Don't hope for the best.

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Socialism, as constructed by Marx and Engels, never can work because it holds that, if people live in conditions under which they are truly equal and also free from need and want, they will finally be able to exercise their basic, and primary, inclination to treat all others as they would treat their own self in all others' situation.

To put part of that another way: Keeping any form of government running (which all citizens -- all others -- are constantly engaged in) keeps people from being able to be good to one another. To be fair.

And it is in people's nature to be.

That it, in fact and practice, is not, made socialism the perfect tool for some people who hated humanity and could admit to themselves that all others did too. Marx and Engels created a system so perfect that knowing its fundamental flaw allowed for unimaginable atrocities.

Including a world in which David Brooks writes a column for the New York Times.
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