Why the Evil Empire is a Mistake Bound to Repeat

On December 25th, 1991, the Soviet Union suffered a peaceful and uneventful death¹. By that time, most of Eastern Europe was already free from the evil and repressive yoke of communism. However, it is virtually impossible to exaggerate the impact of this event on world history, especially for those people freed from the Evil Empire.

Despite the Berlin Wall falling two years earlier, the US Government and its intelligence agencies did not predict the collapse². More importantly, during the 50’s and 60’s the Soviet Union looked poised to the win the Cold War³. Foolishly, those who worshiped central planning even predicted that “history is on our side”⁴.

Post Mortem

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe embraced freedom, capitalism, and representative government. Personal freedom expanded and standards of living universally improved. In some places, like Estonia, their economies boomed, increasing GDP by more than 10-to-1⁵. Despite these gains, however, Russia itself hasn’t faired as well.

These days Russia is a better place to live than during Soviet times, but not by much. Despite enormous mineral wealth and abundant natural resources, their economy never grew like it could or should⁶. The 1990s were especially rough. GDP consistently shrunk while up to 100,000 scientist fled for a better life in the West⁷.

But unlike Eastern Europe, Russia never really embraced capitalism, rule of law, transparency, or representation⁸. Like a tragic novel, Russia seems destined to suffer from the hands of corrupt governments. For over 20 years, Vladimir Putin consolidated power and enriched himself at the expense of the Russian people and good governance⁹.

Global Hegemon

Outside of the old Soviet Union, the biggest difference since 1991 is the end of the Cold War. The Soviet Union and its allies (Warsaw Pact, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, etc.) represented an alternative political alliance built upon totalitarian regimes and backed by an arsenal of thousands of nuclear warheads¹⁰.

Fundamentally, communism is an international, global ideology¹¹. Unlike national socialists, communists are happy to spread their influence across different nationalities, ethnic groups, and races. Anywhere leftist movements gained traction, communism and resources from the Evil Empire surely followed. With the help of weapons and money, communist movements spread in Asia, Africa and Latin America¹².

With the Soviets out of the equation, however, modern communist movements struggle for resources. Beside notable exceptions, like Venezuela, US backed democratic / capitalist movements easily out muscle them. Even though US military spending is proportionally down since the 1960s, it is still relatively high compared to 1991 spending and other nations at peace¹³.

Zombie Apocalypse

Too many people treat the COVID pandemic like a zombie apocalypse. Even though it has been a legitimate public health emergency, it lacks the staying and killing power that communism seems to have. Despite body counts in the hundreds of millions, communism remains popular with hardcore leftists¹⁴. Similar to a bad zombie movie, communist ideology keeps coming back to life regardless of how many times it is shown not to work.

American universities are especially keen to keep communism alive and well¹⁵. Taught by professors that have no real world experience, universities have reimagined the ideology for the post-Soviet world. Instead of focusing on workers vs. management, the new and “improved” ideology focuses on race and gender. Social Justice is the new wrapper for the old, failed ideals of communism¹⁶.

Communists in our Midst

Unfortunately, academic indoctrination for communism has spilled over to primary school too. In many parts of the US, support for the Black Lives Matter movement is the unquestionable normal. Combined with Critical Race Theory (CRT), schools constantly expose our children to modern communist propaganda¹⁷.

Thankfully, there is a large counter movement against teaching CRT¹⁸. Along with mask mandates, CRT has been a large impetus pushing parents towards home schooling. Unfortunately, home schooling isn’t a solution for all parents. Let’s all hope parents can restore our education system to focus on democracy and capitalism instead of socialism and racism.

Conclusion

Communism is the biggest failed ideology of all time. Its advocates are responsible for more mass murders than anything else in all human history. And the fall of Soviet Union has thoroughly repudiated Karl Marx’s original ideology. Unfortunately for the free world, communism is not dead. It lives on under a new banner of Social Justice.

Whatever it is called, the results will be the same: complete loss of freedom, massive wealth destruction, widespread theft, and economic disaster. Their ideas simply don’t work. Relabeling communism changes nothing.

Instead, private property and capitalism are the only way to help marginalized communities. Let’s focus on entrepreneurship and capital accumulation as the only ways to truly build wealth. This is as true for white men as it is for any other group.

Concordia

In the book, Concordia, There Must be a Better Way, a team of dedicated pioneers establishes a new nation. This new nation faces many of the same issues that we have today. Specifically, the fight for capitalism vs. social justice takes front stage. A radical social justice movement emerges that harasses and ultimately destabilizes the new society.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to start from scratch? How would you balance freedom, liberty, and justice, while assuring that investors are rewarded for taking a risk on your enterprise.

To found out what happens, buy the book now on Amazon. It is an exciting novel that challenges your assumptions and entertains you in the process.

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