by Plantagenet » Wed 29 Aug 2007, 15:30:41
If you are unfamiliar with the historical record of the millions killed by the communists and other totalitarians, then I suggest you check out the scholarly work and books by Prof. R. J. Rummel. He has spent his career documenting the record of state-sponsored murder.
"Rummel is the creator of the term democide: "the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder". He has further stated: "I use the civil definition of murder, where someone can be guilty of murder if they are responsible in a reckless and wanton way for the loss of life, as in incarcerating people in camps where the may soon die of malnutrition, unattended disease, and forced labor, or deporting them into wastelands where they may die rapidly from exposure and disease."
Research by him shows that the death toll from democide is far greater than the death toll from war. After studying over 8,000 reports of government-caused deaths, he estimates that there have been 262 million victims of democide in the last century and that six times as many people have died from at the hands of people working for governments than have died in battle.
He argues that there is a relation between political power and democide. Political mass murder grows increasingly common as political power becomes unconstrained. At the other end of the scale, where power is diffuse, checked, and balanced, political violence is a rarity. "The more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom." He concludes: "Concentrated political power is the most dangerous thing on earth."
--from Wikipedia
Never underestimate the ability of Joe Biden to f#@% things up---Barack Obama
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Keep running between the raindrops.
