The history of America is, in essence, one long search for the “more perfect Union” promised in the preamble to our Constitution—which was drafted in response to our first failure at a representative government, the Articles of Confederation.
Almost every endeavor, every policy, every philosophy, every priority, and every law we have pursued, followed, or enacted for the past 250 years has been a thread of our elusive quest to weave together a nation that values justice, empowers people, and restricts the scope of government. Our country’s track record of successes and failures leans very heavily toward the positive over the breadth of our history, but we can also point to plenty of shortfalls and disasters that have taught us painful lessons about our fallibility and foolishness.
Perhaps because we have never given up hope that we can one day get it right and, as the Puritan leader John Winthrop sermonized (borrowing, of course, from the Bible), create that “city upon a hill” to serve as a model for all of the world, we continue to try, try again, which is baked into our nation’s stubborn character. A revolution, civil war, and too many riots to count later, we still have not quite figured out how to herd imperfect human beings into a more perfect Union, but the utopian ideal still attracts us—and leaves us uniquely vulnerable to the sweet words of liars, charlatans, and crooks. It is no surprise that we love social experiments meant to promote harmony and goodwill. Politicians who promise us more—of whatever nonsense they are peddling that day—will always find a credulous audience among our citizens.
The problem with any utopia that tries to circumvent our many frailties and fears is that we can be shortsighted, cruel, and just plain stupid when we believe the benefits due to us are not arriving in a timely fashion—or someone is receiving more than their fair share. Our inherent selfishness, which typically goes hand in hand with our natural peevishness, tries the souls of even the most saintly.
Think of the utopian communities that have dotted our nation’s history—New Harmony in Indiana, Brook Farm in Massachusetts, the Amana Colonies in Iowa, the Oneida Community in New York, the Aurora Colony in Oregon, or even in The Villages in Florida today—and the same lesson springs forth: We, as a species, find it hard to get along with one another, even when it is in our best interests to to do so. People get angry and leave, lawsuits flourish, and the ideals of peaceful communal living crash into the realities of petty jealousies and vendettas. No wonder so many Americans dream of a cabin deep in the woods—and far, far away from anybody else.
Today the utopian cheese being left in the trap for us hopeful and gullible mice is a heaping hunk of Communism/Socialism, which has the marketing advantage of appealing to our inherent selfishness, natural peevishness, and suspicion that someone is receiving more than their fair share. Moreover, the Communist promise of abundant free stuff appeals to the oppressed bed rotters and boomerang children of our nation, who constantly complain to their therapists about living in a nation where employment is required. Oh, the bitter injustice!
The historically-ignorant and math-challenged love the completely cuckoo theories of Karl Marx and blithely ignore their many failures. Apparently unaware of the gulags in the old Soviet Union or the murderous culling of the insufficiently zealous in Mao’s China—or simply naively convinced someone other than themselves would be imprisoned or killed—Leftists are convinced they can live comfortably off the confiscated wealth of others while spending their days playing video games and ordering DoorDash. Non-workers of the world, unite!
This would all be comedic if it wasn’t so scary. One does not need to spend much time walking the streets or perusing social media to figure out that a couple of generations of educational indoctrination, a cockeyed culture that celebrates all varieties of obvious mental health problems, and a free-floating sense of grievance have produced a scary number of insufferable individuals who are convinced everyone else is a mean, awful person who deserves to be arrested, silenced, or banished. If the KGB or Stasi were still in business, I suppose they could have a career fair and find lots of gleeful snitches and spies to fill their ranks, but at least today’s disenchanted dimwits can still snarl at the gainfully employed while nursing their anger about the outrageous costs of tattoos and body piercings—although perhaps the Democratic Socialist platform will soon address that frustrating injustice.
Aside from the economic imbecility Communists have produced wherever they have held sway, today’s American cohort of revolutionaries seem wholly unconcerned that a political and economic system that presumes the power to control the manufacture and distribution of all goods and services—food, healthcare, housing, clothing, transportation, electricity, household goods, etc.—must, by necessity, exercise absolute and unquestioned power over its citizens, which translates into an oppressive and total system of surveillance and censorship.
Keeping in mind that the Marxist “liberators” always eat their own when the enemies of the State inevitably multiply and “disappear”, today’s haters of Capitalism might find it worthwhile to ask just how comfortable they might feel forever wearing a doctrinal and behavioral straitjacket. They should remember that a history of buying at Starbucks or shopping at Whole Foods someday might be deemed evidence of counter-revolutionary tendencies—so watch out the next time you’re buying overpriced coffee or artisanal bread, Comrade.
I doubt the meek shall inherit the earth—life is just too tough for that to be true—but those who show up for work, take care of their spouses and children, run their errands, pay their bills, budget their money, continue to train for better jobs, and treat others courteously likely will—which will drive America’s maniacal Marxists into a desperate, unending rage spiral.