Sir;....The source of all human evil, as we have come to know it, is the result of idealism.... It does not matter whether the ism is socialism, or sexism, or racism, or capitalism... Philosophers, such as Plato seem to have believed the perfect form of society could create the perfect individual... That is false... People are people, and no matter what is the form, whether it be religion, or government, or economy; it is only a form, while people as people tend to remain what they have always been... Now; we do progress through forms, and when people have a new form, or a form new to them it often brings out the best in them as people...Christianity as a new form brought out a lot of admirable qualities in people...Newlyweds are often on their best behavior...The Americans after the revolution were often far sighted and brave and intelligent...But people like Jefferson recognized the value of forms, and they are in the Declaration of Independence for that very reason, that when old forms become too difficult to endure we must change them.... Now; there are no imaginary cases, as one English Jurist said.... You can keep your hypotheticals...Socialism as a reality has been universal to all of mankind... How well did it work???? We all owe our lives to socialism before it had a name... Just as in your family, that socialism was natural, in that it grew out of the navel, (natal--Natural) -ones common heritage...Try to think of all the problems that might arise from trying to impose this natural form of relationship on people with no natural affection for each other...I mean; we have the example of a sort of perfection of society, and from that example, if we can define an ideal of human relationships, is it possible that we will be able to create the perfect society, or economy, or government from an ideal of these forms??? You cannot make the perfect house out of an ideal of the perfect house... Instead, you can create A house from an ideal of a house... No one has the ideal marriage, even if they can concieve of the ideal marriage... What they get is what they get, and how they deal with it and adapt is the story of their lives....You know all forms of socialism in your life, and one big reason we hate socialism is that it is the socialism of poverty, and because the poverty of our socialism is what affords the rich their wealth... We drive on crumbling roads together so they can fly in private jets...We languish in Emergency rooms so they can have the best of treament...Try to resist the desire to kick straw dogs... If we ever have a real sort of socialism in this land it will be out of necessity, and then it will be a growth out of relationships we have come to consider natural, like nationalism... We cannot create the perfect society out of an ideal, nor can we create the perfect citizen... Rather, we should always seek for our forms only forms that serve our relationships, and what we have now do not serve us... Who cares about wealth and distribution??? Wealth and money are only forms... Look at the human beings behind the forms... Are they happy??? Do they have enough??? Is there any chance they will be happy under the current form??? If we need to change the forms of our economy, and government, it should not be over anyones dead body... Instead, read some philosophy, and read your Declaration of Independence... And try to realize what people are saying when they say form of, or reform, or formula... We use the word, and are blind to its implications...No one should suffer a form that does not work... The cure to a failed form is not found by feeding more lives into it to be mauled, or destroyed ... The cure to a failed form is a new form; and just don't expect change to be easy on people, or that a new form will ever cure people of being people... Thanks...Sweeney

Walter,

What a great article. Too bad this type of thinking has left our halls of congress...


sweeney tl dr but, I assume you disagree.

Look at what Davy Crockett had to say...

http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html

"" ‘It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. "

Walter, you're wonderful.

Great article . America voted for socialism in the last election whether they know it or not.

I always enjoy your articles.