A Lesson Learned

Today is Bastille Day in France, their Independence Day. Why should you care if you live elsewhere?  You shouldn't beyond the lesson the French Revolution provides as  example of what happens when Leftist get in charge. Do not take my word for it, do a little research.

In the drive to make everyone equal, all were brought to the lowest common denominator. One was forced to dress as the modern equivalent of a street dweller, nice clothes being a sign you were aristocracy.  Eventually, you either publicly agreed with the most extreme groupthink or you lost your head. The Revolutionaries went after churches, businessmen, landlords, and the rich nobles. Neighbor denounced neighbor for the slightest of squabbles.  Lack of sufficient Revolutionary fervor, or evidence you failed to be a revolutionary before the revolution was enough to cost you your life. Words uttered months or years before cost a trip to Madame Guillotine.

Eventually, like all leftist Utopias since, the French Republic consumed itself. Only a strong dictator was able to hold it all together. The French replaced a King with an Emperor. For the US, this worked out great. The cost of the Napoleonic Wars forced France to sell off great chunks of their Empire and we gained most of the land west of the Mississippi through the Louisiana Purchase.

It is interesting to note how much the great leftist revolutions have in common. The French Revolution, The Bolshevik Revolution, Mao's Great Leap Forward, Castro's Cuban Revolution all included a purge of societies' educated, clergy, business leaders, and wealthy. Anyone who failed to toe the leftist line wound up decidedly dead. All of these great Revolutions started as a means to freedom for the common man and ended in a bloody reign of terror. In every case life after the revolution was less free than under the regime that came before.

Thank goodness that could never happen here, that Obama's mentor would never advocate concentration camps for conservatives, that climate change believers would want to jail "deniers", that so-called hate speech could become a crime...