Obama is not Hitler, but he does act like him

This morning President Obama addressed the country with the messages of our children, and facebook was set ablaze with the typical anti-Obama Hitler references.  As usual, many people try to connect Obama's positions to Hitlers positions, and even use fictional quotes from Mein Kampf in a weak attempt to prove their points.  The sad thing about this, is that there are plenty of parallels to be made between Hitler and Obama without the use of false information.  I don't understand why so many people are quick to use a quote, without having any understanding of it's origin.  If you use a quote, you really ought to know exactly where it came from, and I don't mean the site from which you shared it, I mean the literature or speech it was spoken or written.

To this day many still hold Hitler up on a pedestal as a gun grabber, a leader who took guns out of the hands of his people.  This is simply not the truth.  Adolf Hitler Was an anti-Semite of the highest order, of this there is no question.  But he was a man of his time.  Being an anti-Semite back then was normal and even expected.  He did not see the Jews as his people, as Germans, even those born and raised in Germany.  When he came to power he most certainly did see to it, that the Jews were disarmed.  But he actually relaxed gun control to the citizens of Germany which had largely been disarmed through permit and registration requirements and limits prior to his rise to power.  Many guns were already out of circulation by the statist polices prior to his becoming  Fuehrer, through purely Democratic means.

Again, the firearms law enacted by Hitler's government enhanced the rights of "Germans" to keep and bear arms. There were no new restrictions added, many preexisting restrictions were relaxed or eliminated.  

In the conclusion of World War 2, American soldiers occupying Germany were shocked to learn how many German civilians owned private firearms. Thousands of handguns were looted from German homes and brought back to the United States after the war. General Eisenhower ordered all privately owned firearms in the American zone of Germany confiscated, and Germans were required to hand in their long guns as well as any handguns which had not already been stolen. In the Soviet zone Germans were summarily shot if they were found in possession of even a single cartridge.

Now, to get back on point.  Adolf Hitler did write Mein Kampf, and he did express many ideas and beliefs in that work, but he most certainly did not specifically say anything about controlling the Children.  He also did not ban guns using the Children as a ploy, and as I've already addressed, he didn't ban guns unless you were a Jew.  BUT, Hitler did most certainly understand the value of propaganda and using Children to persuade the population.  There are many photos of Hitler surrounded by children, of course you also need to remember that Hitler was loved, he was not hated or feared, he was the most popular German leader of all time.  He didn't hide behind bullet proof glass, he walked around in the open.

A quick scan of Mein Kampf reveals that he does mention Children over 40 times.  So there is no question he understood the power of using Children to tug at the heart strings of his people, Just as President Obama does.  President Obama is not Adolf Hitler, but he does keep acting like him.  Also, I feel the need to point out that many of the actions which brought Germany crumbling, came before Adolf Hitler. Hitler was viewed as the man who was going to fix everything. (Do you see another parallel?)  The actions of leaders prior to the Third  Reich, mirrored our current U.S. System of government almost to the letter.  They supported much of the same policies that the modern liberals support today.  Economic Egalitarianism, internationalism and even a view of Cosmopolitanism that would suggest support of a one world government were common among both regimes.  

And look were it lead Germany.

So, there are many things to compare and many things to be afraid of, but that doesn't mean that President Obama is Hitler.  It also doesn't help the cause of liberty to manufacture things that aren't true.  But most importantly, why would you want to, when there are so many genuine items to pull from. 

Cheers,

Mike