A fool and a wise man

Back in my high school days, one of the popular phrases being bandied about was "A wise man should learn from his mistakes."

Now, this being a publik skool, it was taken as absolute fact that yes, a wise man would learn from his mistakes. However, I had a father who was smarter than most of the publik skool teachers, and after hearing me quote that phrase in his presence he took me aside and said "David,"....

Yes, my father calls me David. And my mother as well. They are the only ones entitled to do so.

Anyways, to continue on, my father says to me "David, a fool should learn from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others."

That has stuck with me for the rest of my life. I think that's why I have such an interest in history; you can see what works, what doesn't work, and the reason for both of them. It is why I have such a hard time understanding why anyone with two functioning brain cells could espouse ideologies such as socialism, communism, or any of the various Leftist "isms" that are touted among "intellectual" circles. You can look at history and see a proven track record of utter and complete failure whenever any of those 'isms have been applied, in any form, for any reason, by anyone.

I guess there are just that many fools in the world.

But the ultimate problem with Leftist ideologies is that by the time the fools have learned their lesson, it's too late. In every communist country, a brutal, power-hungry dictator as taken control, and once in control communists do not give up that power. They will murder, jail, or terrorize anyone who stands in their way. The same goes for those in the positions of lesser power under that dictator. Once they have power, they will do anything they can in order to keep it. And in the event that the fools have won, and the dictators now rule, that means everyone, not just the fools but the wise who tried to teach them and prevent this disaster, EVERYONE is screwed.

Yes, fools can learn from their own mistakes. But by then it's too late, as Aaron shows in his post. It's the diary of a useful idiot from Holland who went and joined the FARC, which is a communist movement to overthrow the government of Columbia. Not surprisingly, one of her diary entries is about how the so-called "equality" is nothing but:

"What will it be like when we take power? The women of the commanders will have Ferraris, breast implants and eat caviare. At least that is how it seems,"

Communism is a pipe dream, period. End of story. There has never been a communist society where a few corrupt tyrants didn't live like kings off the labor of everyone under them. There has never been a communist country where everyone was treated equally. There has never been a communist organization where everyone enjoyed the same quality of life. The people in power always abandon their communist platitudes in favor of rich living, while those not in power suffer a squalid existence. This is because the main proponents of communism don't give one whit about their fellow man - THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT POWER AND WHO CONTROLS IT.

Communism fails. Anyone can look at it's failure, written across the past century, written in the blood of it's hundreds of millions of victims. Anyone who cares to look can see that communism turns men into something less than human, all for the benefit of a very few people.

But I guess there's just that many fools in the world.