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<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">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:</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">First they came
for the Communists</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">And I did not
speak out</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Because I was not
a Communist</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Then they came for
the Socialists</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">And I did not
speak out</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Because I was not
a Socialist</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Then they came for
the trade unionists</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">And I did not
speak oAsut</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Because I was not
a trade unionist</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Then they came for
the Jews</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">And I did not
speak out</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Because I was not
a Jew</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Then they came for
me</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">And there was no
one left</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">To speak out for
me</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Pastor Martin
Niemöller</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">Pastor Martin
Niemöller at his desk in his home. Berlin, Germany, ca. 1936.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">US Holocaust
Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sibylle Niemoeller</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“Then he went
after the Muslims by calling them terrorists and the Republicans did not speak
out because they were not Muslims.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“Then he went
after the Democrats by calling them socialists and the Republicans did not
speak out because they were not Democrats.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">“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.”</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11.0pt"> </p>
<p style="margin:0in;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12.0pt">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!</p>
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