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Martin Gilbert’s The Second World War: A Complete History (Henry Holt, 1989)

During the China virus (coronavirus) pandemic, learn what Nazis and the Democratic Party have in common.

The parallels between Nazi oppression of Europe and Democratic Party oppression of the United States become obvious on reading Martin Gilbert’s mammoth history of World War II.

While I originally wanted to learn more about the Nazi oppression of European nations only, imperialist policies of fascist Italy and imperial Japan reinforced several ideas about how dictatorships not only suppress, but eventually kill freedom-loving people.  Of course, Nazi actions in Europe parallel the policies of the Democratic Party in the United States, so reading a dated history of World War II is still relevant.

Besides that, the 747 pages of text—and many full-page maps and photos—are sure to occupy time well spent indoors during the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the parallels between Nazis and Democratic politicians are obvious.  First is the dominant Nazi belief that there is some human life which is not worth living.  For Nazis, it was Jews, the Roma people (Gypsies), Slavs, and others (homosexuals and mentally ill persons).  Democrats, similarly, despise the unborn, the handicapped newborn, and the elderly.  That’s why their policies endorse abortion legal throughout the nine months of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever, infanticide (the killing of handicapped newborns), and euthanasia (the killing of the elderly and denial of care to medically-vulnerable senior citizens).

Second are the means which Nazis used and Democratic politicians use to obtain and maintain political power.  For Nazis, terror and violence were the order of the day.  For Democrats, much the same, although the terror is usually masked in ad hominem and politically-correct attacks against their opponents, as when an opponent is branded as “homophobic” or “racist” when the person attacked is anything but.  Sometimes, Democratic politicians endorse the practices of violent domestic terrorist groups like Antifa to intimidate law-abiding citizens.

Third is the devastation which the Nazis and Democrats created.  Nazi destruction of Europe is obvious; we have still photo and film documentation of the damage caused to European cities throughout their long reign of terror.  The evidence of Democratic devastation is not as clear as a photo of a destroyed Warsaw, but nonetheless apparent.  Democratic abortion policies, for example, have not only killed unborn children, but also harmed or killed mothers and alienated fathers.  Democratic assaults on heterosexual normativity have affected the family and the importance of the husband and father in the family as much as any Nazi bomb would have destroyed an ancient European church.

Gilbert’s interpolation of historical facts with countless narratives of victims of the war makes the reading of his 747 pages suspenseful and powerfully emotional.  Although we know how the “story” ends (the Nazis lose, and Western civilization is saved from a vicious totalitarian threat), we do not know the specific facts of how Europe saved itself from Nazi oppression.  Gilbert supplies those facts and relates painful episodes of people killed by the Nazis.

Similarly, while we know the horrors of Democratic policies attacking human life, what is not so clear is whether we twenty-first century people have learned anything from Nazi oppression of Jewish and Christian (Western) civilization.  One could answer “obviously not” since the policies of the Democratic Party in the United States are as oppressive as Nazi ideology yet are still endorsed by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who align themselves with that party.  One can only hope that Americans will reject Democrats’ Nazi-like policies and practices in November’s elections.

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