Obama call for spying stuns

I was stunned at what I read in The Spokesman-Review on July 10. Could I really have read that our president has ordered federal employees to spy on their colleagues, and report suspicious behavior, under penalty of law?

I’ve read quite a lot about Nazi Germany before World War II. Historians have questioned much about human behavior during the rise of the Nazis. How could people stand for the abusive and threatening policies of their leaders? Was it like the story of the frog that will jump out of hot water, if suddenly placed in it, but will remain if it is subjected to increasing temperature and slowly boil to death?

I cannot believe that the recent trend in our country would have been possible if more of “the greatest generation” who fought for our freedoms were still alive. How do you think this recent onslaught of our rights would have been tolerated if this article were printed during the time of presidents Dwight Eisenhower or Richard Nixon?

I have never written a letter to the paper in my life. If my WWII veteran father were alive, I think he would have been ashamed of me if I hadn’t written this one.

Dr. William DeLine

Spokane