Despots Teach Us How to Defeat Them

Despots Teach Us How to Defeat Them

Barry Brownstein is professor emeritus of economics and leadership at the University of Baltimore. He is the author of “The Inner-Work of Leadership,” and his essays have appeared in publications such as the Foundation for Economic Education and Intellectual Takeout. He writes:

“Peter Drucker is considered the father of modern management theory. Born in Vienna, he was a young lecturer at Frankfurt University early in Hitler’s regime. In his book Adventures of a Bystander ( retold in  Life in the Third Reich), Drucker recounts the initial Nazi- controlled faculty meeting at Frankfurt

University, which occurred shortly after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933.

Drucker sets the stage: “ Frankfurt had a science faculty distinguished both by its scholarship and by its liberal convictions; and outstanding among the Frankfurt scientists was a biochemist– physiologist of Nobel-Prize caliber and impeccable liberal credentials.”

The Nazi commissar wasted no time taking charge of the meeting. Drucker remembers the commissar telling the faculty, “Jews would be forbidden to enter university premises and would be dismissed without salary on March 15. Despite the Nazis’ loud anti- Semitism,” the faculty didn’t see that coming.

Vulgarity and threats followed as the commissar “pointed his finger at one department chairman after another and said, ‘ You either do what I tell you or we’ll put you into a concentration camp.’”

Silence filled the room; everyone waited for the distinguished scientist and “great liberal” to speak. The liberal rose and said: “ Very interesting, Mr. Commissar, and in some respects very illuminating: but one point I didn’t get too clearly. Will there be more money for research in physiology?”

The faculty were easily bought with “the commissar assuring the scholars that indeed there would be plenty of money for ‘racially pure science.’” The faculty did not push back. (Anyone who’s spent time in academia shouldn’t be surprised.)

A few men of courage walked “out with their Jewish colleagues, but most kept a safe distance from these men who only a few hours earlier had been their close friends.” In a state of shock, Drucker resolved to depart Germany within 48 hours, which he did.

Similar events occurred throughout Germany. In his book “ Hitler’s True Believers,” Robert Gellately explains that before 1933, National Socialism already had footholds at the universities.

Shortly after Drucker left Nazi Germany, Gellately reported, “ The distinguished physicist Max Planck was asked whether he would like to get involved in a meeting to discuss the treatment of Jewish professors.” Planck answered “meekly that if thirty professors did that, there would be [in Planck’s words] ‘ 150 people ready to declare their solidarity with Hitler tomorrow, because they want to have those jobs.’” ( Planck was not a Jew.)

Gellately concluded, “ In their silence the establishment professoriate might be viewed as coming close to complicity.”

The long-term ruin of their lives was the price German professors paid for short-term benefits.

Envy and greed—the desire to get something for nothing—are common human emotions. In  Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 3, F. A. Hayek explained, “ The morals which maintain the open society do not serve to gratify human emotions.” Hayek instructs, “Civilization largely rests on the fact that the individuals have learnt to restrain their desires for particular objects and to submit to generally recognized rules of just conduct.”

It was not just academics who lined up to fill jobs held by Jews. Gellately reported that “medical doctors rushed to join the Nazi Party” as they “coveted the positions of Jewish physicians.”

In his book The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, Thomas Childers reported: “All ‘non Aryans’ [were] dismissed immediately from the national, state, and municipal civil service. Jews were no longer allowed to serve as schoolteachers, university professors, judges, or in any other government post.” In short, before murdering Jews, Nazi Germany ran a proto-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) program for “Aryans.”

Today, Harvard University, which has been accused of condoning anti-Semitic activity, has a Jewish student body of less than 5 percent. During the 1970s, as much as 25 percent of Harvard students were Jewish. Modern “progressive” DEI programs have a goal similar to Nazi DEI programs—reduce or eliminate Jewish and white representation from institutions and corporations.

According to Saul Friedländer’s “ The Years of Extermination,” Nazi decrees did not push far beyond what the public would accept. Sentiments of the public and influential entities, such as the church and industry, were considered. Friedländer reported: “ Not one social group, not one religious community, not one scholarly institution or professional association in Germany and throughout Europe declared its solidarity with the Jews. ... Many power groups were directly involved in the expropriation of the Jews and eager, be it out of greed, for their wholesale disappearance.”

Sadly, Friedländer concluded, “ Nazi and related anti-Jewish policies could unfold to their most extreme levels without the interference of any major countervailing interests.”

Government coercion is required for anti-Semitism to reach its most damaging consequences. Childers tells the story of an April 1, 1933, government- supported boycott of Jewish businesses: “ Storm Troopers stationed themselves in front of Jewish shops, department stores, and professional offices, menacing anyone who wanted to go inside. They carried anti-Semitic placards and scrawled slogans on Jewish shop windows.” Among the slogans was “Germans, defend yourselves. Don’t buy from Jews.”

The Nazis, however, were not pleased with the public response to the boycott. Childers reported, “ Many customers ignored the boycott, brushing past the SA pickets to shop at Jewish businesses and department stores.” Worse for the Nazis, “some shoppers had even tried to enter a Jewish business by force,” and other “customers had been feverishly stocking up on merchandise from Jewish shops for days prior to the boycott.”

The next day, the boycott was canceled. The Nazis waited to implement more extreme actions.

Childers also reported that in 1933, Germans “still visited their Jewish doctors and lawyers.” Not long after, new edicts resulted in Jewish doctors’ being allowed to treat only other Jews, a situation that led Jewish doctors to flee Germany or eventually be murdered in concentration camps.

At first, the bonds of commerce proved stronger than Nazi hatred. Yet the Nazis worked tirelessly to eliminate commercial connections—the bonds on which our lives depend.

In his An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, David Hume wrote, “ It has often been asserted, that, as every man has a strong connection with society, and perceives the impossibility of his solitary subsistence, he becomes, on that account, favorable to all those habits or principles, which promote order in society.”

Hume called such an order an “ inestimable blessing” that must be maintained by “the practice of justice and humanity, by which alone the social confederacy can be maintained, and every man reap the fruits of mutual protection and assistance.”

In his seminal A Treatise of Human Nature, Hume explained, “ The passions [human emotions] are so contagious, that they pass with the greatest facility from one person to another.” Arguably, a human passion at the root of social disruption is the insatiable desire to be free from necessity. In The Road to Serfdom, Hayek described this desire as a yearning for “release from the compulsion of the circumstances which inevitably limit the range of choice of all of us.”

Our choice is to support politicians who promise the impossible freedom from scarcity or those who promise freedom from coercion, which is possible. Freedom from coercion comes with all the choices and responsibilities we bear under a liberal form of government.

Liberty cuts off the coercive power of government to “ satisfy our wishes,” as Hayek wrote in “ The Constitution of Liberty.” Human nature causes some wish to use illiberal means to obtain what they desire. Liberty, freedom from coercion, offers the most effective solution to the dangerous escalation of anti- Semitism.”

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 “We need to adopt a “bastion strategy.”—Mark Helprin, Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy

A title like “Fortress America” will send many of America’s elites into apoplectic fits of outrage, alleging that such a concept violates the core purpose of America—to be a beacon of freedom to the world. That is certainly a popular theme for indoctrinated American idealists, and the undereducated and willfully uninformed masses, but for realists, this isn’t your great, great grandfathers’ America any more.

"The New Colossus" (1883)

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”  — Emma Lazarus 

When Emma Lazarus wrote her inspirational poem "The New Colossus" in 1883, for the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, she reflected an expanding 19^th Century America—a very different time from the one America is experiencing two decades into the 21^st Century.

America then was in the midst of its Great Industrial Revolution, following on the heels of the European Industrialization of half a century earlier. That revolution changed Europe from an agricultural and subsistence economy into an elite, urban and surplus economy on an overpopulated continent.

By the 1880s, America’s urban expansion was putting pressure on a predominantly agricultural economy. To avoid unbalancing the economy by luring too many Americans from the farm to the city, America reached out to Europe for workers who would fill the jobs in the new urban factories of the East and Midwest, which had been expanding for twenty years since the Civil War.

They came by the millions, across a great ocean, through Ellis Island, to a new world, flooding into the growing urban centers from New York to Chicago, and everywhere in between. They subsisted in tenements, several families to each small apartment, with a community bath down the hall. They lit their homes with candles and cooked with coal or wood, blackening their world.

Yet, still they came. They came to become Americans in a land of endless opportunities. They flocked to Little Italys, Little Pragues, Little Copenhagans, Little Warsaws, Little Moscows. They worked in sweatshops, alongside their children, if necessary to stave off starvation. If not, they made sure their children went to America’s public schools, their community’s centers.

And, they indeed did become Americans. America was their country now—they had built it! Was it tough, even brutal? Yes, and that’s why they took it as theirs—they had earned it! They reminisced about the “Old Country”, but they would never go back. They learned the English language. They even changed their family names to be more American. They played baseball and football, not soccer, not rugby, not cricket. They were not hyphenated, They became America.

Not so today. Today, the ocean has disappeared. The rest of the world, no more unsettled, no more terrifying than it was back then, is only hours away by plane, and only seconds away by technology. Back

then, the “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free”, fled to America. Today, that world has caught up to them. And, it has made America unsettled and, at times, terrifying.

Yet, still they come. But now, we don’t know who they are, or what they intend to do here. Where the first lesson about America that the 19^th Century immigrants learned on Ellis Island, and similar ports of entry, was respect for our laws. Today the first lesson most immigrants learn is that they can disrespect our laws with impunity—laws which reflect the essence of who we Americans are—and be rewarded for it.

When Ellis Island opened in 1892, over 50 million immigrants had already come to America in the previous half century. Another 50 million would come in the succeeding fifty years. Those that came before 1892—after American citizenship was finally defined—welcomed American law because it served them, rather than what they had experienced on the caste-conscious Continent.

It was that acceptance of American jurisprudence by a century of immigrants that was essential to Americas ability to withstand two world wars and a Great Depression, and to catapult America into the post-war period of prosperity.

Today, lawlessness at the border has metastasized into chaos, ultimately murder, in the streets of the same cities that welcomed the striving “huddled masses” so many years ago. Only now—instead of realizing that, as immigrants to another’s country, they need to focus on assimilating into an existing society and its unique culture in order to succeed—today’s immigrants ignore the norms of society and the importance of a culture that respects the law, and which reflects the essence of who Americans are.

They bring illegal and illicit drugs into the country. They bring crime. They bring disease. They bring hatred. They bring chaos. They bring death to innocents. They overwhelm services meant for Americans, like schools, police departments, social services, hospitals, the courts. Their invasion has brought the effects of war to America’s streets.

These immigrants are not just illegally in our country, they are not equipped to function in our country. By coming as they do, they have destroyed the essence of what a nation is. Without borders, there is no nation. America is now just a subsidiary of every other nation on earth.

But, that’s not the worst of it. Not only do many other nations encourage their citizens to come to America illegally, especially to be rid of their criminals,— America’s progressive elites actually want to pay them to come here illegally.

The vast majority of all illegals crossing our borders, whether it is the Southern border, the Northern border, the myriad of coastal and air ports of entry, are fed, housed, medically cared for, schooled, provided religious support, provided transportation to the destination of their choice, and provided legal assistance to endorse their illegal behavior—all at no expense to them, but at the expense of the American taxpayer!

They receive services for free that America’s needy cannot afford to pay for. They get housing while America’s needy must sleep on the streets and America’s school children have no school to attend. They empty the foodbanks needy Americans depend on. They flood emergency rooms that America’s needy cannot access.

This is insanity. The borders must be closed to all illegal traffic. The borders must be closed to all illegal traffic. Only those with approved visas may enter through functioning ports of entry, in numbers that can be processed, and then be assimilated into American society.

The number of illegal immigrants must be reduced to zero, and the number of legal immigrants— provided visas only to supply critical skills to America’s critical industries—must be reduced to no more than one-tenth of one percent of the American population per year—an historic norm. In 2024,that number would be 335,000—not the more than 3 million illegals who will actually enter the country.

The new walls of America will reflect the maturity of America as a nation of free people, free to define their own society, and the environment in which that society will thrive, and where all Americans can live in peace and prosperity—or as the Declaration of Independence, America’s Mission Statement, stated—"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

America’s “wall” broadcasts that maturity to the world. America will never again be exploited for its basic goodness by nations and people that do not respect it. But, once having erected it, America must still confront a world at the gates that does not have America’s best interests at heart, even though America remains the last, best hope for humanity on this good Earth.

America must realize that it is surrounded by a world that has its own disparate interests, and except for America’s treaty allies, those interests are hostile to America’s best interests.

Simply put, the wolves are still at the door, and though having ended the invasion, America must now prepare for the siege.  

This means that America must become reliably self-sufficient in all things essential for nationhood.

·        Defense of ourselves and our treaty allies

·        Free and fair commerce with our treaty allies

·        Food

·        Clean air and water

·        Medicine and the raw materials for medicine

·        Raw materials for America’s industrial engine

·        Robust and efficient energy production

·        National Defense Labor Board to resolve labor disputes involving critical industries through arbitration and mediation—no strikes allowed.

Only if America accepts this reality, and adopts the policies that enable it, will America survive.

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Today, we, as a nation, are far from accepting this reality. America’s elites have abandoned the righteousness expected of them in the Constitution. Where, in America’s first two centuries virtue abounded among America’s public leaders, the last fifty years have produced a cabal of self-interested, morally decadent elites who care not for America, but only for their ascendency to elite status.

Despite the best efforts of the Founders, power has corrupted our governing elites, and their pursuit of absolute power is relentless.

The sovereignty of the States and the People has been trampled down to irrelevance. The federal government, under the guise of “we know what’s best for you” during the COVID 19 self-declared pandemic, reduced individual freedom to rubble, virtually destroyed small business, decimated learning in the public schools and replaced it with indoctrination, and collapsed the economy.

Not one government official has been held accountable for this catastrophe. The only segment of the economy that flourished during the pandemic was the government—the segment that produces nothing for anyone, but continues to take from everyone.

Speak out—you’re cancelled. Assemble for church services—your church is closed. Pursue your happiness—your business is closed, then destroyed. Search for information—only government information is allowed. Challenge the federal government—you go to jail.

How did this happen? It has been happening for decades. It’s just that nobody cared.

The elites have co-opted every major institution in America. The federal government, blue-state governments, major city governments, the press/media, the academy, the military, the judiciary, the medical profession, the scientific community, the captains of industry, the social media titans, the news & entertainment industry, the publishing industry, the public service unions, the Democrat Party—all live according to the same playbook.

Tear down America. Hate those who oppose you. Rip apart civil society. Indoctrinate the young.

Demonize the white, the male, the straight, the patriotic, the wealthy, the worker, the first-responders, the religious, the conservatives, the law abiding, the gun owners, the conciliators, the Republican office holders.

Glorify the agitators, the ignorant, the secular, the education establishment, the biased judiciary, the labor unions, the corrupted press/media, the abortionists, the non-binary, the hedonist, the drag queen, the vagrant, the thief, the liar, the cheater, the thug, the child exploiter, the community organizer, the hater, the terrorist, the mail-in vote gatherer, the Democrat office holder.

The time has finally come for The People to rise up again and throw off the shackles of tyranny—the tyranny of our own making. The power within these “walls” must once again and forever, reside in The People—all of the People—not just the favored people.

With the enemies of the people at the gates, and inside the walls, the People must collectively say—No more. This far and no farther.

This outlook, of course, begs the question: “Who are the People?” Both groups referred to above are citizens, but they are not all to be counted among the People.

“We, the People” are those who subscribe to the Preamble to the Constitution of the Unites States, which states unequivocally:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

We the People are the ones dedicated to:

·        Union, that is, bringing people together, not dividing them up into favored and unfavored groups based on identity, prejudice or unwarranted stereotypes.

·        Justice, that is, obeying ALL of the laws proscribed by our elected representatives.

·        Domestic tranquility, that is, acting civilly towards our fellow citizens, not shouting them down or calling for them to be “cancelled” by Americans or America’s institutions.

·        Defense, that is, supporting a robust defense of America’s territory, institutions, citizens, societal norms, and cultural achievements, from all enemies—foreign and domestic.

·        General Welfare, that is, using federal dollars to benefit all of the People, not one group, or one individual, while shutting out the rest. Roads and bridges good, welfare and free government services bad.

·        Liberty, that is, the ability and opportunity for all Americans to fully achieve their dreams, whatever they may be, as long ass those dreams do not infringe upon the fulfillment of the dreams of others-including their dreams for their children..

·        Posterity, that is, to pass on to our descendants an America more free, more educated, more united, more optimistic, more capable, more honest than the America we inherited.

·        Ordain and establish, that is, the Constitution is our operator’s manual. We will operate our country in accordance with it. We will not throw it away when it won’t allow us to do something. We will highlight and strengthen the essential parts by amending it when necessary. We will not allow others to “wing it” and bring the whole country down.

If an American citizen cannot abide these tenets, they are not part of the People, they are part of the problem. In order to solve this problem of uniting America, we must of necessity look inward to identify and control the things we can, while remaining vigilant of those outside the walls, that they do not negatively affect our own positive efforts.

With China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, South Africa, Venezuela, and Cuba all working for the demise of the United States, vigilance must be accompanied by pre-emptive actions when required, to thwart actions by these enemies.

For the domestic enemies of the People, their ideology must be curbed through the legal process, if at all possible. The realization that the nation’s legal foundation has been compromised by elites who merely ignore the law, or bend its meaning to suit their nefarious purposes, leads one to the conclusion that the nation’s legal system must be improved and enhanced to counter the myriad of transgressions committed by these elites.

The only way to do that in such a divided country is through a Constitutional Convention of the States, as described in Article V of the Constitution. If not, domestic pre-emptive actions may be warranted.

This volume attempts to analyze who we are now as a nation, where we want to go as a nation, and how we can accomplish that goal. The journey starts with some self-reflection.

Next time: Everyone has gone nuts!