Right in the centre - Repeated failures

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Published on Friday, October 2, 2015

By Ken Waddell

The Neepawa Banner

A recent internet presentation by a speaker suggested that in the first half of the 1900s, Facism rose up and 50 million people died as a result before it was defeated. The speaker included Fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany and the madness that consumed Japan in the 1930s and 40s.

In the mid to later part of the 1900s, Communism rose up and before it faded from favour, 100 million people died.

The next “ism”, the presenter maintains is radical Islam. Whether he’s correct or not I guess remains to be seen. It’s obvious that the world is being shaken by effects of the radical Islam movements. The refugees created from that turmoil has even become an election issue in Canada. I suspect no country will be exempt from the tidal wave of refugees.

The common thread among all three of these movements is that the so-called left wing element of our society have been promoters of the movements at  the outset. Fascism was hailed initially as a great thing. It reformed Italy, Germany and Japan. What the promoters didn’t initially notice is that individual rights were trampled by the state or the movement or both. Anyone who objected to the movements were first ridiculed, then marginalized, jailed or in many cases killed.

The underlying threat is that whenever one person or group of people gets to oppress someone else, the end result is never good. And so it is today. Political correctness has gone way overboard. You can’t criticize anything or anyone unless it falls into a pre-approved category set up by left wingers. Capitalism is fair game for criticism as the left wingers maintain that anyone who makes money must be corrupt or cheating on their taxes. The Christian church is fair game for criticism, and so is it’s partner, Judaism. 

What the left wingers want is for the state to have control of just about everything. State ownership of businesses, of education, of our kids. Yes, our kids. Just try to raise your kids in a manner different that the prescribed and approved norm and you will be ridiculed. You have to put you kids in day care, you have to have both parents working, you have to have your kids in nursery school, in pre-kindergarten and in the public school system. Actually you don’t, but you will be scorned if  you don’t.

With Fascism, Nazism, Communism and radical Islamism, the state pretty much controls everything and everybody. It hasn’t worked out all that well as evidenced by the death toll from Fascism and Communism. It doesn’t appear to be working all that well for radical Islamism.

Here’s the perfect test of any state or political system. It’s a very simple test. Are the people staying or leaving and if they are leaving, are they leaving because they want to or because they have to? Are they just fearing for their economic well being or are they fleeing for their lives? That’s a pretty good test of how effectively a country is providing an environment for people to grow and thrive.

Obviously, there are countries that people want to be in and countries that people want to leave. The United States, Canada and many European countries are destinations of choice. They are also the countries that are currently doing the best job of allowing individual freedom, where people can invest in their own future, be it economically, culturally or spiritually. 

So the next time someone tries to tell you how good things are under a certain system, take a close look at the eyes of the people currently under that system. You will be able to see their desires and their fears and you will have your answer.