Nazi Germany, Nazi America

Dear Mr. President,

Following WW II the spectacle of the Nuremberg trials convinced us that some monstrous evil had turned the German people into a nation of mindless goose-stepping Nazis who condoned injustice and bigotry, violence and murder, who could not distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. How could people be like this? we wondered in our smug satisfaction of knowing we had saved the world from tyranny. How could the Germans let Hitler come to power? How could they allow the extermination of Jews? How could they be so evil? Hannah Arendt gave what happened in Germany, a name: “the banality of evil.” Going about your daily business and not speaking out, doing nothing to oppose the evil your government does. Those who did speak out, who openly opposed what was happening were severely punished—beatings, imprisonment, or death. It took a disastrous defeat in war and a new generation to purge Germany’s national sense of shame. We were so smug, so secure in our superiority and sense of exceptionalism. Then came 9/11 and Bush divided the world neatly into good and evil: we’re good, they’re evil; you’re either with us or with them; they hate us for our freedom—and most people went along. Cheney warned that we might have to go to the dark side and we did—renditions, torture, sometimes death—but our government told us it was necessary to protect us. Guantanamo was opened to house illegal combatants and prevent future attacks and that was accepted too. Warrantless wiretapping followed, then all-encompassing surveillance of everywhere, indefinite detention, secret laws, Kill Lists, targeted assassinations, drone attacks far from any battlefield and a war of terror without end on perceived enemies. We now live in a state of siege, a state of fear where our government operates in secrecy, openly lies to Congress and anyone who would dare expose the truth is severely punished. Among others, Bradley Manning and now, Eric Snowden. In spite of the revelations exposed by these men, there is no public outcry, no mass protests. Senators and representatives rage against the traitors, support the liars, and don’t care about injustice and the loss of freedom. Only a few stand up against the abuse of power but they are shouted down and ignored. The rest go about their business and are complicit in criminality by the state. The technology has changed, the names have changed, but the evil is the same today as it was then. The banality of evil. Welcome to Nazi America.