Is History Worth Knowing?

History. To some, especially school age students the very word sounds boring, but so does math, English and a lot of other subjects. I was no different than a lot of my peers back in the “dark ages” of my school life. (60’s-70’s) Until! A ‘good teacher’ made history exciting. The sad part is that I can’t even remember his name, but I cannot forget the influence this high school teacher had on my interest in history. In some way this teacher reached my very distracted mind, (as in having a whole lot more interesting things to do than read history) to the point that the study of history has become one of my favorite subjects for lifelong learning.

Often it is said that if man does not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. I might let the so called ‘scholars’ debate the actual facts of that argument, but the reality is we will do well to learn some things by observation rather than experience.

To illustrate the point. If I read in the news that someone attempted to fly off a high bridge, flap their arms as if they were wings, but hit the water in a splashy death, I should learn a lesson without repeating the experiment, that being, a human‘s arms are a poor substitute for wings. A rather simple example, but the reality is that if we would make a rational study of history we would find a whole world of mistakes and failures that man has already made and thus be educated without the consequences being upon our own head.

Some describe this as the ‘wisdom of the ages’. How many ancient nations have come and gone? The great ones we are aware of, the Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire being a classic case study of a republic, so-called, that more or less self destructed from within. No outside force was big enough to destroy that Empire. But when it decayed from within by individual and government moral decay, it fell. Some of the most visited sights in the world come from those marvelous ruins, of massive structures, build by the Romans. Many volumes have been written on the history and fall of that great Empire. So, is history worth knowing? I would answer it is, unless we want to find out everything the hard way.

Human nature makes for a strange study. Even closer to our own lives we see many examples illustrated in ‘living color’ of human beings, assumed to be rational creatures, do things that defy what should be common sense. How is it that our modern American society spends more money on ‘education’ than any nation in history, but somehow we forget the most basic elements of education that affect our whole nation and every individual citizen? I speak here of economics. I don’t recall having taken a course in economics in high school, maybe there was one and I have forgotten it. We were required however to take common general math. Truthfully, simple math is all one needs to realize that you cannot subtract 90 from 10 and end up with a positive number. Yet it would appear that such accounting is what our society would have us accept. As if a negative balance sheet for our personal households and our nation is a “good thing”.

Through whatever insanity that afflicts our politicians, lawmakers, educators, banking firms and even our households we cannot grasp the simple fact that oppressive debt will destroy us, something is “upside down”, besides millions of home loans.

It is not so hard for us to understand how a company or individual can get into debt beyond their ability to pay. Sometimes it is by unfortunate circumstances, like medical bills or accidents that take away our source of income, or a sudden downturn in the economy that dries up a particular market that a business depends on and they simply ‘go broke’. Often it is being irresponsible in spending verses income, easy credit can be an addiction to some people and they can’t, or won’t, stop spending until they ‘crash’. When that happens most people look at them with a mixture of pity or in the case of unnecessary spending, they are judged to be ‘spending addicts’ and void of common responsibility.

In the most resent economic upheavals ‘capitalism’ has been blamed, with some people saying, “see, capitalism does not work”. When I hear such talk, the first thing that enters my mind is the late Soviet Union. They were not capitalist and they went broke, so maybe we should look at history in an attempt to learn why nations fall.

Here is my short answer, since I am not writing a book. Just as it was said by some of our founding fathers about freedom, and which one of my teachers in school strongly enforced that we learn; “freedom cannot exist without responsibility”. Taking responsibility for our own actions, whether it be a person or nation should be an easy concept to understand, even if it is not always easy for our egos. If you run a business and make a bad choice to invest a lot of money in a project that fails, you know (at least we used to know) that your decision could very well bankrupt your business. If we fail to teach our children to be responsible for their own actions, are we surprised when those children spend their whole lives blaming others for their own failures?

The Soviet Union is a prime recent historic example that we should learn from. They embraced the socialist/communist ideal that collectivism was a “good thing”. That Peter should share with Paul, even if Paul had no ability or ambition to provide his share of the labor. But Peter, being full of ability and drive could create income was forced to give up the fruit of his labor to bring Paul up to his living standards by sharing with Paul his hard earned wealth. The theory was that all human effort should be considered as equal in value. No matter that a doctor must spend years of intense dedicated study to learn the skills necessary to treat the ill, his time was worth no more than another’s, who might be doing work that any unlearned child could perform. The great socialist experiment proved one thing for certain. Take away a persons incentive to produce, by giving it to a non-producer, and what you end up with is two non-producers, not two equal partners. That theory tries to defy all of history. It denies basic human nature. For as far back as history records, there are some people who excel and achieve great things, while the mass of folks live a “common life” with no such ability, nor ambition.

How can it be consider as moral, if I, who have no great burning desire to create wealth, (nor ability that I am aware of) just tell Paul; “since you have more than I do, I am just going to take part of what you have and we will be equal?” In realistic terms this is what socialism attempts. The result is as predictable as the sunrise, Paul is going to do one of two things. He might say, “over my dead body” and go to war! Or the common alternative in history has been, if Paul sees he can’t win the war, he just quits producing.

Once his wealth is all gone, taken by the non-producers and consumed, they all starve together

Hum? Makes me wonder about a lot of details. How is our “social justice” movement any different than the communist ideals of the 20^th century? Tax the rich and give to the poor, so we all can have a more “equal” living standard. Here will be the results, which in our own time we see taking place. One, the so-called “poor” come to depend upon a handout and thus are content with a few basic comforts, so they quit trying to pull themselves up and turn to idleness, which always destroys a people. Or, in our day of “Hollywood appetites”, the poor want more, and more and more. Until they, by sheer numbers, like a plague of locust, have consumed the wealth of a nation. Two, the so-called rich, sooner or later will pull the Atlas Shrug routine and just quit producing.

I understand the anger and frustration that is experienced by thousands of Americans in the face of some “close-by” historic facts. There really appears to be no doubt that some of the “big bankers” and corporations have economically raped our nation. However, we must look at the root of the problem rather than just on the surface. The root is that we have a “moral problem”. That is, when those in positions of power have no moral foundation of right and wrong it is easy for them in an environment of “freedom” to steal from others, anyone and everyone.

Capitalism has not failed, our “moral standards” have failed.

Capitalism is the vehicle that produced the greatest nation to arrive on earth. It thrived as long a we had a basic moral standard where most people were not out to cheat, steal and plunder, but create wealth by hard work and imagination, fueled “freedom” which gave them the right to attempt whatever honest enterprise their minds could think of. Some failed, some succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But if we remove the underpinnings of “moral behavior”, then not only will capitalism fail, freedom also will fail.
There has never been a nation supported and sustained by a few producers, while the masses ate drank and were happy. As long as the known principles of nature exist, there will also never be a nation that can provide a “free ride”. The USA cannot just, out of thin air, keep printing money to prop up failed enterprises or individuals.

I say, “History is worth knowing”.
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