I Can See The Reichstag From My Front Porch

In my last post, American Jihad, my friend Mudrake commented that some people are reticient to use language that compares the present violent rhetoric and actions of some on the Right to nazism. To some extent, I agree with him, because the lable is used in a broad inaccurate swath to dehumanize and make an opponent into a monster based on the psychic image of the horrors of nazi Germany.

But, we can look at the methods with which the Nazis intimidated and took control of the German soul and see the same techniques used through history as tools to use mob violence as a tool of political intimidation.

You only have to go back a little farther and see Mussolini's Italian Fascist destruction of the socialist and communist movements in Italy, or the prewar assasination attempt of the French Socialist President, Leon Blum by pro German French Nationalists.

I really admire Alan Grayson, the Democrat Represetative from Florida because he seems to have the historical depth to refer to real examples with out sinking to meaningless name calling. He has the guts to actually speak out and a sense of humor to do it in a way that appeals to the people.

In this exchange, Grayson talks about threats he received before the HCR Bill vote.

He refers to the attempts by conservatives to claim that the violence we are seeing now is coming from the right and the left.

He makes an interesting analogy in comparing the tactic to the Nazi ruse of burning the Reichstag in Berlin and then blaming it on their opponents to make themselves into martyrs:

In a Saturday interview on Sirius XM, a satellite radio company, the Florida congressman said a woman called his home last week and said on speakerphone that she would kill him if he voted for the health care bill.

Grayson alluded to an infamous event in the buildup to Nazi Germany when responding to the interviewer's statement about Republican claims that the abuse is "happening on both sides."

Republicans have condemned the abuse while simultaneously exploiting it. House Minority Leader John Boehner said the abuse was because “millions of Americans are scared to death."

MARK THOMPSON: How are your wife and kids? How’s your safety? ... With all of this stuff going on, have you been on the other end of any of this foolishness, these threats?

Story continues below...

REP. GRAYSON: Yeah, yeah, when I was in Washington, D.C., last week, a woman called my home. I’ve got five kids, and I have twins who are 5 years old. One of the 5-year-olds hit the speaker button on the phone when it was ringing, and she said, "If you vote for health care, I’ll kill you." And my son went over to my wife and said, "There’s a lady on the phone who said she’s going to kill me." He thought that she was talking about him.

MARK THOMPSON: Yeah, this is crazy. And they’re suggesting ... the Republicans are defending themselves by saying this is happening on both sides. This is not happening on both sides.

REP. GRAYSON: Well, I think that’s what they said about the burning of the Reichstag, if I recall correctly.

Of course, the biggest problem with actually dealing with historical facts is that most people are ignorant of details. Sarah Palin couldn't spell Reichstag, she probably thinks it is a hotel in Cleveland, but perhaps she can see it from her front porch....