“You see the Nazi platform in the early 1930s and what was actually put out there … and you look at it compared to like the DNC platform of today, and you’re saying, man, those things are awfully similar, to a point where it’s actually scary,”
Donald J. Trump, Jr.
Donald J. Trump, Jr., the president’s eldest son, posted a video last week on the pro-Trump “One American New Network” website claiming the platform of the Democratic Party is similar to that of the Nazi Party in Germany during the early 1930s and that history classes are biased against conservatives.
Oh, really … perhaps it would be a worthwhile exercise to examine the classical warning signs that typical Fascist-leaning autocrats follow in their quest for and ability to hold on to power.
The vast majority of American history classes, seek k to provide students with a basic knowledge of our Founding period, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including a familiarity of the enumerated powers of and limitations on the three branches of our federal government, as well as the guaranteed freedoms enshrined in that document and the Bill of Rights.
As for Trump Jr.’s contention that such classes are biased against conservatives one must first look at a definition of “conservatism. According to Merriam-Webster, it is; “a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change.”
Admittedly, the Constitution was an imperfect document, whose flaws are “fair game” for presentation and discussion in history classes. Education about previously persecuted and ignored segments of our population and the contributions of such peoples to the American experience should be taught as should be the critical need to protect of those fights and liberties.
That it took more than 225 years for African Americans, women, the LBGTQ community and people subscribing a wide swath of religious and secular beliefs to be protected and able to enjoy the equal benefits of our Constitutional-protected liberties should be a national embarrassment. And, even if these emancipations are considered radical or abrupt, they are changes which should be readily embraced by liberals and conservatives alike!
America, while still not perfect, has been and still remains a GREAT nation; one which has provided more freedom and economic opportunity for more people than any other nation in history.
Rather than trying to further fan the flames of division and furthering the Administration’s universe of alternative facts, Donald Trump, Jr. should cease being a mouthpiece for the president and follow his sister’s lead and willingness to take moral exceptions to his father’s frequent excesses, misstatements, undignified behavior and actions which negatively impact people’s lives or the First Lady who came to the defense of LeBron James after her husband questioned his intelligence and character.
