History

Ever hear that expression that if you don't know history, you are condemned to repeat it?  It is so true.  I am appalled today at the comments that some people make who just have no clue about the realities of life.

One representative just said that communism isn't all that bad.  Really?  Back in the 50s, maybe we went just a little overboard in identifying and punishing communists.  They were blacklisted for jobs and probably worse.  It wasn't one of our finer moments, but we were all dealing with Post World War II fears, and some of them were plenty justified.

So what is communism anyhow?  Communism is the belief that we would be better off if everyone had exactly the same stuff and that at first there would have to be a governing body to "control" how everyone would have the same thing.  The governing body would determine what goods would be manufactured, how much, where it was sold, etc.  The governing body would collect money and would dispense it accordingly.  The governing body would hold all land.  The idea was that in due time, the governing body would no longer be needed and communism would morph into a purified way of living.

So what happened?  First of all, they didn't seem to understand that we are given certain rights by GOD, unalienable rights (meaning that they can't be separated from us), and among these rights is liberty.  Because our rights come from God and are not given to us by man, we will always yearn to be free.  It is part of our DNA, the way we were made by the Creator. 

Second, no communist state has ever gotten past the need for the "governing body."  Why?  Because people would rebel and they do rebel because they long for freedom.  Someone would always have to keep them in line.  And why else?  Because the big cheeses that became the governing body didn't want to give up the authority and power they were able to get.  That and the extras that they got for themselves that the regular folks didn't get.  And what else?  That the governing body didn't dispense fairly. 

So what you ended up with was an impoverished, resentful, bonded people dependent on a more powerful group who held their lives in check and who often used fear to prevent uprisings. 

The people who had allowed the communist state to exist either by election or apathy lived to regret their decision.  With the thought that their lives would be easier and less stressful under this collective system, the people found themselves pawns.  The money that the state collected was often spent on armaments, armies, and offensive military systems.

In the 1960s and 1970s, communes were established in the U.S.  This was also an attempt to create a more perfect society but once again the experiment failed.  Again, the same dynamics appeared.  Some of them were disastrous such as the Jim Jones tragedy in Guyana when Jones and his henchmen served poisoned Kool Aid rather than giving up their power.

The beauty of our Constitution is that it takes into account man's unalienable rights.  To preserve our freedoms, we need to exercise them -- especially the right to vote and not just vote willy-nilly but to cast an educated vote.  We need the press to be free, our eyes and ears in Washington.  There are some loose chinks in our armor.  I pray that we are able to work through our difficulties.

The representative's beliefs about communism are naïve, but in America he's allowed to have them. 

Take care.  Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend and got a chance to relax and dig in the dirt.