Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Communism failed centuries before Karl Marx

Conservatives keep trying to tell you — Communism simply doesn't work. We tell you over and over that Capitalism is one of the best ways to ensure productivity. Here, from Charles A Beard and Mary R. Beard's “History of the United States” (pages 20-21) is evidence from the earliest colonial days, centuries before Karl Marx was even born.

Experiments in Common Tillage.—In the New World, with its broad extent of land awaiting the white man's plow, it was impossible to introduce in its entirety and over the whole area the system of lords and tenants that existed across the sea. So it happened that almost every kind of experiment in land tenure, from communism to feudalism, was tried. In the early days of the Jamestown colony, the land, though owned by the London Company, was tilled in common by the settlers. No man had a separate plot of his own. The motto of the community was: "Labor and share alike." All were supposed to work in the fields and receive an equal share of the produce. At Plymouth, the Pilgrims attempted a similar experiment, laying out the fields in common and distributing the joint produce of their labor with rough equality among the workers.

In both colonies the communistic experiments were failures. Angry at the lazy men in Jamestown who idled their time away and yet expected regular meals, Captain John Smith issued a manifesto: "Everyone that gathereth not every day as much as I do, the next day shall be set beyond the river and forever banished from the fort and live there or starve." Even this terrible threat did not bring a change in production. Not until each man was given a plot of his own to till, not until each gathered the fruits of his own labor, did the colony prosper. In Plymouth, where the communal experiment lasted for five years, the results were similar to those in Virginia, and the system was given up for one of separate fields in which every person could "set corn for his own particular." Some other New England towns, refusing to profit by the experience of their Plymouth neighbor, also made excursions into common ownership and labor, only to abandon the idea and go in for individual ownership of the land. "By degrees it was seen that even the Lord's people could not carry the complicated communist legislation into perfect and wholesome practice."

If even the Lord's people, concerned about the common welfare couldn't manage a communist economy, why is it that people continue to support this discredited idea today? The hand of government couldn't bring it off in the 17th century. It failed for the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

It's amazing to me that even seeing this example of the failure of Communism from his own hand that Charles A. Beard was still a Marxist at heart. And, here we are today, still seeking communist, or at the very least socialist control of our lives through the “great society”, nationalized health care, nationalized control over industries like the auto makers, and so on. You'd think we'd have learned the lessons of three centuries. “From each according to his ability — to each according to his need.” It's a noble sounding sentiment, but human nature being what it is, it just doesn't work.

Two thousand five hundred fifty seven days ago

Seven years ago today, two planes flew into the World Trade Center. A third plane flew into the Pentagon. A fourth plane, headed for Washington D.C. abruptly crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. All four of the planes had been hijacked by terrorists, but this was more than mere terrorism — it was self-evident that this was an act of war.

Watching our nation under attack on live television angered me. It woke me up to the need to pay attention to the things that are going on in the larger world, and it re-awakened my desire to understand where we stand and where we ought to stand as a nation.

I am, and was too old to serve in our military. If I had served as a younger man, I might have been eligible to serve after 9-11-2001. I don't know that I would have done it anyway. I was certainly not in adequate shape to do it, and I'm not now. Nevertheless I am proud of and grateful to the men and women that chose to serve in response to Al Qaeda's vicious attack upon our nation.

I didn't know anyone that died on that day. I didn't know anyone that served to help rescue the survivors. I didn't know anyone that responded by signing up for service to fight back. I didn't know any of the brave men and women that gave their lives in that fight. Even so I mourn the losses. When I watch footage taken on that day I feel anew the anger and the anguish that I felt on that day. Watching people jump from the broken windows of the World Trade Center still hurts, with an almost physical pain.

Keith Olbermann may want to suppress those memories, but I don't. The men and women that died on that day, and those that died trying to ensure that such a day would not soon come again deserve to be remembered. Their success should be remembered as well. In the two thousand five hundred fifty seven days since the towers fell there has not been a single act of international terrorism on American soil. The job isn't done though. It will never be done until Al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations are completely eradicated.

Many comparisons have been made between the events of 9-11-2001 and the attack on Pearl Harbor on 12-7-1941. The shock of the attacks and the number of dead being one of them. One thing that's different about the two attacks though is that what happened at Pearl Harbor was an obvious act of war taken by an enemy that hadn't declared themselves to be our enemy while what happened in New York and Washington was a less obvious act of war (although to some of us it was clear what it was) taken by an enemy that had long before declared war upon us while we ignored it. Our reaction to the attacks was somewhat different as well.

As a result of the attacks in 1941, we went to war. Yes there were, even then, dissenters but we went to war with a will. As a result of the attacks in 2001 we also went to war — or rather, we resolved to use force, a somewhat wishy–washy way of going to war. I guess if you actually declare war you have to defeat the enemy. If you merely resolve to use force you can quietly stop using it. There were dissenters in 2001 too. While to most Americans it seemed we were united with a resolve to fight back, there were voices even then warning that all too soon we'd be divided again — and we have been.

After Pearl Harbor, we're told by Hollywood that the Japanese commander recognized that his victory may not have been quite the great thing that he thought…

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
— Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970)

Watching our nation under attack on live television on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, another “day that will live in infamy” woke many of us up. The sleeping giant didn't quite awaken fully though, at least half of him wants to simply roll over and go back to sleep — to return to the world as it was on Monday, September 10, 2001. There is no terrible resolve, and our complacency grows with each success, precisely because there hasn't been a successful attack on American soil. The enemy may be on the run, but they still hate us.

“The sleeper must awaken.”
— Duke Leto Atreides (Dune, 1984)

Never forget! Never again!