Good American

One of the things I have pondered over the years is what I would have done had I been living in Germany in the 1930s. Like many of the population then, I am fairly intelligent, well-educated, and social. Would I have resisted the horrors, or become just another “good German?”

We used to call it the “big lie” but Nazism was truly a religious cult. The “master race” was being suppressed from its destiny of ruling the world by hoards of inferior people led by a secret cabal of evil, subhuman, Jews. 

Phrased so bluntly that sounds silly, but many Germans believed it wholeheartedly, most thought it contained at least a grain of truth, and more than a few considered it a social fad which would fade, like so many others. Aristocrats and the military thought they could use it to regain power and prestige, until they were forced to become acolytes themselves or were crushed.

I was taught that it could never happen in America, a melting pot vibrant democracy. I used to believe it. But the rise of the authoritarian religious Republicans has me facing my old questions. Their cult chant now is that if anyone has troubles, they are victims, and the evil godless intellectual elite are responsible and are leading subhuman socialists to destroy all that is good and holy.

Phrased so bluntly … etc …  America has no aristocrats, but plutocrats and the military/police complex think they can use it to gain power and prestige. They plan to control it. Maybe. 

I vote dutifully, but I know I have no power. Many of those around me are cultists already, and they will not allow argument to their holy slogans. I tend my garden and hope for the best. 

I remain _ or have turned into _ a “good American.”