Before it’s too late

by Jerry Esmay, Stevensville

Although most readers won’t recognize the name Martin Niemoller, many will remember having read or heard the following quote:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.

“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”

This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemoller. After World War II, he openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today. I believe each of us needs to give serious thought to what is happening in our society today.  What follows is a few of my concerns that many of our citizens seem to be accepting as OK.

The destruction of our history and governmental structure. We are being told that our founding fathers were all racists and thus created a racist society. These accusers consider the Constitution and Bill of Rights to thus be racist and must be eliminated or radically changed. Some of the indicators here are the removing of many statues and historical markers. Additionally, we now hear cries to change our basic governmental structure by eliminating many laws associated with voting, crime, and immigration (just look at what’s happening at our southern border).

The destruction of our Christian values and morals. Almost daily I now hear or read comments suggesting that Christians are causing the problems in our society and thus need to be eliminated. We are being fed an increasing flow of propaganda concerning sexual identity – we must accept any and all sexual behavior and our children should be instructed on how to change their identity from the first day of school. Also, parents should have no say in how their children are educated as the government knows what’s best.

The destruction of our criminal law system. This started with the “Defund the Police” movement following the death of George Floyd who by the way was a habitual criminal and drug addict. We are now seeing some cities/states reducing or eliminating established laws associated with types of crimes and repeated offenses. Additionally, we see the elimination of the bail concept elsewhere and some governmental leaders calling for the total elimination of jails/prisons. Somehow, we are being led to believe that it’s the criminals we should feel sorry for, not the victims. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that now criminals don’t expect to be punished no matter what they do.

I could go on and on, but hopefully the reader sees my point – as citizens we need to recognize what’s going on and where we as individuals stand. If you feel things are hunky-dory, don’t do anything, but if not, you better start speaking out before it’s too late.