Winegrad: We should celebrate our abundance and protect democracy

We are living in the most dangerous times since World War II, when fascism threatened not only our democracy but our very existence as an independent nation. The rise of Hitler as leader of a powerful, militaristic and nationalistic Germany, and of Mussolini in Italy coupled with Japanese dreams of conquest, resulted in the deaths of 75 million people. Hitler exterminated six million Jews. I was born during the World War II, while my dad served on a Navy destroyer making dangerous runs escorting supply ships to Murmansk, Russia through a gauntlet of Nazi U-Boats and Luftwaffe planes. This was to help break Hitler’s back after he invaded Russia in 1941.