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I recently read a snippet of a story. It was the story of a country outraged and in fear after an act of terrorism on their own soil. In response a bill was proposed for the protection of the people. A two-thirds vote of the legislative body would be needed to pass the act.

Opponents of the bill declared that it would end democracy for the nation, but the leader of the party promoting the act declared that it would only be used with restraint. He was quoted as stating, “The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures … The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one.”

On February 27, 1933, the German Reichstag building was burned, and on March 23rd, 1933 the German Parliament followed Hitler’s urging and passed the Enabling Act.

I would ask those of you about to bust a button with outrage, to give me just a moment.

I am in no way saying that our current president is the maniacal, evil person that Hitler is understood to have been. What I am saying is that to give over our liberties to any man or government under any circumstances is a danger. Even if one could argue or believe that George W. is a good, Christian person, the man that follows behind him may not be and how will we wrestle back our liberties from him when we have so freely given them over to the former?

History can be an amazing thing, like a powerful dose of caffeine when one is about to fall off a sugar-high. I find myself overwhelmed by the facts and dissertations and opinions as I delve into my chosen field of study and at times I feel dejected as I realize I have so much more to learn.

Recent research in a class on American History through Film fascinated me. The essay by Charles Maland, which dissected the movie Dr. Strangelove Or How I Leaned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, stated in part:

The “Free World” led by the United Stated must brace itself for a long struggle against Communism and willingly support a strong defense system, for power is the only language the Communists can understand. If America accepts this responsibility to fight Communism, while also proclaiming the virtues of American economic, social, and political democracy to the rest of the world, the country will remain strong and sound.

You could easily substitute the word Communism for Terrorism. Maland was describing the nature of American society during the cold war, and was illustrating the words of Geoffrey Hodgson. Hodgson is quoted as stating, “Confident to the verge of complacency about the perfectibility of American Society, anxious to the point of paranoia about the threat of Communism – those were the two faces of the consensus mood.” Seems eerily familiar to me.

So perhaps there is no need to study our history. We seem determined to repeat it again and again and so instead of study, we could just live it moment to moment, eh? I hope not. I hope instead that each chance our attention is tuned to the similarities between an act in history and one of our time, that we will pause, perhaps conduct a bit of research on our own, then search our souls for our own interpretation. Then I hope that we will fight, either for something or against it. After all, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

Candace O. Sessums
Sugar Land

Opponents of the bill declared that it would end democracy for the nation, but the leader of the party promoting the act declared that it would only be used with restraint. He was quoted as stating, “The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures … The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one.”

Candace O. Sessums
Sugar Land