In Answer To: "It Couldn't Happen Here!"

[Turborama]

German American Bund

On March 19, 1936, Hitler placed an American citizen, Fritz Julius Kuhn, as the head of the party. The group's name was then changed to the German American Bund. At this time, the Bund established two training camps, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Nordlund">Camp Nordlund in Sussex County, New Jersey and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaphank,_New_York">Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York.

From this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_Bund">German American Bund|

Nazism in America ( 1 1/2 Long Documentary): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4861099270516462721#


German American Bund Rally Poster
at Madison Square Garden,
February 20, 1939


German American Bund parade on East 86th St., New York City, October 30, 1939

http://underthemountainbunker.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/becks-re-education-camp/">Beck’s Re-Education Camp

[no_hypocrisy]

1. It STILL is "happening here":

There's a German-American band that plays on Long Island (New York), Pennsylvania, Connecticut and cruises during the and Florida during the winters. Not oom-pah marches, but top-40 from the Sixties and Seventies, Elvis, some German songs. Accordian, bass, guitar, trumpet, drums, vocals.

At the end of every show, the leader has the audience come up close to the stage and hold hands. He then sings "The Trilogy" with "How Great Thou Art", "The Battle Hymn of The Republic", and "America The Beautiful", ending with "God Bless America".

And during "America The Beautiful", the leader talks over the music to the audience, baldly denigrating and condemning the President. Calling him an illegal immigrant without a valid birth certificate. Telling everyone to be patient until 2012 when respect and order can be restored with the election of the smartest, the prettiest, and wisest individual in this land: Sarah Palin. This always gets a loud cheer.

The leader has now set up microphones for the audience to come up and "testify". The words are incredibly ugly. "Get that n----r out of the White House." You get the idea. And the leader has members of the band speak either in favor of Palin or against Obama too. And if any member defers, he's fired from future jobs.

I know because I'm friends with an ex-member. He says the cheers and size of the crowd worry him. Close to frenzied. They really really hate Obama and love, love Palin. One can only hope most of them aren't registered to vote.

My point: What I just described is under the radar unless you're at one of these performances. But it's there. And it isn't going away.

[Turborama]

16. They sound similar to the band in that documentary which was on Al Jazeera English

Sorry it took so long to reply, I was trying to remember the name of the documentary, it's called "White Power USA". Have you seen it? If not, it's available to watch online http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sQ7JCgbYc4">here and Democracy Now have the transcript http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/11/white_power_usa_the_rise_of">here.

They have also become a player in the "Tea Party" under the guise of the "Council of Conservative Citizens", as is exposed in that short documentary (it's only 24 minutes long and well worth watching).

[reggie the dog]

2. for years i have seen the signs of rising fascism

hardly anyone believes me. i guess my ma in history involved learning more about past regimes in many countries but most people dont give a damn about history.. at least there are people like you who see it.

[14thColony]

3. What irritates me...

Is the people who, lacking your understanding of history, automatically equate fascism with naziism, then go on to cartoonize naziism in the most one-dimensional way, as in:

Logical person: "Certain aspects of Fascist ideology appear to be gaining ground in the US."

Congenital idiot: "That's not true! We're not Nazis 'cause Nazis put Jews in concentration camps and we haven't done that so we're not Nazis! And besides, Obama's a totalitarian fascist communist."

Honestly, stupid should hurt.

[reggie the dog]

4. true that

the nazis are just one of many fascist regimes that have existed. we need only look to the history of latin and south america to understand that many of them were our allies.

[GoCubsGo]

5. Is that "Restoring Honor" sign the one they actually used?

If so, I guess it's not surprising that they used a type font and design that is right out of the 1930s.

[14thColony]

6. Already using the uniforms, might as well use the typeset

Check out what Glenn Beck's wearing on the front cover of his opus work "Arguing with Idiots" (presumably a self-help book for right-wingers with multiple personality disorder):
http://www.amazon.com/Arguing-Idiots-Small-Government-Hardcover/dp/B003L7HSWW/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288181174&sr=1-13

[Turborama]

15. This one...

Has now been changed to this...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oH-qwWITL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

I wonder why.

[Turborama]

12. I just found a picture from that rally which shows he had it on the podium as well

Similar kinds of imagery, too...

[demwing]

7. So ... What ARE we going to do?

I posted this elsewhere, the OP requested that I post it here as well:

So ... What ARE we going to do?

The incident where a woman was stomped by a Rand Paul supporter SCARES me. Not personally, because I'm a big guy - 6'3" and close to 300 lbs. I can curl my 15 year old son.

It scares me because this is EXACTLY the kind of street brawling shit that the SA used to help propel Hitler to power in the mid 20's. The only differences are the names. Instead of joining the "National Socialist German Workers' Party", the thugs and racists join the Tea Party, another Nationalist movement. Instead of hating the Jews, the Tea Baggers hate the Muslims. Instead of blaming economic woes on the liberal Wiemar Republic, they blame Obamacare.

They want to isolate, purify, and control, violently if they must. They have no problems showing it, and their candidates have no problem saying it.

We just aren't listening, because no one wants to believe it can happen here. Make allusions to Nazis and people scoff, then shut you out, because it cant happen here.

Well. it's happening here, as sure as it did in Berlin in 1925.

We haven't had an election yet, and the violence has already begun. Imagine if that women with a Tea Party boot in her face were your daughter, or wife, or mother...now imagine what could happen if the Tea Party loses.

In 1928 the Nazis won only 12 seats. In 1930, they won over 100, and became the 2nd largest faction in the German Federal Government. We are about to open the door to thugs again, less than 100 years after we shut it. In fact, some of those Tea Baggers were alive during that time, and should know better.

We all should know better.

So, if they win, despite our best GOTV, or if they cheat, despite our actual majority, or even IF THEY LOSE...the violence has already begun. What exactly are we going to do?

[Turborama]

10. I wish I could come up with a good answer

The only thing I can think of is to try make as many people aware of what's going on as possible, like you, I and other DUers are doing. That's the only thing I can think that WE can do.

What THEY can do is fuck off and emigrate to Britain, where the new Con/Dem government is set on turning it into a Teahadist's utopia.

[guitar man]

14. I hate to think it

But if they keep insisting on street brawling thuggery, we may have to give it back to them and make damn sure we win. History shows what happened when the Brownshirts got their way before, I don't think we can afford to let it happen again :grr:

[Javaman]

8. My mom was 12 in 1936...

she told me stories of how her grand mother (my great grandmother) would encourage my grandparents to send my mom to one of these camps. Thankfully, my grand parents, ever so respectfully told my great grandmother to fuck off.

Needless to say, my mom's side of the family is if German decent.

[Javaman]

9. Note the date: this was AFTER hitlers invasion of Poland. nt

[Turborama]

11. Good catch. I just checked and it was nearly 2 months after Britain declared war on Germany, too

The invasion of Poland led to Britain and France to declare war on Germany on 3 September.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland

Glad to hear that your grandparents were smart enough not to send your mother to the training camps, did you find out what kind of stuff went on there?

[Javaman]

13. My mom had a couple of her friends from her neighborhood in Brooklyn attend them...

She said that they stopped attending after a few meetings.

I think people started seeing the writing on the wall. This was after the Olympics and before Hitler invaded the Sudetanland.

My great grandmother was once very wealthy. She lost all her money (still had it in deutsche marks) when the economy crashed in Germany after WWI. The odd thing is, she was an American citizen since coming to the stats in the 1840's,(she lived till 98), yet never believed in the US economy. She was a hold over from the Keiser days. Was alive when Germany was unified, etc. Old habits die hard.

[Greyhound]

17. Americans didn't want to be involved in "Europe's war".

Had the Japanese not bombed Pearl, we might not have ever entered the war except for the "Liberty ships" ferrying supplies to England.

I suppose in that way the Japanese saved Europe.

[Javaman]

18. We were ramping up war production as early as 1939...

It wasn't until Congress declared war and made it official that the government went on a war economy.

While Japan ushered the US in the war, there would have been another reason for us to get in even if they didn't bomb Pearl.

Frankly, with the lend lease act we were basically at war already. I know for a fact that my Uncle who was a merchant marine (before he was drafted) on a liberty ship was actively making use of the deck guns on his ship against German U-boats.

Japan knew our navy was a massive threat and needed to be knocked out in order for them to continue their conquest of the Pacific. Their failure was not catching our carriers still in port.

Basically, if the attack on Pearl didn't take place, it would have been something else. The world was at war, 2 of our biggest allies were in dire straights.

It's more effective to have someone attack you to gain support than it is to go on the offensive and sustain support.

Did Washington know of the attack on Pearl before hand? No, but they saw the writing on the wall in the run up to it.

What people fail to understand about the attack on Pearl is: it wasn't the only American interest that was attacked that day. Pearl just happened to be the most dramatic target.

When you have a military dictatorship in the form of Imperial Japan, they will always attack the biggest threat that would stand in the way of their expanding goals.

Many people like to believe that Japan did an "honorable" thing by not launching a 3rd wave against Pearl under the bizarre belief that the Japanese thought it "dishonorable" to catch us unprepared and completely surprised. That is a bizarre lie that has been propagated for years.

They didn't launch the 3rd wave because, our carriers were not in port. They didn't know their locations and their supply line was stretched across the pacific.

They couldn't afford to launch a 3rd wave in the event that our carriers located their position and attacked. But the time the 3rd Japanese wave was readying for attack, our carriers, having been alerted to the Pearl attack, were now sending out all their planes in an event to locate the Japanese task force. If found, and with out their planes, the Japanese task force would have been left wide open for attack with out any air support.

The long and short of it is: we would have still gotten involved in the war at some point. More than likely, if Japan never launched any expansionist attacks on those days in early December, would would have declared war on Germany if they made any move to invade England. And as part of our allied agreement, would have declared war against Japan as a matter of course due them being allied with Germany and Italy.