Will we be reliving Woodrow Wilson's 1916 America in 2022?

We don't seem to be close to a war right now, nor are we on a war footing. But having reason to look at some of my Fatherland magazine posts from 2019, I was struck by the stunning resemblance between the way Woodrow Wilson's Democrat party was behaving then, and the way Joseph R. Biden's Dem party is behaving now. It's uncanny, I think you'll have to admit upon reading it.

It will at least remind you of how divided we were then, too -- how badly things were going for a certain segment of the American population in December 1915, how citizens were being stalked by their own government. -Carolyn Yeager

The very first issue of The Fatherland can be found here.

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In order to whip up public support for war, former President Theodore Roosevelt and various industrial and military elites organized the Preparedness Movement, which among other things held parades throughout the country to raise public awareness and support. After all, every one loves a parade, and sending your sons and fathers to risk their lives on a foreign battlefield is so much easier to swallow when it is dressed up with flags and jolly marching music.

THE FOLLOWING SELECTIONS FROM THE FATHERLAND magazine in Dec. 1915 and Jan. 1916 show the Wilson administration's commitment to neutrality was too weak to withstand the pressures and ambitions stirred up in an election year. The actions of the Wilson administration against the German “sympathizers” are the mirror image to what the radical democrats of today were doing to our former president—leveling charges and investigations in spite of no evidence ever showing up. Even the Lusitania “atrocity” is resurrected as the best pretext Wilson had, or may have, to enter the [European] war in order to save England from financial collapse, as well as political humiliation. -cy

vol 3 no. 19    Dec. 15, 1915    Page 10

MR. WILSON'S “FRIGHTFULNESS”

Editorial

[…] We regret to say that in [Mr. Wilson's] message to Congress, he continues the policy of “frightfulness” heralded in his speech at the Manhattan Club against Americans of foreign descent. No longer content with gentle hazing, the President now urges a Reign of Terror to intimidate his opponents. For the first time in the history of the United States we find a President openly preaching the doctrine of race hatred under the pretext of patriotism. [By race is meant distinction between Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic, Mediterranean, etc. -cy] For weeks mysterious agencies have carried on a campaign of intimidation against the political opponents of President Wilson. Secret Service agents have dropped sinister warnings to friends of persons connected with the movement for fair play, misnamed “German propaganda” by Mr. Wilson's press bureau. They were told that the Administration was “out for blood.” Every one connected with the movement would be exposed to subpoenas and much disagreeable publicity, even if it was impossible to frame charges against him. The joint organs of the British Embassy and the Wilson Administration have hinted at a possible revival of the obnoxious Alien and Sedition Act. One New York newspaper intimates that a way will be found to disfranchise naturalized citizens who attack the Administration. This will be entirely in accordance with the precedent established by the American Ambassador in Berlin, for we understand that Mr. Gerard has cancelled the passports of several American citizens because they were politically at variance with the curious doctrines of neutrality promulgated by Mr. Wilson.

The press is fed by Washington with rumors of German conspiracies. The President consults with pro-Ally agents of unsavory reputation, and the affairs of the State Department seem to be conducted alternately from the offices of the British Embassy and the Providence Journal. The Administration hopes to make the position of the German sympathizers so unpleasant that their political support will be valueless to Mr. Wilson's opponents. The Administration likewise hopes by its “frightfulness” to intimidate those Americans who, without possessing pro-German proclivities, deplore the miserable failure of the Wilson Administration to protect the American flag from seizure by Great Britain. Is the Administration willing to go to any length, even to the extent of provoking war with Germany, in order to save its political neck? [Wilson was up for re-election in 1916 -cy]

[…]

We challenge Mr. Wilson to name a single factory that has been blown up by a naturalized citizen. Forgetful of his high office, the President emulates the recklessness of his confidential adviser, the editor of the Providence Journal, but he has not submitted, nor have all the investigations of the past few weeks brought to light, a scintilla of proof for these grave accusations. Nevertheless, the Government continues its “investigations” in order to raise a welcome political issue.

Knowing that there was not one shred of evidence for the existence of a large German conspiracy, knowing that Congress would ask for more than vague insinuations, it became necessary to obtain a number of convictions. Every conspiracy trial so far failed wretchedly of proving the baseless slanders against Germany and German sympathizers.

[…]

Mr. Wilson has asked Congress for special laws to curb the propaganda of hyphenated Americans. We understand that the Administration will request an amendment of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. Do we understand that this law will send J. Pierpont Morgan, Joseph H. Choate, and C. M. Schwab to jail for their pernicious activities in behalf of the Allies, or is it directed solely against those American citizens who uphold the standards of authentic Americanism, who are protesting today, as their ancestors did in 1812, against the base surrender of American rights to British aggression?

Why, Mr. President, do you ask for new laws without carrying out the laws that are already on the Statute Books of the United States? Since you have not prosecuted the Rubber Trust, the Metal Trust, and the fiscal agents of the British Government under the specific provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law, how can you in good faith ask for a modification of that law in order to reach suspected pro-German sympathizers? We insist upon an answer! We are not afraid of the new crime of lèse-majesté.~

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ANOTHER ARTICLE in Jan. 1916 will also give you a shock of recognition, so similar is it to what we're experiencing right now with the Biden administration and its inclination to deny our constitutional rights and  to fundamentally change our system of government. Take note - it's happened before.

vol. 3 no. 24    Jan. 19, 1916     Page 8

Behind the Scenes at the Capital

Wilson is finding out that his theory of “cabinet government” after the British model is being resented. The fact that he regards himself a “standardized King,” as set forth in his “Constitutional Government in the United States,” (1908, complete text here -cy) and that Congress was “meant to be a reformed and properly regulated Parliament” is bitterly criticised, and his suggestion that “committee government is too clumsy and too clandestine a system to last,” and that “the English precedent must be followed in the institution of cabinet government in the United States” are heresies that will not go down with the American people or their representatives.

How far he is steeped in English doctrines is shown by a quotation from an article by him [Wilson] in the Atlantic Monthly of November, 1889: “An acute English historical scholar has said that 'the Americans of the United States are a nation because they once obeyed a King.' We shall remain a nation by obeying leaders.”

I had these and many similar British crotchets in the President's political creed pointed out by a member of the Upper House who has studied his idiosyncracies with a view to proving Wilson's antagonism to constitutional government and his bias in favor of one-man power without responsibilities to Congress. Above all, it illustrates how really and truly British he is in his profoundest convictions.

* * * *

There is evidence that the British spy system in this country extends to the inner workings of the great telegraph lines, and that the contents of private telegrams of interest to England are made accessible to Sir Edward Grey. In no other way can certain Americans account for private information coming into possession of the British foreign office which affects neutral interests in this country and has raised hardship of one sort and another in dealing with the release of ships unlawfully seized and taken to British ports. British spies are given complete latitude, and their operations extend to the most private affairs of the official departments of the Government. There is a leak somewhere, and certain members of Congress are showing signs of impatience. One member of the House went to [Navy] Secretary Daniels' office and submitted evidence that the plans of one of the American battleships, which had been abstracted and photographed and then replaced as mysteriously as they had been removed, had been taken by English spies. Their disappearance at the time was attributed to Japanese agents. Nothing was done in the matter. Our own Secret Service works hand in glove with that of Great Britain and both are directed against Germany and the German Americans.~ Frederic F. Schrader