First, they censored Alex Jones from his millions of followers for saying that socialism was coming to America and that censorship, coming with it, is the opposite of free speech and freedom, and I did not speak out because I was not an Alex Jones fan.
Then they tore down statues of America's earliest explorers, Father Junípero Serra and Christopher Columbus, and I did not speak out because they were said to have treated the Indians badly and therefore they were racists. Then statues of President Andrew Jackson, an Indian hater, followed by Confederate Civil War generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, etc., and I did not speak out because statues had no real meaning and they were said to be racist.
Then statues of the Founding Fathers -- Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, etc. -- and I did not speak out because some had slaves and therefore were racists. Then statues of Abraham Lincoln were torn down, the greatest abolitionist in U.S. history, and still I did not speak out because, well, because I was not bright enough to know that he was not a racist but the opposite.
Then they set fire to St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House. An Antifa leader next threatened to take down statues of Jesus Christ and burn the Bible and I did not speak out because, well, they were just nonviolent activities and these socialist anarchists were just expressing themselves.
Then they turned on all law enforcement, beginning with ICE, protecting our borders, then on the police in our big cities, even promising to destroy them through no funding movements, and I did not speak out because they were racists, even when the police units and city councils were themselves predominantly black.
Then, for months, they looted and set fire to downtown businesses of many large American cities -- Seattle, Minneapolis, Portland, etc. -- and I did not speak out because my Democrat Party and my Democrat news outlets said that it was just right-wing propaganda and I believed them.
Then church attendance was banned or limited because of covid and I did not speak out because I was not a Christian -- actually, I did not speak out either when it was the beaches that were closed or limited. I just believed my Democrat Party leadership and my Democrat Party-controlled news outlets when they told me to wear two masks and that it was good for me to lock myself up in my home for more than a year, and I was so naive.
Then the 2020 presidential elections happened with hundreds of whistleblowers willing to perjure themselves testifying under oath that they witnessed massive cheating by the Democrat Party. Moreover, military intelligence documented that China had electronically switched millions of Trump votes to Biden giving him the presidency and I did not speak out because it was only the Republicans that said this and my media always told me the Republicans, especially the nearly 75 million who voted for Trump, were all liars, racists and white supremacists and I believed them.
Then they censored the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and I did not speak out because my media and party told me that he was a racist, sexist, xenophobic and a white supremacist and I still believed them.
Then they censored everything negative against Joe Biden, and I said nothing because I believed my party and their media that we needed to stop disinformation. If only one side can express itself, then there is only disinformation.
Then they attacked the Constitution that would have prevented all the above from happening had we just followed it as written, and I still said nothing because my party and news sources said that it was a racist document founded by racist white men to protect racism and I believed them. Now it is nearly destroyed, and so is freedom, and I am a slave to the state. All who did not submit are now in re-education camps or have been removed for spreading disinformation.
I should have defended these attacks on liberty but didn't. Where there is no other side, there is no one left to speak for me because I did not speak for them. Now oppression and tyranny rule because people like me were the most gullible in American history. I could have spoken out but chose to be complacent instead, and now liberty and the Constitution suffer for my ignorance.
Then they came for me because I was white. They said all whites were systemically racist and whites needed to be reeducated and self-condemning for what they had done to America. Now I speak up because it is a lie! I never offended anyone of a different race.
Then my eyes were opened and I noticed that those saying and doing these horrifying things to America were also largely white and used mostly fabricated racism as a tool to make the least racist country on earth a socialist country. Now I will fight to the death alongside my black, brown, red and yellow brothers and sisters to defend the Constitution that gives all universal freedom. I will no longer be a useful idiot for the socialist left.
(Above is an American version of Pastor Martin Niemoller's "First They Came ...." Niemoller believed his German neighbors had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution and murder of millions of fellow countrymen. I believe the same thing is beginning to happen in America.)
Harold Pease, Ph.D., is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for more than 30 years at Taft College. To read more of his weekly articles, visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.