In a classroom somewhere in the past, a teacher made an imaginary line between one half of the desks and the other. Then, turning those desks to face inward, she asked her students to choose a side to sit on for a class debate: communism vs. capitalism. When I was in school, it was usually divided about 70-30, in favor of communism; the children of liberal parents to one side and the children of conservative parents to the other.

And the conservatives had it easy. The liberal youth would talk about the usual points: “no one needs as much money as Bill Gates, people are starving elsewhere and need food, etc.” And all the conservative youths would have to do was ask, “Just how much history do any of you know?” Then the counter: "That wasn’t real communism." Then the conservatives: “You can’t get to real communism. Human nature prevents it.”

Thus, such an argument at its core is a philosophical one: “Communism is great, if you allow for the disregard of human nature.” It is then countered by pointing squarely at any history book. As much as philosophy should be loved, it is a game for the mind and the comfortable in their universities, while the study of history is a study of what happens with human nature under certain conditions, such as geography, culture, nationalism, education, access to water, and food.

I, as once a conservative youth myself, can attest that conservatives loved to talk about how liberals didn’t study history, and would rather follow their heart and emotions even if it led them off a cliff. Yet, it seems conservatives have forgotten just how many people died before the invention of vaccines. In a report from the CDC titled “Control of Infectious Diseases,” it states that in 1900, one-third of all deaths were from tuberculosis, diarrhea, diphtheria, and pneumonia. Vox reports that 18% of all children died before the age of five from things like measles and diarrhea. A mother could expect just about every fifth child of hers to die in such a horrible way.

Strangely, it’s not just one snag of history that conservatives have forgotten. Growing up, I saw James Bond movies, and Rocky and Rambo 1-3. The Russians were always the bad guys: corrupt to their core and dishonest. The TV series Chernobyl does a fantastic job of showcasing just how morally depraved the Soviet Union was – perhaps born from its effort to save face to show the world “what a great thing communism is!"

President Truman in 1947 said, " The Soviet Government has broken every agreement it has made.” And yet, conservatives seem to imagine Ukraine as the bad guy, or strangely, seem alright with Pete Hesgeth’s pause on offensive cyber operations against Russia. That -might- be a kind action, right? I mean, except He and President Trump just unveiled a change in name from the Department of Defense to the “Department of War,” (a very aggressive statement, counter to any peaceful ‘intentions’ of the US pausing its online spying) and there is no indication that cyber operations have ceased against China or any other country in the world: just Russia.

Somehow, the understanding that Russia does not have a U.S. citizen’s best interest in mind has been lost to the bulk of conservatives. Combined with the sudden mistrust of vaccines, it starts to paint a picture that conservatives have forgotten history.

Furthermore, I recall in conservative circles, back when Obama was President, it seemed to us that liberals deified him, or at least had crowned him a king of sorts. No conservative could fathom how anyone could put such a person on a pedestal: history showed time and time again what sort of thing happens there: Hitler, Stalin, Mao. Yet, people getting tattoos of President Trump’s name on their bodies are all over social media or flying a likewise ostentatious TRUMP flag in their front yard, or hanging it off their car.

During a recent hearing in Congress with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Senator Bernie Sanders pressed Mr. Kennedy’s apparent stance that every single medical institution in the whole of the United States with differing opinions (and medical degrees) was wrong:

“So everyone is corrupt–but you?!”

Please, let me not be the one to defend the medical institutions of the United States, but that exchange seems to be the current conservative view – a view that I explicitly recall them accusing liberals of during President Obama’s tenure. But no longer should conservatives claim to be a party that endorses the study, remembrance, and modern-day application of past events to be applied to the present for a better today and tomorrow. Now that they are in power, it seems they don’t have any need for history.  

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

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