I do not take the topic of this week’s missive lightly, and it comes from experience. Back in the mid-80s, I was a young Army Paratrooper Lieutenant assigned to the 325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy. Each January-February we did training exchange rotations with the famed Berlin Brigade. They would come down to Folgaria, Italy and participate in our cold-weather mountain warfare training course. We would deploy to take advantage of their Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) facility. While in West Berlin, by agreement, members of our military could travel into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie.

I remember receiving the safety brief about being situationally aware of the East German secret police, known as the Stasi. They would be shadowing us and ensuring there was no conversational contact with East Germans, beyond purchasing goods. The Stasi was part of a brutal regime that imprisoned their political opposition; many of whom were never to be heard from again. What I witnessed as a young 24-year-old Army officer was something I never wanted my country to experience.

Sadly, what I did see then has now infiltrated our country. When Joe Biden stands before an ominous and extremely dark backdrop to castigate millions of Americans as extremists, fascists, threats, and enemies, we have crossed an extremely dangerous Rubicon. This is the mantra of the real fascists, socialists, Marxists, and yes, communists, to disparage their political opposition, dehumanizing them, and setting them up for a “by any means necessary” agenda of suppression, silencing, and eradication.

America is becoming a Stasi state.

Over the past year, we have seen parents who resisted the indoctrination of their children be attacked. How interesting it is that the National Association of School Boards, of which many state school boards are members, wrote a letter to the U.S. Attorney General demanding that parents showing up at school board meetings be designated as domestic terrorists. And even in the Lone Star State of Texas, we had two dads arrested in their homes, before their families, at night, in Round Rock Texas all because they spoke up about transparency and their disagreement with the current superintendent.

Recently, the American Medical Association sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General. Their letter demanded that anyone, including journalists, who speak out against child gender modification, mutilation, surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormonal therapies be investigated. So, in other words, a medical association, which we all know is quite leftist, does not want any speech against surgically mutilating young children. Based upon a video from Vanderbilt University school of medicine, it appears that this is a lucrative business. Matter of fact, Planned Parenthood has opened up a new line of business in child gender mutilation surgery. Take note that a gender mutilation surgery center in San Francisco sought to sponsor a drag event at a gay bar in San Diego for children.

Speaking of California, their state legislature just passed a law, which will surely be signed by Gov. Newsom, that will punish medical professionals spreading so-called COVID-19 “disinformation.” Since when were elected officials smarter than medical professionals? The most severe punishment is the revocation of a medical license. The state government is now interjecting itself into the doctor-patient relationship.

The U.S. Department of Justice just announced it will begin an investigation into Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Why not investigate Kroger acquiring Alberston’s? Oh yea, Twitter is an information platform that the leftists, and fascists, do not want to lose. I guess the world’s richest man is not out of reach for the American Stasi state. And the same DOJ is opening an investigation on Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis for transporting 50 illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard…but no investigation into the Biden administration doing, and still does, the very same thing all across the nation?

Indiana congressional candidate Jennifer Ruth-Green had her military personnel file illegally accessed and given to Politico for a hit piece that revealed her sexual assault while in Iraq. The U.S. Air Force has come out publicly and stated that they have no record of anyone requesting under FOIA to obtain her personnel file, which Politico said they did. Jennifer Ruth-Green is an Air Force Academy graduate, but sadly, she is a Black female conservative. To the American Stasi state, she is the enemy for being a black woman that is not a socialist, or Marxist.

And so it goes when an 83-year-old pro-life volunteer, Joan Jacobson of Michigan, was shot because she believed in the very first unalienable right, life, for the unborn children of America. Or what about 80-year-old Julie Jaman of Port Townsend, Washington who was banned from her YMCA for complaining about a gender dysphoric male staff member being in the women’s locker room and heckled by the Stasi state brown shirts? Or how about the unfortunate story of 18- year-old North Dakota teenager, Cayler Ellingson, who was run down by a triggered Marxist believing the kid was a Republican extremist? None of these stories received any coverage from the American Stasi state media propaganda wing.

Americans deemed the political opponents of the Stasi state are being targeted and having their homes raided…yet not one single black-clad and masked Antifa leader has been arrested. And even if they were, the Stasi state, meaning Kamala Harris and her ilk, will raise funds and advocate for their being released. And even in our nation’s capital, a new Bastille has arisen, a place to unlawfully detain and hold Americans with their due process constitutional rights being violated.

This is all the result of constitutional conservatives, concerned parents, and those who believe they have a right to free speech, and free expression, to peaceably assemble, and petition their government for a redress of grievances being labeled as domestic terrorists, fascists, and the enemy. If you are burning down city blocks, attacking law enforcement, and entering the country illegally, that is permitted by the American Stasi state, along with releasing violent criminals back onto our streets.

The midterm elections will determine whether or not our constitutional republic survives, or the American Stasi state expands.

Who knows, perhaps one day, I will have the late-night banging upon my door because I dare to cower in fear, intimidated into silence, afraid for my family. Perhaps I will have my bank account suspended as have so many others. The funding of 87,000 new IRS agents is not in the interest of the American people. It is in the interest of the American Stasi state, to be weaponized against political opponents.

Unity for the progressive socialist leftists and Marxists means conformity . . . or else. I find it funny because during the Trump presidency all we heard from the left was “Resist.” Thanks, y’all, that is exactly what I plan to do.

Steadfast and Loyal.

This article first appeared at Townhall.com.