The late Kitty Werthmann was among the best and brightest in the modern conservative movement. She was a trusted friend and confidant of Phyllis Schlafly, but Kitty was also a powerful voice in her own right. As a survivor of Nazi-controlled Austria, she had a firsthand account of what detrimental effects befall a society ravaged by socialism. Although Kitty passed away one year ago today, her passionate warnings still ring in my ears.
One of the most striking things she would say as she would describe growing up in Hitler’s Austria was how the government would work so hard to turn citizens against one another. Neighbors would be encouraged to turn in their neighbors, and even children would be told by their teachers to report on their parents if they should question the authority of the socialist regime in the privacy of their own homes. Clearly, the Nazis understood that the best way to keep a population controlled was to keep them isolated and afraid of one another.
While Kitty was always so eager to share her testimony, she made clear that she wasn’t just telling stories for the sake of telling stories. She would plead with audiences, and especially young audiences, to watch for their government to start going down the same road as Austria. Tyranny did not take hold of Austria in a day, nor did she expect for an overnight change here in America either.
Recent action by California Governor Gavin Newsom would surely have drawn Kitty’s attention. He announced the launch of a new hotline for Californians to report on other Californians for committing “hate acts,” which he loosely defined to include even “derogatory name calling.” Lest you think that this would not apply to you because you don’t make a habit of name calling, remember that under the current leftist dogma, even calling someone by the correct pronoun can be considered a grave offense. Clearly, this new hotline represents a choice by the Newsom Administration to go down a dark path. Conservatives would do well to remember the passionate warnings of my friend Kitty Werthmann and fight off these attempts to isolate and divide the American people.
