On the day before the horrific siege in Washington, Mary Miller of Illinois who had just been elected as a US Representative, said, “Hitler was right about the value of influencing a nation’s youth.” and was ripped to shreds for invoking that mamzer’s name. Despite her political affiliation (not her party but her orientation in that party), and knowing I’ll be ripped to shreds, I ask, if what so miserable a human being as Herr Fuhrer said is absolutely true, shouldn’t we attribute the source? Yes, it’s a truism, as it were, and, yes, we probably heard it from the mouths of more righteous folks, but he went beyond the theoretical application; he did in fact influence his nation’s youth with propaganda, something I believe is going on in our country today and not necessarily by righteous folks.

I’ve read all the reasons that what Representative Miller said was in the worst of taste. She admitted it and then proclaimed how much of a supporter she is of Israel. I was waiting for her to say, “Some of my best friends are Jews,” but that’s beside the point. We know how some movements are, I would say, poisoning the minds of their kids with messages of hate.

It’s time we look at the causes we hold dear and the organizations that carry the banner of those causes and figure out a way to inspire our children with their message.

I don’t think we’re doing a good job of raising the next generation of freedom-minded people, those proud of being American but whose pride is in our decent past…and, yes, the word is “decent” and not “distant.” What is distant seems to be an understanding of what America’s about as I wrote about a few months ago with respect to reinvigorating civics classes. We take our democracy for granted. Well, did the invasion of the Capitol teach us a lesson?