Well, we finally get to the purpose. What is the purpose of socialism? This breaks into two pieces.

For all its flaws, the United States is still the most successful country in the history of the world. The Constitution and capitalism have lifted more people out of poverty than any other government at any other time in any other place in the history of the world.

When a government gives you money or goods or services, their side has the same implicit expectation. The government expects you to perform in a certain way in exchange for the money they gave you.

The key human emotions in our narrative are, in no particular order: greed, ambition, fear, compassion, lust, charity, love, hate, concern and jealousy.

Our final group of major players I will call chameleons. Chameleons move from the anointed to the useful idiots, subcategory, victims, as circumstances develop and according to what they perceive as the most advantageous posture for themselves. Their motivation is almost purely driven by money.

Unlike the anointed, those who think they have answers to all issues, we in the flyover country can be genuine experts on one topic and completely ignorant on another – but know the difference within ourselves.

The world is full of the anointed who can usually garner many followers and whose followers often only superficially, e.g., in the case of Che Guevara, examine their bona fides.

Let’s just marinate on the idea that Marx never lived under Marxism, but instead enjoyed the genteel and well-fed life provided by capitalism, much like the headlining communists and socialists treading the stage today.

We start this series with your author not knowing how long it is going to take or where it will finish. Rest assured, I have studied the Bible, the American Revolution, the British Empire, the French Revolution, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Hitler, Castro and many others enough to be able to share at least a modicum of insight on the subjects at hand. I am currently reading Thomas Sowell, whom I highly recommend.

Want to see an economy with no salespeople? You don’t have to look far. In Cuba, the government has set the prices of everything since 1959. Look at some current pictures of the condition of the buildings and the condition of the automobiles. This is what happens when the government says salespeople are not needed.

Social media and its onerous censorship are taking a lot of heat these days. I am there with the critics in nearly all cases. Social media should be treated as a common carrier, like the telephone companies are. But I want to pause this idea for a second to heap praises on the myriad of serious learning opportunities you can find on YouTube. All for free, some with commercials and some without.

Those malcontent Cubans are at it again, protesting 62 years of food shortages, COVID-19 vaccine shortages, shortages of every kind. Yet, Bernie Sanders remains silent.

I hope you have a happy and respectful 4th of July – the birthday of the greatest country ever to grace the face of the Earth.

What certainties of today will be obsolete tomorrow? Not sure, but if Steve Roush keeps writing nostalgic columns in The Highland County Press, I am sure that in 10 or 20 years you will be laughing at many things we accept as certainties today – and today’s bullies will be nowhere to be found.

If you want to see some research that supports your concerns, I recommend the Heartland Institute (www.heartland.org). An article from March 9, 2021 titled “America’s Light Usage Reveals the Insanity of Relying on Weather-Dependent Wind & Solar” opens with “Renewables have already underperformed in temperate climate California, resulting in the states’ (sic) need to import electricity from the adjoining Northwest and Southwest states.”