Back in the 1930s, a man named Adolf Hitler made the Jewish people out to be a net negative on the world and blamed them for Germany's woes. The amount of anti-Jewish sentiment that was already gaining traction within the country allowed Hitler to capitalize on the crisis, and paint himself as the man to fix the problem. He criticized those who didn't think the Jewish crisis was as big of a deal as he was making it out to be, making social pariahs out of those who disagreed with him.
Not long after that, Jewish people would be rounded up and forced into concentration camps where they would be enslaved and tortured. Meanwhile, Hitler would utilize the crisis he took advantage of to become a dictator and would go on to be responsible for the deaths of millions around the globe.
It's hardly the only time something like this has happened in history. In fact, while the "crisis" might take on a different name, the playbook is pretty much the same from dictator to dictator. Take a developing concern or prejudice, exacerbate it in public, promise to have the solution to amass support and loyalty, and use that support and loyalty to seize power.
Once you've done that, there's really no end to what you can force on your own people. You can even convince them to begin a global conquest.
The aforementioned playbook hasn't changed much. In fact, the people who use it have only gotten craftier. Authoritarians in the modern world still use concerning issues to scare people into loyalty, and if they don't have any and times are pretty good, they'll make some up.
They have a motto that you've probably heard before: "Never let a crisis go to waste."
(READ: The Leftist Culture of Fear and Loathing)
In modern-day America, there's no end to what you can claim is a crisis. The transgender murder rate can be a crisis even if there isn't one. The COVID-19 pandemic can be a crisis you can use to force people to lock down or inject themselves with vaccines even though it has a 98 percent survival rate and most people just get flu-like symptoms.
And, of course, there's the gun crime "crisis." It's this issue that brings us to the latest tyrant, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
If you've been keeping track of RedState's coverage, you'll know that the governor decided that it was time to just ignore the Constitution and issue a gun ban in Bernalillo County with other areas of the state to likely follow. Naturally, this caused quite a backlash, with citizens protesting with their guns out and legal challenges from various groups.
As Jeff Charles reported on Tuesday, it's now gotten to a point where the Bernalillo County Sherriff has openly refused to enforce the ban on the grounds that it will be counterproductive to his job to keep people safe, and that it only punishes the law-abiding citizens of his jurisdiction. He also mentioned that this ban falls outside the realm of constitutionality.
Lujan Grisham's response was, in my opinion, chock-full of red flags. I'll emphasize the problem areas myself.
I don’t need a lecture on constitutionality from Sheriff Allen: what I need is action. What we need is for leaders to stand up for the victims of violent crime. We need law enforcement, district attorneys, public officials, school leaders and state agencies to use every single tool at their disposal to stop this violence. Period.
This is an administration that has treated the gun violence epidemic as the crisis that it is. We’ve passed common-sense gun legislation, including red flag laws, domestic violence protections, a ban on straw purchases, and safe storage laws; dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to a fund specifically to help law enforcement hire and retain officers; increased penalties for violent offenders and provided massive support to intervention programs.
We've given you the tools, Sheriff Allen— now stop being squeamish about using them. I will not back down from doing what’s right and I will always put the safety of the people of New Mexico first.”
While this was addressed to the sheriff, it wasn't a letter to the sheriff; this was a letter to the people of New Mexico. This was meant to make Lujan Grisham's detractor look like a do-nothing, cowardly, and even ungrateful person standing between the people and safety.
This little retort is filthy with alarmism, painting gun violence as a massive issue throughout the state that has gotten wholly out of control and needs intervention now. I could have highlighted the entire second paragraph as it paints Lujan Grisham as the person who has the answers and is doing something. She paints herself as a brave, righteous warrior doing what's right for the people.
Do you see the pattern emerging here?
She's preying on the concerns of the people and blowing an issue way out of proportion so that she can paint herself as the hero to save everyone from it, and using said crisis as an excuse to seize power. She's even using the sheriff as a way to define cowardice and enablement of the crisis.
Lujan Grisham isn't doing anything bold or original. She's using the same playbook to seize control that Hitler and every other tyrant in history did.
At this point, it's pretty clear what happens to the people who buy into the lie; untold numbers suffer.
Lujan Grisham's actions will undoubtedly have a horrific effect on the populace over time. As the sheriff said, this will only affect the law-abiding, meaning the unlawful will be free to commit crimes without too much worry about someone fighting back. This will only encourage more crime, including theft, assaults, rape, and murder.
If the people of New Mexico are smart, they'll stop this wannabe dictator in her tracks.
