A wary eye on politics

The other day gun advocates compared on Facebook Hitler’s rise to power by eliminating gun ownership with today’s efforts on gun control. It made me think of how politics today might compare with Germany in the early 1930s.

Nationalism was a major appeal in that Hitler promised to restore Germany’s prominence in the world. Today we hear Republican candidates advocating to restore America’s greatness. Hitler blamed Jews and other minorities for the social ills of the time. Today some Republican presidential candidates want to deport, build walls and stop immigration. They play on Americans’ anxiety that these folks are changing our nation. Hitler cast the left as evil, which scared the populace. Republicans paint Democrats in much the same way.

I am in no way saying that the Republicans are the reincarnation of Hitler. Supporters of the conservative cause should at least understand that Hitler emerged from the right, not the left. He used the same playbook we are seeing used today. Some of this is standard operating procedure in politics, but it should remind us to be leery of political claims. ED HUDNALL

Bryant