Fritz Thyssen was a very wealthy and politically active German industrialist in the 1930s -- arguably the Murdoch/Koch/Adelson/Mercer/etc. of his day in Germany -- helped fund the rise of Hitler because he thought it would be good for his business and that Hitler would cut his taxes.
When I read his book I Paid Hitler, part apologia and part rationalization, I couldn't help but wonder how the heirs of today's GOP/Trump-financing billionaires will look back on this era. That's assuming, of course, that any sort of real history of the events of this time survives Trump and Pence's dual assault on our news organizations and net neutrality.
As Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels famously said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
Big lies are in full form now in America, from seemingly trivial things like crowd sizes to country- and world-changing lies about taxes and Iran.
At the same time, we're facing the classic fascist technique of discrediting the press and suppressing voices of dissent with draconian threats of jail time or surveillance for simply participating in protests or even visiting a protest website.
This reckoning was brought on us by a small group of authoritarian/libertarian billionaires and their minions, with the help of a compliant Supreme Court that has declared, without the authority of the Constitution, that corporations are persons and that money used to buy politicians and legislation is First Amendment-protected "free speech."
Given that the only force that can defeat organized money is organized people, whether our republic will withstand this assault is now in our hands.
Democracy is not a spectator sport; we must get involved before "the corn is over our heads."
Tag, you're it.
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