Or for that matter a nazi inspired conspiracy…..I know…you are thinking ….huh?
We have heard the words fascism and Nazi used by some of the right, even some in the media to describe the policies that the Prez and the Dems are trying to pass in the Congress.
First of all, those two words should not be anywhere in the conversation of any president….and yes I said ANY president!
Beyond that I started thinking about the use of fascist techniques and decided to check this out and found some interesting results to my research. First. I was just tickled at the similarity but then I thought that it was ironic to say the least.
The following is from the book. “The Nazi War On Cancer” by Robert N. Proctor:
Germany had the world’s strongest anti smoking movement in the 1930s and early 1940s,supported by Nazi medical and military leaders worried that tobacco might prove a hazard to the race. Many Nazi leaders were vocal opponents of smoking. Anti-tobacco activists pointed out that whereas Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt were all fond of tobacco, the three major fascist leaders of Europe-Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco-were all non-smokers. Hitler was the most adamant,characterising tobacco as “the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man for having been given hard liquor.” At one point the Fuhrer even suggested that Nazism might never have triumphed in Germany had he not given up smoking.
German smoking rates rose dramatically in the first six years of Nazi rule, suggesting that the propaganda campaign launched during those early years was largely ineffective. German smoking rates rose faster even than those of France, which had a much weaker anti-tobacco campaign. German per capita tobacco use between 1932 and 1939 rose from 570 to 900 cigarettes a year, whereas French tobacco consumption grew from 570 to only 630 cigarettes over the same period.
On 20 June 1940 Hitler ordered tobacco rations to be distributed to the military “in a manner that would dissuade” soldiers from smoking. Cigarette rations were limited to six per man per day, with alternative rations available for non-smokers(for example, chocolate or extra food). Extra cigarettes were sometimes available for purchase, but these were generally limited to 50 per man per month and were often unavailable-as during times of rapid advance or retreat. Tobacco rations were denied to women accompanying the Wehrmacht. An ordinance on 3 November 1941 raised tobacco taxes to a higher level than they had ever been (80-95% of the retail price).Tobacco taxes would not rise that high again for more than a quarter of a century after Hitler’s defeat.
The anti-smoking people have done all they can to halt the advance of smoking and it has not killed the desire for Americans to smoke….What is next? Will the Congress try to ration smokes in an attempt to “dissuade Americans from smoking”?
I write this not to accuse anyone of anything…just to point out a similarity of a policy that has fascist past attached to it.