSYGxR9j6rKswl" yahoo_partid="1.2.2"><br>
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<div style="margin: 0in;"><span>Pastor Martin Niemöller at his desk in his home. Berlin, Germany, ca. 1936.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;"><span>US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sibylle Niemoeller</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;"><br>
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<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">As I watch in
muffled horror what is happening to our beloved Republic, especially in the
past three years, I remembered this quote from a Lutheran pastor in Germany
after it was too late to stop Hitler’s Nazi party march to obliterate the
German Republic:</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">First they came
for the Communists</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">And I did not
speak out</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Because I was not
a Communist</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Then they came for
the Socialists</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">And I did not
speak out</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Because I was not
a Socialist</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Then they came for
the trade unionists</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">And I did not
speak out</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Because I was not
a trade unionist</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Then they came for
the Jews</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">And I did not
speak out</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Because I was not
a Jew</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Then they came for
me</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">And there was no
one left</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">To speak out for
me</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Pastor Martin
Niemöller</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Niemoller was at
first a supporter of Hitler and his policies, but as the revelations moved on
to what the Nazi machine’s propaganda campaign was doing to eliminate any
opposition by systematically silencing the free press, removing “sick” elements
of the population, the gypsies, the handicapped, the “undesirables,” the
“non-Aryans” (non-white), the Jews, and any others deemed “enemies of the
State” by the Nazi party. We now know how that turned out.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">I am discerning
some parallels to what happened there, in terms of the way a democratic
republic can be chipped away at and ultimately destroyed, in our good old U.S.
of A.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“First he went
after the Mexican immigrants by calling them rapists and murderers and the
Republicans did not speak out because they were not Mexicans.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“Then he went
after the Muslims by calling them terrorists and the Republicans did not speak
out because they were not Muslims.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“Then he went
after the free press by calling them “fake news” reporters and the Republicans
did not speak out because they were not journalists.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“Then he went
after the Democrats by calling them socialists and the Republicans did not
speak out because they were not Democrats.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“Then he went
after the Judges by calling them supporters of Democrats and the Republicans
did not speak out because they were not supporters of Democrats.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">“Then he went
after African American and Muslim and Puerto Rican American citizens who were
also members of Congress telling them to “go back where they came from” and the
Republicans did not speak out because they were afraid of him.”</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">I do not know how
this will turn out but I am sure of one thing. When he goes after the “fake and
disloyal” Republicans, there won’t be anyone left to speak for them.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"> </div>
<div style="margin: 0in; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12pt;">Wake up America!
Wake up Democrats! Wake up you sleeping Republicans who still have a sense of
what is happening! Before it is too late! Save our democratic Republic!</div>
<div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Slab; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt;"> </div>
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