I have lived long enough to be aware of and read about other leaders who have decided to “change the world.” Some called themselves Communists and some called themselves Socialists, which has always struck me as different labels on the same can of beans. In both cases, the leaders of a powerful federal government decide what is best for other people.   

The first of these in modern times was Lenin, and he did change his country, he effectively destroyed a fledgling democracy. His word was Communism, an idea in which all the power belonged to the people, but in reality rested in him and a powerful, privileged, leadership. Then he was ousted by Stalin, who used military power to take over Russia and much of Eastern Europe. In the process, he killed hundreds of thousands who opposed him. As his power spread in Europe, the number killed increased to millions, mostly among the working middle-class. But the indolent and the criminal classes did not profit either, he established re-education camps in Siberia, where they learned to work for a living – or starve.  

A second person who set out to change his country and the world was Hitler. His dogmatism was Socialism. (Nazi stood for “National Socialist Party.) Following his election to leadership in the then Democracy of Germany, he used his goon squads to silence dissidents: early victims, who were imprisoned and executed, included the handicapped, Masons, peace loving Christians such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and more than 800 Protestant ministers. Finally he turned his attention to the Jews. It was all for the good of the nation. He and those about him knew what was good for all. The consequence was catastrophe for Europe.

Mao knew what was best for the people of China. He executed over twenty million Chinese and, over the years, led the nation into poverty. It was only after his death, with the slow introduction of capitalism, which permits people to decide for themselves what is best for them, that prosperity returned for many, but it has been slow. 

Castro promised change. He was young, handsome and an excellent speaker – like Hitler. The people of Cuba needed change, and supported him. It was only after he gained control of the nation that they realized they no longer enjoyed the freedom to determine their own lives. Castro knew what was best. More than a million fled the nation and the others now live in poverty. Not, of course, the leadership. As in all Socialist (Communist) nations, the leaders live privileged lives in prosperity. 

Now Chavez has decided he knows what is best for Venezuela. Young, handsome and an excellent speaker, he won leadership. At first, the country prospered as Chavez reaped the profits of capitalism, now it is sinking into economic despair as industry after industry is taken over and directed by the government, but Chavez and the elite with whom he has surrounded himself still know what is best – and prosper.

Now we have Obama. Like Lenin, Hitler, Castro and Chavez, Obama is young, handsome and a marvelous speaker. He has been quoted as saying he will change the nation and the world. All of the major media supported him, and he won the Presidency. This has made me wonder how he might be expected to change the nation – and the world. This worries me.

Family Meanderings

By

William D. Dannenmaier

This morning, gossiping while I was getting dressed, my bride, huddled under the covers, said, “I was having some happy thoughts earlier this morning, but then I fell asleep again and now you’re up and getting dressed.” It shows what near thirty years of marriage will do to romance.

There are some nice things about being confined to house arrests in-between hospital and doctor visits. Son Stephen had planted all of the trees and bushes I wanted planted this fall, following my instructions. Three cooking cherry spouts are now planted down by the blacksmith shop and four blueberry bushes along the driveway in addition to a replacement butternut walnut in the center of the front yard. 

Three or four years ago I planted a pecan tree, on my property between myself and the church. A neighbor, observing this, commented that I would never live to get pecans off of that tree. I said, “I know, but your grandchildren and perhaps mine will enjoy the pecans for years after I’m gone. 

I’ve never understood people who plant and do things that are only for their own, immediate, good. I don’t expect to see cherries on those seedlings Stephen planted, which is why I had him plant them in places where some other person would be unlikely to cut them down, but the birds will enjoy them whether I do or not. I do, however, hope to get blueberries in two or three years and stop freeloading off of Bob and Kathy Connors’ bushes. 

Sheila is busy hunting for a Bible given to Megaera by the church when she graduated from junior high school. Megaera can’t find it at her home. Sheila says she is positive she gave it to Megaera when Megaera moved, she knows because she didn’t want to because it is such a truly wonderful study Bible. She ended her conversation on the subject saying she had hoped Megaera wouldn’t take it, that it takes a truly evil person to want to steal a Bible from a daughter, and I married her.

Stephen had an A grade going into his final on one class and then missed the final. He went on the wrong day. I overheard his conversation with the professor, whom he telephoned to discover what he could do about making it up. He simply told the Prof that he had gone on the wrong day. The Prof made an appointment to discuss it with him. A problem is that Stephen is a very private person. I told him that the Prof didn’t know if he was out on a drunk or whatever.  I thought that was unfair. The Prof had a right to know that on the day of the examination I was in the hospital for heart surgery, surgery serious enough that I had postponed having my glasses repaired or purchasing new overalls because I saw no use in wasting money if I turned up dead. Our house was in a state of total confusion at the time. As Stephen admitted to me, all he could think about at the time was my surgery. Of course the Professor has the power to decide, but the people I have known in the teaching profession would treat a student who missed class because his father was in surgery would treat the situation quite differently from one who missed because he had partied the night before – a dubious excuse I heard many times was “it was my grandmother’s (grandfather’s) funeral.

It has always been my policy to tell my children and those who worked for me WHY I was doing something or wanted something done. The result has been mixed for the children, some teachers don’t like to explain why they are doing something. Perhaps they don’t know. I recall one boy asking me in my sixth grade class why we had to study a particular subject and my answer, if not intelligent, satisfied him. I said that the Board of Education required this to be taught and they paid me to do it. It was not a democracy. If I wanted to keep my job, I’d do it. The result for me has been that of my eight children, seven of them still correspond with me routinely and the secretaries, assistants and co-workers all liked me. One young woman, my office assistant at WashingtonUniversity, was given the choice by her father of spending a year in Europe, of working on a Master’s Degree at any university she chose, or of continuing to work with me. I learned this when she showed me a new Pontiac convertible her father had purchased her as a consolation prize for staying with me. (She enjoyed me discussing with her all the details of the industrial testing work I was doing and why I was selecting which tests.)