| alloysteel, beautifully said -- and worth re-FReeping. Has socialism ever inspired a great work of art? The only Soviet-era novelists we know were free men in spirit, chained by an oppressive State. * * * Bafflement wins every time. It is impossible to divine the thought processes of most people over on the left-of-center and WAY-left-of-center, as they are not strong on logic at arriving at their conclusions and forming their opinions. Socialism, the hallmark of the kind of mental gymnastics of those who aspire to the “comfort” of a command-and-control governance, is a Siren call to those who try to negotiate the narrow strait between Scylla, represented by the rocky shoal, and Charybdis, represented by the swift current and undertow of a whirlpool. With any form of socialism, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, either to be ground to pieces in the chaos of unending and unresolved conflict, or to be drawn into a militaristic society. Those are the only two outcomes in a post-socialist regime. Emotionally, socialism seems to promise the end to want, conflict and onerous responsibilities, but it has NEVER delivered on any of these vague objectives. The magnetic allure of Gropin’ Joe? He does not offer to apply the socialist state all at once and immediately, preferring to heat the water that ends up boiling the frog but more slowly. Slow Joe, indeed. |
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