Factoid

I wonder what people would answer if I asked: what has killed more Americans, war or the automobile? The answer is truly astonishing and says a great deal about us as Americans: since 1775, about 1 million people have perished from wars; and an astounding 2.5 million in automobile accidents.*

One of the most astounding aspects of this question and answer if that it took wars 210 years and it took the automobile only 92 years!

Now ask yourself how many people have been killed in the previous century because of despots throughout the world and the answer would be close to 200 million people. The aforementioned figure is an approximate one because it is impossible to know exactly how many people were actually done away with just in the Soviet Union under the Bolsheviks and then Stalin; in China under Mao not to mention numerous countries all around America.

But, more importantly, these figures don't apply to living people. So, how many people do you think live in gross conditions all around the world? I would guess close to 5 billion! For these human beings, nothing has changed in hundreds, possibly thousands of years.

Another question: why does the left in the world believe that the only way to help is to allow a totalitarian government to rule? Why does the left ignore the plight of people in the rest of the world when despots rule?


*Initial question attributed to Marilyn Vos Savant in Parade Magazine published March 4, 2006.