When Will They Ever Learn?
As a child, I only had to put my finger to the fire one time to learn that it was hot. Why then, cannot the far left in American politics learn and grow from their mistakes? Republicans are not perfect, but Democrats seem to own the practice of doubling down on failure.
In 1955, a left-wing folksinger name Pete Seeger wrote an anti-war song entitled “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”
The song’s message is: why do we lose our young soldiers in never-ending wars, and nothing ever changes? By that reasoning, why does the Left tax and spend us into inflation hell, coddle our enemies like Iran, and open our borders to any murderer, rapist, or human trafficker that wants to come in? These insane ideas don’t work and they never have.
When will they ever learn?
AUDIO: Random Samplings of a Logical Mind
The Kingston Trio recorded one of the many versions of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” (Fair use)
America is in a circular Groundhog Day that we ought to avoid, but can’t seem to.
In the song, Seeger is doing what all good leftist folksingers do: he’s using music to protest war, but he actually makes a good point with some help from additional verses added by musicologist Joe Hickerson. It goes like this:
- The flowers are gone because young girls picked them.
- The young girls have gone to marry young men.
- The husbands have been drafted as soldiers and gone to war.
- The soldiers, having been killed in war, are gone to graveyards.
- The graveyards have then been covered with flowers.
- The flowers are picked by young girls – the widows of the soldiers.
It’s rinse and repeat and it never stops.
Video: A little dose of Pete Seeger, and his famous song.
It happens in government at every level, particularly in left-wing cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Austin.
I think a big part of it is me-too-ism, or the idea that [name your trend] is currently popular with left-wing ideologues. Here are some examples from the four years of the lamentable Joe Biden administration:
Under Biden, it became trendy to coddle enemies and disparage your allies. So, Biden helped Iran get back on its feet after Trump brought the terrorist nation to its knees. Biden also spewed hatred at America’s top ally in the Middle East – Israel – constantly demanding ceasefires while Prime Minister Netanyahu was doing the hard job of rooting out Hamas and Hezbollah. Biden had already caused one war in Ukraine, and his idiotic policies led to a second one in Gaza. Meanwhile, U.S. Armed Forces under Biden, became increasingly woke, and less of a threat to our enemies
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Under Biden, spending money had no limits. The coronavirus pandemic provided a great excuse to spend, so Biden did. From Build Back Better to the Inflation Reduction Act, to sending billions to Ukraine to fight Russia, the outgo of cash never stopped. The National Debt soared to $36,000,000,000,000 and, predictably, inflation took hold. This happened under presidents Carter and Ford, but no lessons were learned by Democrats.
Under Biden, the border was opened, and people died from the policy – notably a University of Georgia nursing student named Laken Riley. She became the poster victim for ending Biden’s ruinous policy – but he stood by it for virtually all of his hellacious presidency.
Under Biden, it became trendy to change from male to female or vice versa. This is stupid, of course, since no such change is biologically possible, but Biden didn’t care. When a left-wing trend is in blossom, ALL Democrats must abide by it. Biden certainly did and put two unmitigated fruitcakes in his administration: Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of health and Sam Brinton, who walked around with bright red lips and stole luggage at airports, as deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy. No wonder Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson could not define what a woman is.
Video: One of the most notorious clips in U.S. history shows a nominee to the Supreme Court who cannot define “woman.”
Under Biden, it became trendy to allow men, claiming to be women, to participate in women’s sports. Austin’s own Lia Thomas, a Westlake High School product, won an NCAA national championship in women’s swimming. But Lia is an obvious man. [S]he was not “assigned male at birth” as Wikipedia claims. He was simply a male, but under Biden, it didn’t matter. Biden wanted more “protections” for transgendered people — even though men like Thomas were destroying women’s sports. The Democrats for the most part never learned.
Back to our beautiful but insane left-wing cities.
We can name the looniest ones without even thinking: San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Austin.
These cities typically have Soros DA’s that are soft on crime. Some of them allowed Black Lives Matter to riot with little consequence. They defunded their police – and in Los Angeles, they defunded their Fire Department too.
In Austin, expensive bond issues seem always to pass, leading to far higher taxes. The Austin ISD which could have managed its money better and which has seen declining enrollment, simply asked voters to give them more money – and they got it. Voters passed a light-rail boondoggle called Project Connect that later saw a bait-and-switch as the deliverables changed due to mounting costs. Legal efforts to stop the rail line have failed, but the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature may save Austin voters from themselves.
Austin may even outdo San Francisco by putting up a massive bond issue to raise money to save the world from climate change. If they offer the bond issue, history says left-wing Austin voters will flock to the polls to increase their tax burden for zero return on investment. Meanwhile, the cost of buying a home in Austin has reached the upper limits of un-affordability and the city is losing its grip on being one of the nation’s best places to live. With a city council composed of ten liberals and a left-of-center mayor, there’s not much hope of reversing trends. They never learn.
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Austin is also the center of learning in Texas with the flagship University of Texas, of which I am a graduate. Colleges are the epicenter of left-wing trends and lunacies. The well-known libertarian John Stossel exposes them in columns and documentaries, but they never change. Witness the recent campus unrest in support of “Palestine” after Israel had been brutally attacked on October 7th 2023. Centers of learning that never learn.
And in Los Angeles, heads ought to roll in the aftermath of fire that never should have been out of control. It was the loony policies of left-wing politicians that caused the tragedy. They knew what to do, but they didn’t do it. They never learn.
Whether it’s war or spending, or borders, or forest management in California, why is it that the Left cannot learn from the past?
Republicans have similar proclivities, but they’re nothing like the Democrats. Republicans fight amongst themselves, which is a good thing. That’s called debate. Republicans eventually work it out. But if the Left decides that a man can have a baby, then ALL Democrats unite around that idea no matter how stupid it may be.
Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Ed McCurdy all wrote folk songs about how to put an end to war. That’s an admirable thought – if not practical in a dangerous world, made far more dangerous by four years of Joe Biden. But we can learn from prior wars. What did we learn from Vietnam? From Desert Storm? Can we stop wars by the concept of peace through strength, or is Biden’s woke military the way to intimidate our enemies?
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Can Austin stop worldwide climate change by implementing huge tax increases on its citizens? Can Los Angeles stop fires by leaving deadwood in the forests and defunding the Fire Department? Can we better fight crime in our cities by defunding the police? Can we improve the economy by constantly spending and increasing the National Debt? Can we improve race relations by telling black people they are victims? Can we win or avoid wars by making our military more inclusive? If these questions seem silly to you, consider that the political Left in America has implemented every single one of these policies.
When will they ever learn?
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.
Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
“Rules of Ascension,” part of the Stitches trilogy, is all about government making decisions, and that wrong ones might lead to destruction.
