Review by Phyllis Kimpel
This video based on Andy Andrew’s book made a strong impression on me.
It begins with asking, “How did Hitler get elected that led to the killing of 11 million people?” The answer was that he lied to a nation. It quotes Hitler, “How fortunate for leaders, that men do not think. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep it simple and eventually the people will believe it.” In Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf it said, “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one.” This book was widely read by the German people at the time. The masses either believed Hitler’s lie or ignored it.
At the time the total German population was 79.9 million people. Less than 10% of the population actively campaigned and worked to bring about Hitler’s change. The vast majority of the population, fathers, mothers, ministers and teachers avoided the uncomfortable truth of what was happening around them and around them. The Nazis even started targeting the children. By that time they were too late to do anything about it.
The German people tried to distance themselves. Every Sunday the German people could hear the train and its whistle bringing the Jews to the camps. Since they knew the time the trains would pass by they would start singing at that time to drown out the screaming noises.
The video points out that speaking the truth is the least we should expect from our political leaders. It is a beginning to solving our problems. It asks, “What are our standards for being led? Is it alright for a guy to lie to us even if his intentions are good? Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys? Do we judge the bad guys by their actions and the good guys by their intentions? If so, how can we tell the difference?” The most dangerous thing is, trusting a liar. The movie said, “Have you ever noticed that if we lie to our leaders, it is a felony but if they lie to us, it is politics?”
The video ends by asking, “Is lying to be elected acceptable? Would truth be a starting position to solve the nation’s problems? Where are we headed? Can you hear the whistles and wheels coming down the track? How loud are you singing?”
I think of April 30, 1789, when George Washington was first inaugurated as the first president of the new nation of the United States of America and after the inauguration, George Washington led a group of people to St. Paul’s Chapel from the Federal building in New York and dedicated America, as a nation to God. In his inaugural address he said, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States.”
If the first leader of this nation credits God for it being established, what would God think of this nation now? John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
The citizens of his nation were meant to have freedoms and certain unalienable rights set out by the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. We as a people have become complacent and now we are in a position where our freedoms of religion, parental rights and the moral rights of our children are being threatened by the laws that have been established. What has been our moral conduct before all this happened? What laws supported them? Why? Was it for personal gain, pride, power or greed? What do we need to do to change things so that we are secure of our rights?
Thomas Jefferson said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” We as citizens have no one to blame but ourselves for not being more involved in the choosing of our leaders and the establishment of our laws.
I pray, as a “people of good conscience” that we be more involved in the affairs of our government and nation.