Not Your Typical...

Dear Madame L,

I just received a forwarded email message from an acquaintance who is a conservative Mormon in our small town where a lot of people are Mormons, a lot of people are conservatives, and there's a lot of overlap between the two.

I'm going to paste the message here so you can see it and respond: (Note to readers: Madame L is making the text of this email message a different color to separate it from the rest of the Dear "Not Your Typical" Reader's message and Madame L's response.)

What others see plainly, we often ignore.
*Here's something to think about.*

I remember asking dad about Castro when I was about 9 years old. I asked, "Is Castro a good guy or bad?"   Dad said...he couldn't tell!! This was about 1955. We were living in Louisiana ...at the time. Dad was in the Army there.

Cuba was fairly close and in the news a lot. The Cubans were asking the same question!
Ike was president.   This past July, we had the pleasure of sharing a summer barbecue with a refugee from Cuba . Our dinner conversation was starkly different than most.
This refugee came to the United States as a young boy in the early 1960's. His family was more fortunate than most, as they were able to bring a suitcase...and $100 when they fled Castro's newly formed revolutionary paradise.

Our dinner consisted of all-American fare: hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon and fresh ears of sweet corn. This is a menu shared with family and friends nationwide...while celebrating the birth of our beloved America ...on the Fourth of July.

We began with a simple discussion about our country, and the direction it has taken since Barack Obama came to power. We shared the usual complaints about the sour economy and liberal social engineering emanating from the rulers in Washington.

But then he said it. The sentence came naturally. I assume it was unplanned. But it carried the weight of a freight train. "You know when Castro took power, none of us knew he was a Communist".

We sat stunned. He continued, "Yes, we all thought he was a patriot, a nationalist. Before the revolution he didn't sound like a radical." 

The comparison at this point was easy, and I interjected, "You mean just like Barack Obama?"  He responded; "Yes, just like Obama."

He continued, "We were all shocked as the government just continued to grab more power. First they said the revolution is over, so please turn in your guns. We all complied."

I remember my uncle saying after it started; “Castro will only nationalize some of the big  industries. He will never come and take our family hardware store!!” But that is exactly what happened. Castro started with the sugar mills and the large industries, but they eventually came and knocked on the door of our family hardware store. My family had run this store for generations. They said we now own the hardware store, you work for us. And that nice, large four-bedroom home you own...it is now our property also, and...you can move yourself and five  children into two rooms of the house, because others are moving in with you."

The lesson learned from this discussion, is a lesson most Americans refuse to hear. Political leaders can lie about their agenda and once in office...they can take totally unexpected turns.

f you had asked us three years ago if we thought General Motors would be nationalized, we would have never believed it. We could never contemplate a country where the rule of law, the most fundamental building block of a justice society...would be evaporating, just like it did in Castro's Cuba in the early 1960's.

But the news of injustice keeps increasing. Black Panthers are not charged with wrong doing by the U.S. Department of Justice...because their crimes are against whites. The bondholders of GM are stripped of their assets...without due process by the government! Governmental leaders are bribed in full daylight...only to have all investigation of the crimes stifled...by the Attorney

General. 

 The U.S. borders are over run with crime and illegal activity, and the leaders in D.C. act as if it is important to protect the lawbreakers...while the innocent are killed and over run. When local communities attempt to enforce the law, they are ridiculed...and threatened as racists and bigots. They are sued by the very administration...entrusted with enforcing the law.

Without the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution is a sham!! Without the rule of law, our beloved  America is swiftly becoming a country where only the well connected and politically powerful will be safe. As Michelle Malkin has so eloquently explained in her recent book...a culture of  corruption has replaced honest government.

 The only way this problem will be fixed, is by massive citizen action. All honest citizens that want

 to be treated equally, must come together...and demand that the favoritism, the bribes, the 

 uneven enforcement of law...end now!! And yes, it can happen here.

 PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!! And...may God save the United States of America ! 

6 million plus Jews didn't believe it would happen in Germany either!!! If you're a Christian in  these United States of America, you're next on the list. The real problem here is, the boy from Cuba did manage to make it to the U.S.We will not have any place to escape to...except death! And, for the most part...even though I'm forwarding this to recipients, probably only 5 or 10 will even read it.

So, Madame L, my question is: How do you think I should reply to this email message?

Sincerely,

Appalled and Shocked To Receive This Kind of Garbage From Someone I Thought Was Intelligent

Dear Appalled and Shocked,

Madame L suggests this response:

"Dear Friend, I think maybe you meant to send this to a different friend, not your liberal, Obama-supporting friend who hates mass e-mails and wishes people could come up with their own thoughts and opinions instead of just forwarding the hateful and intolerant garbage that comes to their inbox from their other hateful and intolerant friends. If you feel offended by this, then what can I say? I feel offended by what you sent to me."

Madame L has noticed a trend among certain conservatives to feel sorry for themselves, to be paranoid, and to make outrageous comparisons of themselves to the Jews under Hitler or Cubans under Castro.

Madame L doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry when she receives similar email messages, but she always responds, and she appreciates your willingness to respond. 

Because here's the thing:  We all need to stand up for what we believe in, and we need to point out the ridiculousness of the kind of martyred and self-pitying irrational thinking exemplified by that message. Some politician once said that if you say a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it. (Three points and a delicious dinner for the Dear and Well-Educated Reader who can provide a source for this.) Likewise, if you counteract lies by telling the truth, people will be able to see the difference and accept the truth.

Madame L sometimes feels like she's in the middle of one of those jokes about how the guy fell out of the plane but fortunately had a parachute but unfortunately the parachute didn't open but fortunately he landed on a lake but unfortunately he landed on an island on the lake but fortunately...and so on.

Yes, our country is unfortunately going through hard times, courtesy of George W. Bush.  But the good news is our country is fortunately coming out of the hard times, courtesy of Barack Obama.  Unfortunately some people don't understand that the way our world is changing is actually good for us.  Fortunately they're being saved financially in spite of that by government regulations and bailouts.  Unfortunately cynical wealthy individuals and corporations are willing to manipulate public opinion to suit their own ends (i.e., more wealth for themselves, and the middle class be damned), and politicians are willing to go along with that to suit their own ends (i.e., same as the rich people and companies)...and so on.

Comparing Barack Obama to Fidel Castro, our current political situation to Nazi Germany, and Michelle Malkin to an insightful and truthful writer---all are travesties. 

What's funny is that there's some truth mixed in with the lies: Corruption IS indeed a problem in our government. But Christians are not "next" on anybody's "list," while Muslims are being arrested and held without charge simply for being Muslims. Political leaders DO change their policies once in office, George H.W. Bush being a prime example of that. 

But General Motors being nationalized? What irony! Obviously your email correspondent isn't up on the news: The U.S. government did indeed bail out General Motors, which saved the company, saved hundreds of jobs, brought a huge profit which means it will soon be able to pay back its debt to us (yes, us, the U.S. government, us, we the people) --- and the result is that GM made a record profit of $7.6 billion in 2011 and was able to give bonuses to its working-middle-class assembly-line employees of about $7,000 each.

Please, Dear Readers, pay attention and distinguish between truth and inflammatory lies, and pass the truth on to everyone who will accept it.

God bless us all,

Madame L