Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from the Department of Homeland Security. The Senator was forced to the ground and handcuffed when he attempted to ask Secretary Noem a question. No, you are not having a nightmare, this is real in our America.

It has been said that power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts absolutely. The plow horse used to wear blinders to prevent the animal from looking to the left or right, thus being deterred from its mission of plowing the field. Or, as in one of my favorite television programs, Veep, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus portraying her as the Vice President of the United States, accidentally walking through a glass door. A political lobbyist hearing of the accident laughed heartily. We do not laugh when the shards are in our hair.

There is a reason that other countries have locked their political dissidents in gulags and thrown away the key. A lack of empathy and respect for viewpoints different than their own. Power shifts like the weather. It is hot today and cold tomorrow. The winds of change are blowing. It is easy to get caught up in the blame game. The coarsening of our society has been happening all of my life. The Southern Illinois Town I grew up in has a pool that was long sought by hard-working families. Recently, those managing the pool were forced to make a public statement that anyone caught using foul language will be asked to leave immediately. Why would there be a need for foul language at a pool in the summertime?

If we continued to poke each other’s eyes out, we would all be blind. Perhaps this has already happened. No matter who you are and the greatness of your knowledge and abilities, there is someone who disagrees with you. Such is life. Jackbooted Thugs took over a country in some of our lifetimes. I was born just a few years after the end of World War II. As Jews were marched into concentration camps, Germans hollered, ‘Goodbye Jew.’ When Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower required German citizens to see what their military had done to the Jews in the camps, they averted their eyes from the horror. We like living in a Free Country as long as the freedoms are what we want. Remember, the weather is changing.

‘First they came for the socialist, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionist, and I did not speak out-because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me. Martin Niemoller