Are there concentration camps in our future?

[KlatooBNikto]

Remember they said it can't happen here.Now after Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Gitmo, and the possibility of "Detention Centers" at home, it will be only a short step to Concentration Camps for the undesirables.The Religious Right will provide divine justification for that action and the multiple opportunits in the Press will write reams and reams of paper on how this is different from the German variety.

[sui generis]

1. over my dead body

and a lot of theirs.

[atreides1]

3. Ditto

lots of theirs

[Township75]

17. how?

?

[sui generis]

22. were you just saying hi in native american?

Do you really think any red blooded American would

1. Go round up his cousins or sibs or parents to put in a concentration camp?
2. Put up with a system that does it?

I'll leave the rest to your imagination, but I can assure you that there is an answer to your question.

[Vincardog]

2. Not if we take the House and Senate next year and Impeach

the FASCISTs in 2007.

[bryant69]

4. It could happen here

Is it likely?

That's the $64,000 question. I think the country is too divided. There are too many damn liberals to lock them all up. My sense is that they would try the show trial approach first, to intimidate us.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Protagoras]

18. Weekly Ad for "It Can't Happen Here"

Sinclair Lewis 1935. Everyone at DU should read this and give copies to their friends.

Buy it thru Buzzflash!

http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/05/04/pre05049.html

[Kurovski]

21. Or read it here for free;

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301001h.html

[Protagoras]

24. cept that won't help Buzzflash stay online

If we sold it thru DU here I'd recommend it here.

Besides...who takes a ream of printer paper (or their laptop) into the bathroom with them when they want to read? :P

[Kurovski]

25. I know, but sometimes

people can't afford some things, and I'm sure those who can will buy their books through the worthy Buzzflash.

Won't you, you generous DUers? :hi:

By the way, how many books does Buzzflash offer these days?

[Swamp Rat]

26. Thank you for posting the link

I don't have the money to buy the textbook for my statistics class next Monday. Please post more links to free books online for the economically disadvantaged, like me.

DUers who have the means can donate to BuzzFlash - it's a great website. :)

[Protagoras]

27. 44 if I just counted right

well that's actually DVD and Books together.

We really need our own bookstore here. I love lots of political sites, but none as much as DU!

[johnaries]

5. Too late. one word - GITMO.

If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists. Which means you can get sent to GITMO.

[0rganism]

6. "Can't happen here"? It already has happened here.

E.g., Japanese immigrants in WWII.

[KlatooBNikto]

7. I should have qualified my statement to say after WWII.

[0rganism]

14. AFAICT, nothing has changed to prevent it from happening again

The legal precedents by which Executive Order 9066 were issued have been generally upheld by the courts, and the INS currently has a "Special Registration" system set up for people from about two dozen countries. There is no reason to suppose such systems could not be reapplied to suit the whims of Darth Cheney and Jar Jar Bush.

[KlatooBNikto]

15. I agree.In fact, the hatred, the jingoism, the xenophobia are gathering

force and reaching a critical mass.

[mongo]

8. We already imprison the largest percentage of our population

of any country. Most are in jail for non-violent drug offenses.

[Algomas]

9. The mind-set is there already...

I read, in a report on torture, that detainees at Gitmo who tried to commit suicide in response to their treatment were classified as "manipulative self-injurious behavior". It is only a matter of time before we who protest become "detained". Bu$hco will never surrender power, their fear of punishment will force them to continue their reign of terror.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. All it will take is a couple of more "terrorist" attacks.

And, they can start rounding up the "threats" to "national security" with impugnity and with the support of the politicians and the American people.

Hell, the attacks don't have to even be "big". Just imagine what would happen if a bomb went off in a crowded church, theater, or school.

[KlatooBNikto]

11. Not to mention their own goon squads can set off the bombs so their agenda

can move forward.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. Some say that the camps already exist and are ready to go Google Rex 84.

[KlatooBNikto]

13. Reminds me of the people who were "Disappeared" in Latin America.

[Cleita]

16. Remember the worst concentration camps weren't in Germany,

but Poland, Czechoslavakia and Austria during the Third Reich. It seems to me that BushCo is building concentration camps in other countries where it will be only a matter of transporting the victims there either by transport plane or ship.

Even in Chile the worst abuses were on board a ship that went out to sea out the sight of prying eyes. Most fascist regimes know that the majority of the population doesn't condone torture so they do it covertly and out of sight.

[woodsprite]

19. Hmmmm, bases in Iraq anyone? n/t

[Cleita]

20. I'm thinking the same thing. n/t

[Johonny]

23. Americas work camps

are the megachurchs. You work yourself to death. Then give your hard earned pay to the man driving the 100,000 $ car. But don't delay they need your money. They can't fight immorality without your money. People become financial slaves to their collect community by choice. That's a sick sort of morality.

[ArkDem]

28. What is an opportunit?

[KlatooBNikto]

29. It is an opportunist with a missing 's'.

[KansDem]

30. Perhaps, but a bit more subtle than Germany in the 1930s/40s

It has become apparent to me that America is following in the footsteps of other dictatorships, but still uniquely American.

I don't think the Neo-Cons will just round up the "undesirables" and put them in a camp. Rather, it will be much more subtle than that, but, to some degree, achieve the same results.

For example:
Recent DU threads have addressed the use of credit scores to determine "worthiness" in the job market. Such scores are also being used in the housing and apartment industry. Simply stated, if your score is not high enough, then you are denied employment and living accommodations. Now, without going into the "whys" of low credit scores, one could see how this would benefit the Neo-Cons vision of American Society: Weed out the "undesirables" (non-affluent, non-Republicans) and force them to take substandard housing and jobs. In essence, be prepared to see the creation and rise of the "alternative housing" industry where American citizens who cannot qualify for traditional housing will be forced to live. In essence, these will American versions of the Warsaw Ghetto, located far away from the eyes and ears of "good Americans" (ie, affluent Republicans). Americans living in these areas will be centralized and thusly more easily "controlled" by police forces.

I wonder in neo-Cons believe not everyone will succeed in America. We are/were raised to believe that every American had a chance to succeed with learning and hard work. Now it appears that life in America is a zero-sum game; that for every winner there is a loser, or rather, several losers. Therefore, perhaps hard-core Republicans see this reality and prefer to isolate the losers and separate them from the "winners." If one doubts this thought, consider what the GOP has done since its takeover of Congress in 1994: cut taxes for the wealthy, eliminate the so-called "death tax" (ensuring that wealth is transferred from one "winner" to the next generation of "winners"), assure that the "winners'" interests (albeit the minority) will be represented at all times in American politics with the help of election fraud, establish more draconian measures to keep the "losers" in line (PATRIOT act, tougher laws for the non-connected, etc). The list goes on and on, and the end results are the same: assure the "winners" (affluent Republicans) stay on top while removing the "losers" (non-affluent, non-Republicans) through established institutions (banking and finance) and placing them in the American version of the Warsaw Ghetto.