Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 20, 2012

A recently minted principle of popular logic called ?Godwin?s Law? dictates that in any debate, the first person to compare his opponent to Hitler loses the argument. Facile analogies to Hitler and his National Socialist regime are quite commonplace, as are casual uses of the term ?Nazi? as a convenient insult.

Although we live in an age that eschews moral absolutes, Hitler is all but universally regarded as an icon of absolute, unqualified evil. Unfortunately, he is also regarded as unique ? a misunderstanding that has been deliberately cultivated and has done a great deal of damage.

During World War II, economist John T. Flynn published a valuable book entitled As We Go Marching that demonstrated how FDR?s New Deal regime was close kindred to those of Hitler and Mussolini. The true test of anti-Fascist convictions, Flynn wrote, was not the intensity of hatred for foreign practitioners of the doctrine, but a commitment to fighting the same trends here at home.

Flynn was haunted by the thought that once Washington had embraced corporatism and militarism, it would ?keep alive the fears of our people of the aggressive ambitions of other countries and ? embark upon imperialistic enterprises of [its] own."

Tragically, Flynn?s fears have proven to be entirely justified.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free