Posted on 12/17/2012 10:20:56 AM PST by jazusamo
The political slogan "Forward" served Barack Obama well during this year's election campaign. It said that he was for going forward, while Republicans were for "going back to the failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place."
It was great political rhetoric and great political theater. Moreover, the Republicans did virtually nothing to challenge its shaky assumptions with a few hard facts that could have made those assumptions collapse like a house of cards.
More is involved than this year's political battles. The word "forward" has been a political battle cry on the left for more than a century. It has been almost as widely used as the left's other favorite word, "equality," which goes back more than two centuries.
The seductive notion of economic equality has appealed to many people. The pilgrims started out with the idea of equal sharing. The colony of Georgia began with very similar ideas. In the midwest, Britain's Robert Owen— who coined the term "socialism"— set up colonies based on communal living and economic equality.
What these idealistic experiments all had in common was that they failed.
They learned the hard way that people would not do as much for the common good as they would do for their own good. The pilgrims nearly starved learning that lesson. But they learned it. Land that had been common property was turned into private property, which produced a lot more food.
Similar experiments were tried on a larger scale in other countries around the world. In the biggest of these experiments— the Soviet Union under Stalin and Communist China under Mao— people literally starved to death by the millions.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
Funny cartoon I've see: Obama standing on a cliff with a crowd of lemings behind him... he points to the air and says, "Forward!".
What these knumbskulls don't get is that "forward" depends on what direction you're facing. In the case of this country - the wrong direction.
The past they are recreating goes further back. The democrat party, the actions of the party and the situations and issues swirling around us seem to very closely mirrors the 1930s and FDR/his administration.
The parallels are eerily similar to being repeated history.
Another fine Sowell column. Thanks.
I especially liked the following passage:
“It is no coincidence that those who are going ballistic over the economic inequality between the top one or two percent and the rest of us are promoting a far more dangerous concentration of political power in Washington— where far less than one percent of the populaIt is no coincidence that those who are going ballistic over the economic inequality between the top one or two percent and the rest of us are promoting a far more dangerous concentration of political power in Washington— where far less than one percent of the population increasingly tell 300 million Americans what they can and cannot do, on everything from their light bulbs and toilets to their medical care.tion increasingly tell 300 million Americans what they can and cannot do, on everything from their light bulbs and toilets to their medical care.”
Great Article, as always from the Great Dr. Sowell.
My High School senior thesis was about the failure of the commune. I lived near the site one such 19th century experiment called “Brook Farm”. The only “collective farms’ in history that succeeded (in my conclusion) were the kibbutzim of the New Nation of Israel, founded just twenty years prior to the date of my thesis.
At the time, being a hippie agnostic, my conclusions puzzled me more than you’ll ever know! But I was honest in my assessment of History and presented my conclusions based on my research.
Now, nearly a half century later, the Kibbutzim are still going strong, and the left despises Israel!
Go Figure.
Excellent! A real keeper.
Communism usually involves economic depression, mass slavery, food shortages, and bullets to the back of the head for the opposition. Oh Boy, I can't wait to see how this one ends.
The parallels are eerily similar to being repeated history.
It goes back much further than that. Go to You Tube and enter Argentina and you will find a string of videos that show you how these policies took a nation that was once the second most powerful economic power in the world and reduced it to what it is today...a third world about to be. Don't cry for me Argentina? Hah!
Here is the YouTube link
A backup link to article should the posted one quit.
http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/-quot-forward-quot-to-the-past.html
Forward to the past, indeed. And our children are not being taught that history, and thus are doomed to repeat it. What a crying shame.
Great work by Dr. Sowell, again, and thank you for the ping and Christmas wishes, Jazusamo.
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