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July 12, 2010

Hope and Change and the Scariest Movie Scene Ever

  Tomorrow belongs to me 3   

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs5bnVoZK4Q&feature=related

Horror movie buffs may be surprised to know that the scariest scene in the history of cinema has no slasher or space creature or ferocious beast.  There's a monster alright, but it's a different kind of monster.  Not an imaginary monster, but a real one – the kind of monster that people choose to rule over them.

As the Book of Ecclesiastes explains: “There is nothing new under the sun.”  Throughout history, nations have fallen prey to charming, silver-tongued demagogues.  Once in power, they reveal their evil, tyrannical selves.  Too late does the subject populace feel the Leader’s boot on their throats.  Then comes time for the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

A Democrat pundit, Michael Tomasky, describes Obamamania in a way that could just as easily be about another socialist Leader of days gone by:

“The image of Barack Hussein Obama speaking to America from his stage in Grant Park that night in November 2008 as president-elect was, for liberals, one of the most staggering images we’ve ever seen.  One felt–many millions of us felt–almost invincible in a way; finally justified in our beleaguered beliefs, after so many years of despondency and rage; aware in fresh and unprecedented ways of our collective power, like mortals transformed into superheroes in the movies, realizing for the first time that they could fly or crush stone.  It seems likely that American liberals will never again for the foreseeable future feel quite like we did that night.  All things seemed possible.”

Ach der lieber!

In the 1972 movie Cabaret, an idealistic youth sings about change he can believe in.  Caught up by his hopeful vision, people begin to sing along with him:

The sun on the meadow is summery warm
The stag in the forest runs free
But gathered together to greet the storm
Tomorrow belongs to me

The branch on the linden is leafy and green
The Rhine gives its gold to the sea
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen
Tomorrow belongs to me

The babe in his cradle is closing his eyes
The blossom embraces the bee
But soon says the whisper, arise, arise
Tomorrow belongs to me

Now Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign
Your children have waited to see
The morning will come when the world is mine
Tomorrow belongs to me


The audience then discovers that the young man is in the Hitler Youth.

Looking back at the rise of National Socialism, one can lose sight of the fact that back then Germany had one of the most advanced cultures on the globe.  Germans were too nuanced and sophisticated for a dictator to arise in the midst, right?  Wrong!
 

Here at home, we should be wary of any politician who seeks to manipulate people by focusing their attention away from their present difficulties, always talking about his vision for the nation, a glorious future that somehow never arrives.  Like the Germans of the 1920s and 30s, could Americans fall prey to a demagogue?  Yes, We Can!

This article was also posted on the Big Government website.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the nation, showing office-holders and candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.  His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Posted at 08:08 AM |

Tags: Cabaret, Michael Tomasky, National Socialism, Nazi, socialism

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