The Wretched of the Earth

I’ve lived in a used army tent, with a wife and three kids and a half dozen other people, in a Tennessee winter when the temperature was below zero, no electricity, no insulation, heat from a wood stove. There was no hot water. In fact there wasn’t even cold water until we thawed out the black plastic pipe on the ground that brought us our water, by bringing it into the tent by the stove.

So, even though I am not one of them, I know a little something about the people in the world who are getting the shitty end of the stick, the wretched of the Earth. Not much maybe, but a little something.

It’s not their fault. It’s really not anyone’s fault. And I know that things are better on Earth now for everyone than has ever been the case, but that’s not saying much.

What improvement there has been has been due to the free market and technology, both created, primarily, in Western Europe and the United States.

There is now enough science and technology to eliminate material want for everyone. But, as has always been true, the vast majority of the people in the world are, literally, delusional. Their minds are captives of bad ideas, like Communism, Jihadism, Sharia law, the Caste system, Scientology, and a million more.

There is of course a great deal of disagreement about what are bad ideas and what are good ideas, but I think we can all agree, no matter one’s point of view, that so far the bad ideas are winning. They are winning, and their fruits are war and disease and starvation and suffering.

I believe that Jesus Christ is our salvation, and that Satan, the Father of Lies, is the source of bad ideas. Others believe Buddha or Mohammed or Marx or Eckhart Tolle or Beyoncé have the answers. They are not all the same. One is true. The others are not.