Inordinate Ignorance of Communism
Author/teacher Paul Kengor reported in a recent issue of American Thinker that the reason that Barack Obama’s radical ties do not resonate with young voters is that “the history and truth about communism is not taught by our educators.”
Kengor, a communism and Cold War expert who lectures at Grove City College, says that “Americans are painfully vulnerable to repeat mistakes that should have been forever tossed onto the ash heap of history.”
Amazingly enough, he says the lecture that young audiences find most interesting is the one about communism, because it’s entirely new to them.
It only takes 15 minutes to cover the main points, ranging from Communist attacks on private property and religious faith, to their assault on civil liberties that resulted in “a death toll of over 100 million bloodied, emaciated corpses in the 20th century.”
While the audience is full of questions, “the professors stare at me with contempt,” says Kengor, adding that it’s almost as if the ghost of Joe McCarthy had suddenly appeared in the room.
It’s not that these professors have a fondness for communism but more that they disapprove—and even despise those who are anti-communist. They are the “anti, anti communists more than pro-communists.”
They can “preach against fascism until they are blue in the face,” but while “conservatives detest both communism and fascism, liberals only detest one of the two.”
Not only do they not teach about Communism, these same leftist profs “are negligent in failing to teach the essential, non-emotional, but crucial Econ 101 basics that contrast capitalism and communism . . . and explaining “how and why command economies do not work.”
According to Kengor, that’s why, even after hearing about Obama’s ties to the Weather Underground and communists like Frank Marshall Davis, “they just don’t get it.”
“When the leftists of the ‘60s took over higher education and the media, they really knew what they were doing. This was brilliant, masterful, a tactical slam-dunk, a tremendous coup for them and their worldview, with ripple effects we can hardly imagine.”
Santayana was correct, says Kengor. “For decades now, we haven’t taught the next generation what it needs to know from its immediate past. And now, to borrow from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, America’s chickens have come home to roost.”
Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.
Deborah Lambert
