Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my wife, kids and I headed to Washington D.C. for a family vacation to do what we do best: cram our brains full of information and knowledge while having fun and great family bonding time. The side benefit was to enlighten our 19 and 13 year olds about the history of the United States.

What I absolutely did not expect was that this would be an educational event for my wife and I too and one of the most troubling trips I’ve taken since Germany in 1997 to connect with my ancestry and realizing my extended family were Nazi soldiers — albeit grunts brought into service as infantry — but needing to at least consider what my grandfather and father would’ve done had my great, great grandparents stayed in Germany.

We saw many things and experienced more — the Mall memorials: Lincoln, Washington, WWII, Vietnam were especially impactful — but there were four that turned out to be profound events:

1) National Archives: Viewing the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights. To gaze upon these documents, deepen our understanding of what our Founding Fathers went through to create this Republic, the people who’ve fought and died sense to preserve our freedoms and rights and how our current age of so-called "terrorism" has allowed the amazing erosion of both through, for example, warrantless wiretapping, brought home to me the absolute imperative that we all stay alert and take steps to ensure we elect representation that will fight for and protect our freedoms…and win the battles.

2) Holocaust museum. I’m sad to report that I rolled my eyes in disgust when this museum was first announced since — at the time before I was "more awake" as I am now — I thought there was no need for such a remembrance on American soil. I’m a student of World War II history and especially Germany as I’ve grappled for years with how the citizenry of this cultured country could have ever allowed the Nazi’s to gain power.

After touring this place and experiencing the step-by-step methods the Nazi’s used to seize power from a slumbering citizenry, dehumanize the Jews and support the coming genocide, instill such fear in to the people that millions felt powerless to resist, I sadly realized how simple it would be to do the same sort of thing in this country since most of my fellow American’s are fat, dumb and happy and not yet fully awakened to the slippery slope we’re sliding down as a nation. If we the people don’t stay vigilant, the powerful will continue to seize and wield power in ways I view as counter to the Constitution.

The last two places we went to were, however, the biggest surprises…

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