The history of the world, on every continent, in every age, until about 1750, was one that promoted slavery, expansion via war or threat thereof, and oppression of the masses. Here and there one may find for a short period of time a place that abandoned slavery, only to reinstall it later. Wars were endless, from Ancient Egypt, to Rome, to Byzantium, to France, Russia, China, Japan, the Zulu’s in South Africa, the Aztecs in Mexico, the Inca’s inSouth America.

That the world woke up to the fact that slavery was wrong had more to do with material progress than a moral awakening. As for the Russian Revolution, Lenin in one year, executed more people than the Romanoff’s in 300. It only got worse from there. A pin prick. Tell that to the twenty million dead from 1917 to 1953, the dead of World War II are not included. The dead in Cambodia amounted to at least 30 percent of the population, not a pin prick. The dead in China from the Great Leap Forward and the Red Guards was also in the tens of millions. Your pin prick comes at a might cost.

In France, Louis lost his head by one vote. A Constitutional Monarchy might have been instituted. Peaceful change was possible, still, at that point. Change is a steady state in life, politics, and the world. Fighting against it is being reactionary. Allowing it to progress in a well mannered fashion is conservative. Trying to guide it along, a fool’s errand, is liberal. Pushing for the starts is radical. Burke was many things, but not a reactionary.

So far Russia, China, Cambodia, still live under dictators. France after a few wars, and enough prosperity did away with her’s. Our present system, a Republic, requires an educated populace, a reverence for law, and a respect for other people. So far we are deficient in all of these. Though that can change.