"Idealists in a hurry" - Granite Grok

“Idealists in a hurry”

Socialists
Some 20th century idealists who were in a hurry…

From an editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal: “Idealists in a hurry are an old story and the source of much human misery. Indeed, such misery is the end result of what the Journal called the “ends-justify-the-means logic” employed by every 20th century idealist out to change humanity and the world. Think about it:

In the 20th century Lenin and Stalin were an “idealists in a hurry”; Mao Zedong was an “idealist in a hurry”; Hitler was an “idealist in a hurry”; Pol Pot was an “idealist in a hurry”; Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were “idealists in a hurry”; Ho Chi Minh was an “idealist in a hurry.” In the 20th century millions upon millions of innocent human beings were forced to pay the price of an early death demanded by those “idealists-in-a-hurry.” Think more: All were socialists of one sort or another, and all sought (and attained) control of the machinery of government to effect their idealistic plans. Books have been written about the process, and its results.

Now? In the 21st century? Are such tragedies even possible? We don’t know at this point. But a useful inquiry is this: Who are the “idealists” of today? Are they the statist so-called progressives of the political left, or the anti-statist conservatives and libertarians of the political right? Which group displays the greater passion and appetite for political power in order to effect idealistic “change”?

Take heed and beware.

>