The ‘Good’ NAZI

I will save the point I actually hope to make until the end of this post.  Instead, I hope to illustrate my point by asking you to consider a hypothetical.  I have intentionally chosen an emotionally charged hypothetical as I believe it may better help me drive home the truth behind the point I wish to make.  So, for the purposes of this post, I ask you to pretend that I am a German soldier fighting the Americans in France during WW II — and that I am very good at my job.

Now, what do you know or can you assume about me from this?  Well, for one, you know I am defending Germany, and — by extension — supporting the NAZI Party and Hitler.  Further, this means I am also defending the Holocaust, as it is part of the NAZI Party agenda which I am helping to defend.  also, since I am supposedly ‘good’ at my job as a soldier, it can be assumed that I am ‘good’ at killing Germany’s enemies.  So, please, just assume all of these things because, if I am a German soldier fighting the Americans in France in WW II and am very good at my job, then it is reasonable to assume they are a reflection of reality.

Now suppose I am taken prisoner and you are interrogating me.  One of the first things you ask me is how I could be a NAZI, but I firmly and forcefully deny any attachment to the NAZI Party.  You ask me how that can be so and I tell you I oppose the NAZI Party and Hitler.  You point out that I am fighting for them, but I cut you off and tell you I am fighting for my country, Germany, but this does not mean I support the NAZIs or Hitler.  Then you ask me how I can say I am not supporting the NAZIs or Hitler if I am killing the people trying to stop them, and I smugly inform you that I have to defend Germany before I can reform Germany and free it of Hitler’s and the NAZI Party’s grip.  Then I tell you that, if you want to stop Hitler and the NAZI’s, you should free me and let me return to my job of defending Germany against the Allied armies.  Now,  how would you respond to me in this situation?

In this scenario, I am preserving Hitler and the NAZI Party’s hold on power by helping to defend Germany against those who are trying to stop Hitler’s and the NAZI Party’s agenda.  The Allies are fighting a just war: a defensive war started by Hitler and the NAZI’s, and by extension, Germany.  What’s more, I am good at killing the people trying to stop me. However, I have told you that I am not a NAZI.  In fact, I hate Hitler and I hate the NAZI’s.  All I am trying to do is save my country, but in order to save it from Hitler and the NAZI’s, I have to save Germany from the Allies first.  Therefore, the proper thing for you to do is to let me go so I can return to killing Americans.  Then I tell you that, if you do not send me back, you will guarantee Hitler will stay in power because you cannot beat his new ‘super weapons.’  Once Hitler starts using them, you and the Americans and all the other Allies will be defeated.  The only choice you have is to let me go back.  If you do anything else, you will be guaranteeing Hitler and the NAZI’s will stay in power.

Would you accept my argument?  Would you believe the only chance to stop Hitler was to let me go?  Before you answer that question, allow me to make the real point of this post.  Instead of answering me as a hypothetical German soldier, answer me as a supposedly ‘good’ member of the Republican Party.  Now what do you do?  Do you keep voting Republican in the hope that — eventually — I will restore the Constitution and the rule of law as I promise?  Or do you recognize that — even if I am everything I claim to be — returning me to my duties will only prolong Hitler and the NAZI Party’s rule, and result in the death of many more Americans.  In fact, it could even result in an American defeat.  Or do you do everything you can to prevent me from supporting Germany and the agenda of those in power?

Lest the reader think this is a false analogy, it is not.  A German had a choice in WW II.  They did not have to fight for Germany.  They could have refused.  Yes, it may have meant their death, but to not refuse was to support Hitler and the NAZI Party’s agenda.  There were many who did resist Hitler, and many of them died.  But they resisted.  So the point here is simple: words matter very little.  When it comes to matters such as this — especially matters of right and wrong — it is our actions that count, and in my little hypothetical where I am the ‘good’ German soldier, the truth is simple: even if I say I oppose Hitler, by fighting in his army, I am actually supporting him, his Party and his Party’s agenda.  So the analogy holds, and the question remains: what do you do with the Republican who claims to support the Constitution and rule of law, yet he or she is still running to be part of the Republican Party?  Do you let them go back to kill more Americans, or do you do everything you can to stop him and the Party he supports?

[NOTE: I purposely ignore the Democrat Party here because, in this post, it would be the NAZI Party.  This is because the Democrat Party has long since ceased to resemble anything that could be connected to the historical concept of America nor for those things for which America once stood.  The only place where we find anyone even pretending to support these things is in the Republican Party, and even then, only among those Party members who claim to be ‘conservative.’  This is why I focused my question on the Republican Party: because the Democrat Party is already lost — unless, of course, you believe Hitler and the NAZI’s could have been ‘rehabilitated.’ In which case, we need to have a much longer, much more serious conversation about human nature and right and wrong.]