Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:07 PM CDT

History is important. George Santayana said, “A country without a memory is like a country of madmen.” At first glance, this statement may seem metaphorical or figurative. But, in fact, it’s literally true. A madman (a very strange or disturbed person) who speaks to a lamppost does so because he does not comprehend the nature of a lamppost or that lampposts cannot hear or talk or reason. The madman does not understand what common sense experience has taught everyone else in the world about inanimate objects.

The same can be set for a nation that does not understand history. If, for example, a citizenry does not understand socialism and its history, the citizenry will not know that socialism has been tried repeatedly over the millennia, that it degrades prosperity, and, often, leads to oppression. A person who does not understand history looks at socialism like an insane person looks at a lamppost – without an understanding of what common sense experience has shown (or should have shown) us about socialism or the lamppost. That is why Santayana’s one-sentence epigram is exactly correct: History is important, lest we collectively wander through time – like a madman – without any sense of what the world’s collective experience has proven.

Socialism was the very first form of government tried in America. In the first couple of years after colonists arrived at Jamestown, all property was communal. All food was kept at a central storehouse for everyone to share.

But, because there was no reward for working harder, no one worked hard. The result was the Winter of Starving in 1609-10. Of the 500 colonists in Jamestown, 440 died. The survivors ate rats and dogs. One man killed a woman and ate her. He was later burned. And, at least by socialism’s standards, the Jamestown experience was a success. For far less successful adventures into pure socialism (also known as communism), see the histories of the Soviet Union, Communist China, Cambodia, East Germany, North Korea, Cuba and a host of others. These are histories steeped in starving and repression.

All of this is why many, including the Observer, look with utter dismay and disbelief as the federal government takes over America’s banks, car companies, and the entire health care system.  The disbelief is not the result of the government’s power-grab, for it is the nature of governments to try and become bigger and more powerful. The disbelief is wrought by the complacency of the American masses, which stand by unknowingly, like sheep, as their prosperity and freedom are carried away before their eyes under the banner of economic recovery.

It’s madness. Literally.

The Settlement Observer is a resident of Farmington.

Archives Web Site Marketplace Obits Babies Jobs