Godwin’s Law holds that the longer an on-line discussion goes on, the greater the possibility that someone will make a comparison to Hitler or Naziism. Apparently, Godwin’s Law applies to Presidential campaigns as well. I’m noticing more and more comparison to the Nazis as this eternal election cycle grinds along. And like all of the on-line analogies, those drawn by the candidates are wrong as well–and render their arguments irrelevant.
“The first thing the Nazis did was take away everyone’s guns”. Dr Ben Carson was the first to bring this one up this year. The only problem is, when the Nazis came to power in Germany, there were very few guns to take away. The Weimar Republic had very strict gun laws–and disarmament in the Treaty of Versailles left Germany almost gun-free. It was the Nazis that actually relaxed gun laws and allowed private ownership again–although not for Jews and other “undesirable” populations.
“Donald Trump’s deportation of illegal immigrants and call for special ID’s for Muslims reeks of Naziism”. Bernie Sanders hinted at this one after the Donald started scoring points with both arguments. The “special ID” proposal gets compared with the Nazi law that required Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on the outer layer of their clothing at all times in public–and that all Jewish-owned businesses have “Juden” painted on their front window or door. As for the deportation of illegal immigrants to their countries of origin, that is a far cry from the deportations carried out by the Nazis–as legal citizens of a number of countries (including Germany) were sent to foreign countries they had never been in before. And whereas illegals in the US would be returned to families and work opportunities–those put on the cattle cars in Nazi-controlled Europe were sent to ghettos–where they would likely starve to death–or to concentration camps–where they would be gassed immediately or worked to death.
“The Nazis were Socialists too, you know”. Opponents of Bernie Sanders like to toss this one around. The only problem is, National Socialism (the formal name for Naziism) was less of an economic system and more of a racial purification system. The goal was not to have everyone the same economically under government mandate and wealth redistribution policies–but rather to genetically be the same under government mandate and aforementioned deportation and killing policies.
“Ted Cruz is using ‘Gestapo-like tactics’ to win delegates”. Donald Trump tossed out this beauty on Sunday. His argument is that through “back-room dealings” the delegates chosen to actually attend the GOP convention are Cruz supporters that will vote–as required–for Trump in the first nomination ballot–but then turn on him in subsequent ballots to give Cruz the win. Now the Gestapo was a secret police force designed to spy on the German people themselves and to maintain “order” within the Reich. Their usual modus operandi was arrest without a warrant or probable cause, blackmail and torture to get people to confess to anti-German activities–even if they were innocent. So is Donald Trump saying that Republican Delegates are being tortured or threatened with imprisonment or death to support Ted Cruz?
What do you say we let the Nazis rest for the remainder of this Presidential election–or at least have a clue as to how evil they really were.
