What Should We Learn From History?

The only reason to study history is to learn from it and use its lessons to help shape the
future. And its not the major events of history that I personally focus on-its those
preliminary events that led up to and prepared the way for the major events to take place.
Its only through our ability to recognize the significance of preliminary events that
enables us to take the action necessary to shape the direction and nature of major events
that follow.

Norman Cousins said, "History is a vast early warning system" and George Santayana
said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it"- two of the more
profound observations ever made.

The true benefit of studying history therefore is to learn the cause and effect of events and
recognize similar happenings today so we can take action to avoid repeating historys
catastrophes tomorrow. Other than that or an idle curiosity of what happened in the past,
there is no reason to study history.

In every historical episode, I look for that pearl of wisdom I can store away and draw
upon when viewing the events of today.

For example, what lessons can we learn from the Holocaust? The Jews that lived through
this era constantly describe the human catastrophe in detail and the German words Nie
Wieder (Never Again) tolls a warning to all generations. But what exactly is it that we
should never again allow to happen?

Is it the concentration camps or the torture and slaughter of millions? Most certainly that
was a chapter in history that should never recur. The camps however were just the end
result of a series of ground laying events that led to that major tragedy. By the time the
concentration camps were operating, it was too late to turn back the clock-prevention was
no longer possible.

To my way of thinking, it was the incremental violations of rights that paved the way to
the Holocaust and are the lessons we should recognize, study and learn from so we can
prevent their recurrence. What were some of those preliminary events that led to this
particular disaster-what were the warning signs along the way?

Pitting of one group against the other. Hitler and crew vilified the Jews and targeted them
as the cause of all the evil and misfortune in Germany. The Nazi government created a
common enemy. Jews were painted as a plague that had to be eradicated for the good of
Germanys future-for the children so to speak.

Loss of private property rights. The Jews were subject to losing everything they owned
with no due recourse to an out of control government. The Nazis simply confiscated their
property. If the government wanted it, they concocted a reason to take it and they took it.
Extreme government control of the people. Who was ever any better at this than the
Nazis? Papers, permits and approval were required for everything.

Registration and confiscation of personal firearms. In 1928 and 1938 Germany passed
gun control laws that called for all firearms to be registered that in turn, provided the
comprehensive list eventually used to confiscate those weapons. The Jews were denied
the means to fight back- stripped of their God-given right of self-defense under the guise
of a law that was in the interest and protection of society.

The combination of those four events, in part, enabled the Nazis to lay the groundwork
required to implement the slaughter that was to come.

Stripped of their dignity as citizens, their property, their independence and their means of
self-defense, the Jews were weakened and vulnerable to all that followed.

Consequently, to me, the phrase Nie Wieder refers to the benign acceptance of
incremental violations of human rights. Never again must we accept incremental erosion
of our rights because that is a proven pathway to hell.

Had all the German people, in unison with the Jews, risen up in arms to strongly resist
their government when the first violation was imposed, the story could have been much
different. But it was just Jews, not us being targeted by a rouge government that was
growing in power. Not all of the general population thought it would or could ever go as
far as it eventually did. Only those within the Nazi inner circle knew the full extent of the
plan for that Final Solution.

What are the most important lessons from this? Is it the lesson about life in the camps or
would it be more beneficial for us to be able to recognize the preliminary signs along the
way that warn of a potential recurrence of a Holocaust? That ounce of prevention is
always worth a pound of cure and the pound of cure in the 40s came at a price of tens of
millions dead and a world war.

Do we have any recognizable signs today that should raise a red flag to us?

Pitting of one group against the other. Isnt that what class warfare is all about--Rich
against poor, white against black, liberal against conservative, gun owner against gun
hater? Are we reaching a point wherein people are viewed as a danger if they own guns,
abide by religious principles of morality, value hard work and freedom from government
dependency and dont readily accept the perversion of immoral behavior as an alternate
lifestyle? The left has always and continues to use this technique to foment discourse and
internal strife. A divided population is eminently easier to manipulate and control.

Loss of private property rights. Ask anyone about private property in America today who
has come up against the power of the EPA or found a so-called endangered species on his
or her land. Stop paying your rent to the government (taxes) on the property you think
you own and see who ends up with it. If the government can take it away, you dont own
it.

Extreme government control of the people. Tell me what you can do today that doesnt
require a permit, license or some other form of government permission or oversight.
From your car to your retirement funds, from your house to the amount of water in youre
your toilet, the government has control somewhere along the line.

Registration and confiscation of personal firearms. Twenty thousand gun laws and
growing, Handgun Control International, Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton,
common sense gun control, for the children, gun show loopholes, permits to buy,
own and carry, assault weapons bans, handgun registration and on and on it goes. A far
cry from the simple shall not be infringed isnt it?

Indeed, those who fail to learn from the little lessons of history may be condemned to
relive the hardest lessons of history.