Optical Allusionist

No, I don't mean politics within a company (though heaven knows they can be as screwed up as Che Guevara.) I've been constructing thought processes this past week as I listened and pondered on Senator Obama's remarks on race, and as I read The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf. The point of the book is to point out similarities of previous countries that have fallen under dictatorial rule, and the present America. And although there are obvious "fingerprints" from the past, she focuses on ten things every dictator does in order to gain power.

1. Invoke an Internal and External Threat
2. Establish Secret Prisons (and by "secret prisons", she means "a prison system that is not accountable and that is beyond the rule of law.")
3. Develop a Paramilitary Force
4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens
5. Infiltrate Citizens' Groups
6. Arbitrarily Detain and Release Citizens
7. Target Key Individuals
8. Restrict the Press
9. Cast Criticism as "Espionage" and Dissent as "Treason"
10. Subvert the Rule of Law


She has studied "Mussolini's Italy in the 1920's; Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany in the 1930's; [She] read about East Germany in the 1950's and Czechoslovakia in the 1960's and Chile in 1973, as well as other Latin American dictatorships; [She] read about Communist China in the late 1980's and the early 1990's." With each point of similarities-- the 10 things I listed above-- she shows how other leaders used each thing, and then shows how each of them are happening in America today.

And so it got me thinking, playing around with ideas in my head.

I love Barack Obama. I think he's a great candidate for the presidency. My views are similar to his views, and I believe him to be a good man. At the same time, I think he would be the one candidate who could pull of a dictatorship. Wanna know why? Here's a few on my list of why, or why not, he could be our future "Fuehrer".

Reasons Obama Could Be Our Next "Fuehrer"
**His campaign includes "Change". What does he mean by that
**He could definitely use his charisma to win over the people
**He pervays an extreme (?) sense of hope, a well-known tact of people wanting power. If you can't offer them something, why would they follow you?
**He is very easy to trust.


Reasons Obama Could NOT Be Our Next "Fuehrer"
**He is uniting, definitely not divisive. (Wants to draw us together against another group later on??)
**He supports the Constitution and against Bush's abuse of the Constitution. (Often leaders used the law to get into power. Ex: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini. All you have to do is change the law, a little here, a little there)
**Wants to withdraw from Iraq. (Dictators need war to bring up the economy, to "show" the people they're over that it was worth it to pick them as their leader)
**We aren't starving. (It's much, much harder to take over a group of people when the majority have their basic needs met.



So, do you have any questions, comments? I'd love to hear what you think on the subject. Comment me, email me (krazykiddz@gmail.com) or call me and we can talk.