Diversity is the Birthplace of Innovation, Uniformity the Demise of Freedom

In the last half of the 20^th Century Jews who survived the Holocaust wrote books to record the death of brothers, sisters, parents and friends. Unlike Elie Wiesel, many of them had to hire ghost writers to tell their stories. My appetite for these stories is insatiable.

There was a reunion of survivors in Washington DC prior to the Holocaust Museum and I was fortunate to have been there. I witnessed the reunions of survivors who found friends and family they thought were murdered at the hands of the Nazis’. It was an amazing sight and one I will never forget.

Many Survivors came with books in hand to tell their individual stories. Recently, I read “Witness to the Truth” by Nathan Shapell. He tells the story of his family many who survived because they were employed by the Nazis’ to clean the streets of Kultusgemeinde. Nathan was able to use his position to find jobs for family and friends delaying imprisonment and execution. In ‘Witness to the Truth’ Nathan Shapell records for posterity the brutality of the Nazis regime. Ultimately, he made his way to America and became a successful business man. Throughout his life time the scars of the brutality experienced under the Nazi regime and in Concentration around Europe tormented him but did not prevent his success.

In most cases, individual members of the Nazi Party were self-centered and made decisions in a self serving way. During WWII the lunacy of Hitler drove people to self-preservation, in America, the opposite has been true, and concern for every human being drives our conduct. 

The sanity of our Government has forced us to consider the plight of our fellow citizens’. The ‘civil rights movement’  is an example of that sanity.  As a Country we forced ourselves to look at the plight of the Black Community and we acted on a principle that “all men are created equal”. We surrendered our self-interest for the greater good. We sacrificed the here and now for a democratic future. 

The Rehabilitation Act (1973) is another example of America creating laws to protect a minority. The Fair Credit Act (2004) enacted to protect those in debt, the Abolition of Slavery (1883) to set people free. These are diverse example of laws enacted to protect the weak.

What has happened? We have elected representatives to our Congress who would rather act out of self-interest than the best interest of our society.

What is exactly is the principle behind todays' Government shutdown, the delay of ‘Obama Care’? Rather than struggle with the implementation of Obama Care our Republican representatives would rather deny 30 million Americans’ health care. Rather than pass a Continuing Resolution to fund our Government, our Republican representatives would rather put more than 2 million people out of work. Where is the sanity in this behavior?

There are twenty three Representative in Congress who are members of the Tea Party and they use their power to coerce an entire Country. They speak as though they are reasonable but nothing that they say or do is reasonable.  These are self-centered people acting much like the Taliban or Al-Shabaab. They may believe that their ideology is blessed by the Creator but they refuse to accept that each of us have our personal view of our relationship with our Maker. They would deny you your beliefs'  rather than admit that there is more than one way to heaven.

These are dangerous times for America. Radicalization is dangerous. Those who believe that their values are the only right standards pose the greatest threat to our democracy. What makes our Country strong is its diversity. In fact, diversity is the birthplace of innovation and uniformity is the demise of freedom. Richard Nixon once said; “when the president does it that means that it is not illegal” and if Richard Nixon had his way this Country would be a dictatorship not a democracy. If the Tea Party has its way, we will live in a Country coerced by the needs of the powerful.