One of my favorite columnists is Willem Lange, who writes a column called “A Yankee Notebook” for the Valley News in New Hampshire. Willem is an old Yankee, a hunter, a fisherman, a storyteller, an observer of history and events, and a wise man.

In a Feb. 5 column titled “Common sense drowns under a tide of events,” he notes that “There is a pattern here, devised by the president. The idea seems to be to flood the various news media with so many irresistible news items that listeners, readers and viewers will be so confused by the proliferation that they’ll give up trying to keep pace. It’s sort of the civilian version of the Blitzkreig that the German armies used in the opening of the Second World War. It’s caught us flatfooted.”

Lange also quotes from the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, author of “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,” who wrote: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule … is the (person) for whom the distinction between fact and fiction … and the distinction between true and false … no longer exists.”

Willem then closes his column by saying, “Never think that it can’t happen again.”

I urge everyone to read the full column at www.willemlange.com. Wise words from an old Yankee. Will we all listen, including those good and well-meaning people who, for whatever reason, voted for Donald Trump? If not, our country is in great danger.

Robert Piampiano
Brunswick