August 23, 2012

Here is an answer, now what was the question?

I have known for some time that I just do not get it. I do not consider myself a moron, but I know what I don't know, if you catch my drift.

I have tried to understand quantum physics. I can grasp the basic underpinnings, but the actual understanding at a deep level is beyond my ken. I can live with that.

I have always thought I have a firm grasp on history and to a lesser extent politics and economics. Again, there are experts in these fields, but I have a basic grasp of the fundamentals.  I am not the sharpest blade in the drawer, but I am not a spoon.

That said, today's political environment leaves me more than confused.  I really truly cannot grasp how anyone can advocate an anti-capitalist, anti-freedom agenda. The entire concept of socialism, communism, whatever -ism term you want to use leaves me lost.  I might as well be dropped into the Amazonian rain forest without a map to do spinal reconstruction surgery with a Boy Scout pocket knife. I have no fucking clue.

How anyone can believe the best course for America lies in taking the hard-earned wealth of one individual and giving it to another escapes me. How can a Government provide for the General Welfare when no one produces is beyond my understanding.  Nothing in history suggests the at the dream of Marxism is functionally feasible. It is not possible for the Government to distribute largesse to the people without taking the product of another's labors.

The early settlers at Jamestown tried this "each to his abilities/each to his needs" concept and it failed miserably.  Robert Owen tried it again at his Utopian experiment at New Harmony without success. The USSR, East Germany, North Korea: the list of places this great experiment has been tried and found wanting is almost endless.  Why would anyone advocate a failed economic system?

In a perfect world there would be no hunger, no sickness. We as humans would look after our fellow man. I like to think the best of us, but humans are animals hell-bent on survival. Often the very progressives who advocate a Marxist-type economic model are strong proponents of a Darwinian "survival of the fittest" philosophy of human origin and evolution . How can the notion that we all strive at a molecular level to improvise adapt and overcome in order to survive co-exist with the concept we should give up every advantage to a 'weaker' human? 

In France during the Revolution, society was determined to promote liberty, equality and fraternity. In the end, common citizens resorted to not bathing and wearing rags lest they be perceived as trying to be "better' than the poorest of the poor. The French Revolution was the ultimate experiment in progressive liberalism. God was banished to the point of changing the names of the days of the week.  The calendar was changed to match a decimal system.  The metric system replaced the crazy Imperial measure. Aristocrats joined the mob or lost their head. Eventually, even the zealots were destroyed by the mob. The result was a 15 year World War and a stricter Imperial rule than the French originally overthrew. 

In reality,  I will sooner understand Born’s probability interpretation, Feynman Diagrams, and Neutrino Mixing long before I understand how any thinking person can promote, advocate and believe the Socialist/Communist/Liberal/Progressive economic fantasy will ever work. 



5 comments:

Woodman said...

There doesn't ever seem to be a point these people realize that they can only take so much from people before they give up. It's inconceivable to them that once you start taking more than you are leaving them that they'll start to slack off.

Does it give them satisfaction and a warm heart to think of the tens of thousands living in substandard crime ridden hell holes eating over processed pre-prepared foodstuffs looking forward to another day of just getting by without getting shot? An environment that liberal policies have created? In areas that are unsafe because only the police and the criminals are allowed to defend themselves?

Ed Bonderenka said...

Sorry, I can't help you.
I have some suspicions, some of a more supernatural nature involving Satan and his plan to torment humans, but it's hard to prove that empirically.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Some people just can't deal with the fact that they were dumped here on this rock and actually have to work to make a living. They figure it can only be a mistake, so it's someone else's job to take care of them.

Community organizers generally fall into this category.

mts1 said...

Don't sweat it. In the end, we're all dead anyway, and all you learned would be lost (if there is no afterlife) or fully revealed to you (if there is one). Learn what you want in the meantime to satisfy your curiosity and enjoy solving that puzzle.

CnC said...

I dunno, even smart educated people dont get it, but they cant admit they dont so they parrot the Socialist/Communist/Liberal/Progressive line. It makes them feel smarter.

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