The image of German state police raiding a man's home to punish him for sharing an image seems like something out of a World War II movie, yet it's a scene happily broadcast by "60 Minutes" in a segment partly about how to deal with the "problem" of free speech in Europe. As a longtime media critic, for me, the story was domestic — our press playing lapdogs once more for state censorship.
My question yesterday was, "What the Hell Is Wrong With CBS News?" but maybe the real question is, "What the hell is wrong with Europe? And what does that mean for our alliances?
Watching the video again this morning, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that the difference between the modern Staatspolizei and Hitler's Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police, AKA Gestapo) is increasingly fine.
I'm not the only one having such dark thoughts.
"I do not think the Germans understand the damage they have done to themselves embracing their fascist roots," my Townhall colleague Kurt Schlichter posted on X in reaction yesterday. "They literally have no conception that Americans might not be willing to pay for or die for their ability to throw people in jail for saying things."
And Another Thing: Looking back, the progressives at "60 Minutes" and "Face the Nation" were just doing what they see as their jobs — and that's sucking up to those in power who share the correct groupthink. Remember, those aren't journalists you see on the dinosaur legacy media. They're highly paid hall monitors, snitches with makeup artists.
Retired Marine Tom Sauer put it more bluntly than even Kurt did. "This *ALONE* makes me want to pull out of NATO. Defend your own bull***t."
There's a sick feeling of resignation when you ponder this one possible future: "If the Germans are going to oppress themselves, what difference does it make if the Russians step in and do it for them?"
I understand this country just got out from under the thumb of similar oppression with the departure of the Biden Cabal and all its suppression of free speech to the ash heap of history, so I'm in no rush to judgment. Germany has national elections on February 23, and it may prove impossible to form a new government without AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). AfD wants to bring back immigration controls and, speaking frankly, removing the Islamist irritant from German society might go a long way toward restoring respect for free speech there.
And Another Thing: Even AfD, which would be a welcome improvement to Germany's domestic politics, has expressed more interest in going back to the good old days of buying cheap Russian energy than in national defense. As always, keep in mind Thomas Sowell's dictum, "There are no solutions, only tradeoffs." That's probably truer nowhere than in international relations.
The cornerstone of the NATO alliance is our shared, traditional liberal values — free speech, free markets, and free elections. Granted, in Germany's case, those values had to be imposed quite vigorously by various Allied armies and air forces. But what about the special relationship with our English-speaking cousins in Britain?
Free speech is dead in Britain, or nearly so. While President Donald Trump (again!) returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office and still describes our relationship with Britain as "special," it's increasingly difficult to feel it.
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