Who are the Nazi's?

Silence Means Assent
by JLH

I sometimes think of Martin Niemöller’s famous lines describing how Nazism stamped out a nation’s decent impulses through intimidation, lies and fear:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

And I wonder how we should describe what has happened to us… how the best characteristics of a culture can be destroyed by the enemies within, who yearn to control and intimidate. And this is what I think:
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When they said we were war-mongers, I said nothing, because I knew we had not been war-mongers, and I thought everyone knew that.

When they said we were racists, I said nothing, because I knew we were not racists, and I thought everyone knew that.

When they said we were Nazis, I said nothing and even smiled a little, because I knew we were not Nazis, and I thought everyone knew that.


When they said we were selfish, I said nothing, because I knew we were the first truly generous nation in the history of the world, and I thought everyone knew that.

And when they said the Constitution was outdated, I said nothing, because I knew that it was timeless and newer than all the morally bankrupt tyrannies that have risen up before and since, and I thought everyone knew that.

And when I was done saying nothing, I found that I no longer had the freedom that had made me the luckiest citizen on the face of the earth.

And no one knew or cared.
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paraphrase of Martin Niemoller in there somewhere:,
 "First they ridiculed and denied the unemployed, and I did not speak out because I had a job. 
Then they ridiculed and denied the impoverished, and I did not speak out because I was busy working. 
Then they ridiculed and denied the hungry, and I did not speak out because I was well-fed. 
Then they ridiculed and denied me, and there was no one left to speak for me."