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The left has long been obsessed with the idea of the “elites”, which of course they assume are themselves, ruling over the “masses”, the rest of us who are not “enlightened” enough to be leftists. And these beliefs go way back.

As a philosophy, leftism-socialism is a secular outgrowth of Christianity. Its rather bizarre tenets can be distilled into a few concepts.

1) The objective is to return to the Garden of Eden, which they call the “State of Nature.” First propounded in an attractive manner by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is based on the idea that non-technological primitivism is the most elevated state mankind can achieve.

This began with a search for primitive peoples still living in this “ideal” state, and romanticized many different ones as being utterly “free.” The last gasp of this search ended with the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who imagined the Samoans as being carnally perverse, with “free love” all around. She didn’t grasp that the typically moral Samoans also had a good sense of humor and were pulling her leg.

“Free love” is a continuing theme among socialists, even in the early days of the Soviet Union, through the Kinsey Report on Human Sexuality, and “defining deviancy down” today.

Since such a State of Nature does not exist on the Earth, they they try to imagine returning the Earth, and mankind, to that state. And here are the origins both of their Luddite sensibilities and the Environmental movement.

Such people are invariably genocidal on the grand scale, as they envision the destruction of the vast majority of mankind as a good thing. As in “good for the environment.”

2) Once most of mankind are eliminated, the philosophy is very similar, be it propounded by Ralph Waldo Emerson or Dave Foreman of Earth First! People will live in isolated small towns in the wilderness, and will be ruled over by the traveling elites. Called “Orphic Poets” by Emerson, the purpose of the elites is to rule over the lesser men, and especially to keep them from development beyond their simple villages. For this, the lesser men are expected to adore and appreciate the elites, feed and shelter them.

As part of their philosophy, by keeping the lesser men down, the elites are in turn “serving by ruling.” This hard labor is why leftists today are utterly hypocritical about their own rewards, like Al Gore flying in jet planes and driving SUVs. This is their *reward* for keeping *other* people from enjoying the same amenities. Amenities reserved for the elites.

And this is also why environmentalist leftists hate for the masses to have access to “their” environment. The crude, gross and ignorant masses should be content to live in concrete and asphalt boxes in the cities. If allowed out, they will “ruin” nature, which can only be truly appreciated by the elites. Thus, their utter contempt for everyone else.

3) History is the greatest enemy of the left. The tool of the Orphic Poet is distorting and corrupting history for the needs of the moment. Emerson gave an excellent example by re-writing a biblical story to fit his purpose, including adding a new moral to the ending. And in doing so, turning the story around completely, so that sin was salvation.

The Russians really went hog-wild with this, even creating an enormous work called “The Greater Soviet Encyclopedia”, which was a work of fabrication art, perhaps 120 volumes with no accurate factual data to speak of.

Lies and distortions are also the common currency of the left, and those who are utterly bold liars, like Bill Clinton, are admired for it.

4) The Clinton administration also shows the philosophy of the left in embracing, in fact only trusting, individuals who had proven themselves to be corrupt, distorted, and immoral. Otherwise healthy, normal and honest people were looked at with distrust and outright hatred.

And this is a common thread among the left as well. Moral license is thought of as “freedom”, and is a badge of honor. Yet those who speak of morality as a good thing are all imagined to be like Jimmy Swaggert or Senator Craig. Just more adept at concealing their perversions.

One such individual had been a sportscaster on a local TV news show, that the left was indifferent to until he was arrested with underage girls and liquor in a motel room. He was immediately fired by his local station for being a pervert, but was just as quickly picked up by a major TV station on the West Coast, at five times his previous salary. He had proven himself one of the elites.

5) An excellent example of how the left thinks of Americans, as potential “masters” and “slaves”, goes all the way back to before the US Civil War. A leftist philosopher named George Fitzhugh wrote a passionate defense of slavery.

But he was so enraptured by the institution that he advocated that 90% of mankind should be slaves, ruled over by just 10%, who were fit to be masters. His book was entitled “Cannibals All!: Or, Slaves Without Masters”, and is still in print, and still enjoyed by those who think of themselves as elites.

True to form, he idealized slavery, that slaves were happy and carefree, eating and dancing and making love all day; and it was their masters who did the hard work, keeping the slaves as slaves, and for only the meager reward of getting everything they produced. Oh pity the poor masters!

6) Finally, en route to the State of Nature, leftist socialism also has a strong streak of messianic cultism. They hope that some socialist savior will evolve, like JFK, who will create the equivalent of the Judeo-Christian idea of a “New Jerusalem”. In JFKs time, they called such a place “Camelot”, based on that mythological “perfect” kingdom. There was even some hopes that Bill Clinton might follow in JFKs footsteps, and Democrat candidates still try to look somewhat like JFK.

So with this as pretty much the entire philosophy of modern leftist-socialism, it’s easy to see their efforts around the globe. What they want and why they want it.

Unfortunately, leftist socialists are the LAST people to see how what they want never works, even though they attempt it over and over. They have neither reason, common sense, or pattern recognition working to clear their minds. And since they despise history, they continually rewrite it to justify these endless effort. “Socialism must work because it has always worked. Only Nazis say otherwise.”