STASI – American Style

After the Berlin Wall came down, many residents of the former East Germany learned that they had been spied on by the Ministry for State Security (“STASI”). A combination of the secret police, intelligence service and bureau for investigations of political criminal cases, this organized network of government informants numbered almost ninety thousand people, one out of every 30 East Germans.

A similar network still exists in present day Cuba and is known as the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, with chapters on each block, charged with turning in their neighbors for such heinous crimes as buying rice and beans on the black market or selling a used washing machine without a government permit. How far away are we from this system in this country?

Consider the following transcript from the Morning Edition show on National Public Radio on January 5, 2022:

NPR host “A” Martinez: In the days after the attack on the U.S. Capital, an informal community started coming together online to identify people who took part. These amateur sleuths have come to be known as “Sedition Hunters.” And they’ve been a big help to the police. NPR’s Odette Yousef is here to tell us more. Odette, all right, Sedition Hunters has a HGTV reality show vibe to it. Who are they?

Correspondent Yousef: (Laughter) Well, at the beginning it seemed like they were everybody with a laptop, a free hour, and some outrage over what they witnessed over live television last January.”

The interview continues with conversations with the actual Sedition Hunters themselves. Yousef cheerfully admitted that, “In the beginning, there were mistakes. Some people were incorrectly identified as being at the Capital.”

In other words, these endearing amateur sleuths falsely accused people of crimes. Another Sedition Hunter, who would only give her first name (“Mary”), said she “investigated” all members of the Oath Keepers (the right wing activist group) “who showed up that day, regardless of whether they entered the Capital or committed a crime.” Interestingly, several of the people interviewed don’t even live in the United States. One was identified as “a German American living in Switzerland.” None seem to have been the least bit bothered by turning innocent people-who they admit had committed no crime-into the FBI for investigation.

This zeal to be a Junior G-man, a government informant, is reflected in the number of “tips” the FBI January 6 hotline received in the first 30 days it was operational: 200,000. This meant there were 100 “Sedition Hunters” for every protester.

It would also refute the insistence by many commentators that the amateur sleuths had to make “regrettable” “painful,” “agonizing,” “anguished,” “upsetting” decisions on whether to turn someone into the feds. (All these adjectives were used to describe how people struggled with their conscience before “dropping a dime” on someone. Yeah, right!)

If you were appalled and shocked by January 6 you should be just as appalled by the travesty of the disruption of Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. Not only were the hearings repeatedly interrupted by screaming protesters, but at one point the Hart Senate Office was occupied by protesters, who also had to be physically removed just like those disrupting testimony in Capital hearing rooms. (“Anti-Kavanaugh Protesters take over Senate Building,” CBS News, 10/4/2018). Later protesters forced their way into the actual U.S. Senate Chamber while the roll call confirmation vote was proceeding. Their shrieks from the Gallery and pounding on the doors to the Senate Floor can be heard in the audio of the vote on C-Span and all the other networks. The anti-Kavanaugh protesters also confronted individual senators in their offices and the Senate corridors and upbraided them to vote against the nominee.

Finally, another mob tried to force its way into the Supreme Court Building to stop Kavanaugh’s swearing in after his confirmation. All told, at least 700 anti-Kavanaugh protesters disrupted the confirmation process, which, after all, is an important government proceeding, just like certifying electoral college votes.

As infuriating as these actions were, none of the Kavanaugh protesters has faced multiple felony counts for actions virtually the same as those charged for the January 6 protests!

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