The Wishes & Dreams of Utopia
In every aspect of life we humans must take care as we pursue our wishes through actions. For there are always unintended consequences of every wish and of every action taken. Consider the quote below.
“We ask that government undertake the obligation above all of providing citizens with adequate opportunity for employment and earning a living. The activities of the individual must not be allowed to clash with the interests of the community, but must take place within the confines and be for the good of all. Therefore, we demand: … an end to the power of financial interest. We demand profit sharing in big business. We demand a broad extension of care for the aged. We demand … the greatest possible consideration of small business in the purchases of the national, state, and municipal governments. In order to make possible to every capable and industrious [citizen] the attainment of higher education and thus the achievement of a post of leadership, the government must provide an all-around enlargement of our system of public education…. We demand the education at government expense of gifted children of poor parents…. The government must undertake the improvement of public health – by protecting mother and child, by prohibiting child labor – by the greatest possible support for all groups concerned with the physical education of youth. [W]e combat the … materialistic spirit within and without us, and are convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only proceed from within on the foundation of The Common Good Before the Individual Good.”
Sounds like the the nobel words of most every national politician in the United States today, regardless of party, doesn’t it. Many are laudable goals, aren’t they? Yet, the purveyors of these ideals butchered some 11 million people who in their eyes were unfit to partake in their socialist utopia. Yes, the above quote is from the National Socialist Party of Germany, the NAZI’s who through their policy of armed aggression brought us WWII. Perhaps John Adams said it best in 1793: “Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.” But, then again the lessons of history always seem to be forgotten from one generation to the next as they arrogantly pursue the wishes and dreams of utopia.