Socialism – The Pull Of The Land

Venezuela Earthquakes — June, 24, 2026

June 26, 2026June 26, 2026 Richard Barnes

Two powerful earthquakes shook northern Venezuela this past Wednesday, causing severe damage and loss of life especially in La Guaira, Caracas, and the surrounding areas. Relatives and friends tell me the tremors were felt as far away as Ciudad Guayana, though no damage was reported there.

Many people are still refusing to return to their homes out of fear.

Churches are in prayer and ready to provide aid. We are grateful for the relief efforts being organized in the United States, El Salvador, and other countries across the Americas, as well as in Qatar. More on these efforts further below.

A terrible earthquake struck Caracas in 1967; it had a magnitude of 6.8 and caused severe damage, resulting in around 300 deaths. This week’s quakes were of far greater magnitude, and the damage, exponential given that Venezuela’s infrastructure has not been modernized in many decades.

We have been able to get confirmation from friends and family in the Ciudad Guayana, El Pao, and Caracas environs that they are well or have been rescued. I am sorry to say that others do not have such encouraging news.

It is difficult to watch, hear, or read about people buried beneath tons of rubble whose voices can still be heard but who, despite many willing hands, cannot be rescued for lack of proper machinery and technology. Not to mention the many cases of children and babies rescued but whose parents and relatives are unknown or lost.

Perhaps more difficult is to once again be reminded of the absolute pitilessness of atheistic Communism / Socialism.

The last two or three generations of American schoolchildren have no idea of the evil, wicked nature of atheistic systems of government, especially those spawned in modern times since the French Revolution. For example, see Bands of Robbers II for a quick summary of the deleterious impact of forsaking and even denouncing our rich Christian heritage, which is what our betters, meaning our educators and lecturers, have been busy doing for over a century now.

How does this solipsistic philosophy — for it is concerned not for the well-being of others, but rather for oneself and power and control over others, even to the point of death — manifest itself in a calamity such as has befallen Venezuela this week?

We are seeing and hearing reports from reputable sources that the Venezuelan dictatorship has been closing donation centers and demanding that such have “official authorization” from the Communist government. Without such authorization from the Communists, the people of Venezuela can neither donate nor receive donations.

This is what is to be expected from a hellish ideology that demands total submission to the atheistic state.

Furthermore, we are hearing complaints from various parts of the country indicating that government officials are blocking the entry of trucks and moving equipment that desperate Venezuelan citizens — in great self-sacrifice — are procuring and convoying to the affected zones where are thousands of people, including children, desperate for help and rescue.

Thank the Lord, aid shipments have finally arrived from other countries such as El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States. The positive aspect of this—beyond the assistance itself—is that it will be more difficult for the communist government to obstruct or block this aid, given that the “eyes of the world” are upon them and they do not wish to face further embarrassment.

We must understand that the very countries the communists in power in Venezuela praised most—such as China and Cuba—have not lifted a finger nor offered any assistance. Conversely, the countries that such Venezuelan communism attacked the most—such as the United States, El Salvador, and Colombia—are the ones stepping up with their voices, labor, and equipment.

Finally, we must emphasize that when the “Vargas tragedy” struck in December 1999, the Hugo Chávez communist government refused all aid offered by the United States. Days of rain triggered massive landslides that destroyed or completely buried—or swept out to sea—countless people and entire towns. U.S. aid was rejected because Hugo Chávez—in line with his good friend Fidel Castro—considered maintaining a revolutionary stance more important than saving lives. Many children were handed over to the authorities by desperate parents. What became of them? The question remains unanswered twenty-seven years later.

Furthermore, the housing structures the Chávez/Maduro communist government “built” to replace a mere fraction of what was lost were thrown together haphazardly. And, unsurprisingly, most of them did not withstand this week’s earthquakes.

I hope we have learned enough from the Vargas tragedy to at least focus on truly rescuing the children lost in this week’s earthquakes and not simply trust government agents to take care of them.

Communism is atheism, atheism is a lie, and a lie cannot endure. Nor can it do lasting good to anyone. On the contrary, ever since the Lie in the Garden of Eden, we can rest assured that lies result in death.

Pray for Venezuela.

Image of one of countless structure collapsed during and after this week’s earthquakes in Venezuela.

One of many damaged buildings in La Guaira, Venezuela

Patients evacuated from a heavily damaged hospital in La Guaira (AP)

Mother weeps for two daughters killed in her collapsed apartment in La Guaira (AP)

Aftermath of the “Vargas Tragedy” of December, 1999. The inset is a video grab of a father buried up to his neck who asked the rescuers to leave him there. He held his two daughters’ hands beneath the mud and would not let go. He was finally persuaded to allow himself to be rescued.

Evidence of Fascism, Socialism, and Communism — Hurting Your Own People

November 2, 2024November 2, 2024 Richard Barnes

I was recently asked about the usual definition of fascism placing it as a right-wing phenomenon, as if Hitler were a conservative or right wing politician or orthodox Christian(!).

Unfortunately, that is the “popular” understanding of the term; so if you are conservative or traditionalist in your beliefs you are liable to be identified as a fascist.

Perhaps the best source to consult in this matter is the classic by F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom. In that great work, he makes the obvious observation that the line between fascism and socialism or communism is practically … nil.

The three systems, and their multifarious variants, are undergirded by one constant: total control.

All else is dressing. Communism seeks total control by having the state own all property, or “means of production”; fascism seeks total control by having the state direct or force or threaten all property, or “means of production” to act as directed.

The end result in both cases is the same: totalitarian control of the people and their property. In other words, total control of everything.

In all such cases, Orwell’s definition applies: a boot grinding on our faces forever.

That is the reality.

To attempt to describe fascism as “conservative” or “right wing” is worse than a distraction. It is false and misleading.

Another aspect of totalitarianism — regardless of its provenance — is its complete disregard for the people under its governance.

Totalitarianism — whether fascistic or communistic or socialistic — acts and rules to retain power.

The conservative temper is totally of another world. It acts and rules as an exercise of love. It governs with an inchoate understanding that we are responsible not only for those living today, but for those who have gone before us — who have bequeathed us a wonderful heritage — and for those who are yet unborn — who will carry on on our behalf long after we are gone.

Conservative temperament sees our time on this earth as a trust. A responsibility to not only preserve what we have inherited, but to improve upon it and to pass it on to our descendants after us.

It is a disinterested temperament — it cares more for those to come in the future than it does for “me”.

So when we learn of the former self-described socialist president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, commanding his loyalists to block Bolivia’s major roads, starving out the populace, in order to prevent his arrest on charges of pedophilia, we should not care whether he is a leftwing or a rightwing maniac.

What we should understand is that he is determined to return to power.

And when we read that the self-described socialist president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is providing the vehicles to ensure those road blockages, we should readily understand that Mr. Maduro is also a man consumed with retaining power. Whether he is a “socialist” or a “fascist” is irrelevant.

He and Morales are totalitarians.

And the totalitarian temper is not limited by forms of governing. It is found in monarchies, dictatorships, democracies, republics, fill-in-the-blank.

In all such cases, the attitude is: the people be damned.

Both Bolivia and Venezuela are suffering greatly. But this does not concern the powerful in those countries.

Their concern is to retain power.

So the blockades have caused over $1.3 Billion in damages to the economy of Bolivia plus untold deaths and wounded by the violence of the Morales thugs. All the while Venezuela’s ruling elite focuses on assisting an ally more than on liberty for her own people.

So, instead of asking whether a politician or a pundit is right wing or left wing or fascist or socialist or communist, a better question or analysis is: does that person promote or pursue more liberty for the people or does he or she promote more regulations and controls.

That is the litmus test: liberty or tyranny.

Ah. One more thing: an irreligious people cannot govern itself. Therefore, such a people will confuse “more liberty” with “more libertinage”, which always results in more tyranny.

Pray for the people of Venezuela. And Bolivia.

At a wholesale market in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, farmer Damaris Masias watches through tears as 10 tonnes of tomatoes that she spent over a week trying to get through roadblocks are tossed into a bin (Barron’s)

Converting The Catastrophe Of The Revolution

May 31, 2023May 31, 2023 Richard Barnes

[The left-wing Republicans] managed to convert the catastrophe of the [French] Revolution into a stirring and soft-focused myth, largely by downplaying, editing out, or explaining away its most sanguinary ‘episodes’, like the Terror, as deviations from the noble idea, a process in which the great historians of the Republic, some of whom achieved high office, were thoroughly collusive, and which has obvious echoes of subsequent events in Russia, although there, historians tended to be shot” — Michael Burleigh, Earthly Powers, p. 339 [emphasis mine].

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote, “To destroy a people, you must first destroy her roots.” This observation has multiple applications of which two are primary.

One application is to a country, such as The United States, where for more than a century now, her media and academia have utterly distorted her colonial and early Republic history. The effect of this has been to rear generations who have been taught not only to not know, let alone understand, but to actually hate their country for her racist, repressive, and utterly corrupt colonial past and founding. In effect, there was nothing good in our past and to “progress” we must “burn it down”, cast it aside, and start over. These generations not only despise their fathers, they refuse to listen to anyone with the temerity to show them, even from primary sources, that they have been taught bunk.

Another application is to apply it to a country, such as Venezuela (and much of South America) where for more than two centuries, her media and academia have utterly distorted her colonial [Spanish] history and mythologized and glorified her recent history, inaugurated by the godlike Simón Bolívar, who “liberated” her and initiated the birth of true liberty and civilization. The effect of this has been to rear generations who have been taught to not only scorn, let alone understand, but to hate their colonial past and to believe that all civilization began in the modern era. These are generations who ignore what even Bolívar admitted as he neared death, that centuries of civilization had been wiped out by his revolutions.

Both applications are nefarious and will surely precipitate utter ruin unless arrested. In the first case, they lead to a refusal to defend one’s people and home; in the second, they inspire a false valuation of one’s recent history. In both cases, they result in a headlong rush into ruinous policies and actions.

And, in both cases, an insufferable arrogance is birthed and encouraged: Job would say to them, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.”

Dishonest historians and media are nothing new. Solzhenitsyn told about American correspondents who visited Moscow and reported back to America how the Russian people were filled with unspeakable joy and gratitude for Soviet Communism, this in the face of millions dying from hunger and torture in the Gulag network of concentration camps and prisons. Not to mention the dishonest and debunked “reporting” by such as Walter Duranty who lied with a straight face about the forced famines in Soviet Ukraine. He “won” the Pulitzer prize for his grim fairy tales and to this day, that honor has yet to be denounced, let alone recalled, by The New York Times.

Examples can be easily multiplied.

Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

We do not need the media or historians to show us the very real, life-killing, tyrannical fruits of Communism and Socialism, by whatever names they may be called in any given era. Just a few observations here and there will suffice, assuming we are willing to see and listen. For example, we now have, in the United States, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of emigres who escaped the chains and gulags of Asian and Eastern European tyrannies. Many of them have been raising their voices and sounding the alarm, most acutely over the last three years. Sure, they are dismissed, ignored, or mocked by the bien-pensants who write from their ivory towers in commerce and academia and who despise the men and women who do the work and pay the taxes and actually love their country and her history.

But we ought not dismiss them, for in warning us, they reach back to the horrible truths of their past, and point to what our future will be if we do not change course, beginning with the very real, religious Foundation of liberty.

As for the “noble idea”, their pasts and our future are not “deviations” from it, but rather are intrinsic to it.

For it is by no means a “noble idea”, but rather an ancient, demonic one, as is attested by millions of voices crying from their blood-soaked graves.

Although this study covers religion and politics from the French Revolution to the Great War, it demonstrates, once again, that there is nothing new under the sun

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) warned the west, as he observed her unwillingness to defend her heritage, her love of materialism, ease, and pleasure, and her blindness to the same systems of philosophy and government that created the Soviet Gulag Archipelago, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, and more.

Seeds Planted

December 10, 2022December 10, 2022 Richard Barnes

(Note: This post largely extracts a letter I wrote 22 years ago, which is even more relevant today)

We’ve heard it said that seeds planted in a given century come to fruition in the next. If so, it may be helpful to look at 19th century seeds which gave the 20th and the 21st (so far) centuries a harvest of depravity unknown to the first 1,800 years of the Christian calendar.

We begin (without seeking to offend our neo-Darwinian friends) with Darwin’s (1809-1882) On the Origin of Species, which purported to explain why some “races” are superior to others (this purpose, actually in its original subtitle, is rarely mentioned today, and new editions omit it. The full title is: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle For Life).

The book was published in 1859; its first 1,250 copies sold out overnight. It was not the common folks, but rather the intellectual elite, which bought it out and began to apply it, for it gave a patina of scientific support (emphasis on patina) to the ancient desire to divorce oneself from the claims of a Creator. Claims seen in political documents until then, such as the Declaration of Independence, which presupposed that we are created men and women with God-given (inalienable) rights. (The authors of the declaration knew pagan history; they knew the pagan idea of the eternity of matter and ascending circles of existence. This preceded Darwin by millennia. Yet, though knowing this, the Founding Fathers rejected it. They knew that inalienable rights could not be grounded on a la-la theory.)

Another 19th century seed, Karl Marx (1818-1883), first dedicated Das Kapital to Charles Darwin, who, in a rare fit of prudence, declined the honor. Darwin could never fully shake off his Christian heritage. His doubts pursued him to the grave. That was not the case with Marx. For more on this monster, known for “howling gigantic curses”, we would recommend Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals. For our purposes, suffice it to say that this seed reaped a more overt harvest than Darwin and Nietzsche (see below). Darwin and Nietzsche’s harvests are obvious to anyone who pauses but a moment. But to see Marx’s harvest doesn’t require a pause; it merely requires that one be sentient. His assertion that man is a mere economic animal fits nicely, as intended, with Darwin’s theory. In both, man is declared to be an animal.

The third seed, Frederick Nietzsche (1844-1900), whose most famous work was Thus Spake Zarathustra, was grossly antichristian. His most salient ideas were a despising of the weak, the mediocre, and the altruistic. He exalted war and chaos as a stimulus for energy and the triumphant life. He was hostile to Christian morality. To him, each individual — not a transcendent Creator — defines his or her identity, not to mention morality. But he did preach a morality of the lords and a morality of the slaves. The former, a superior morality, is characterized by power and dominion; the latter, a weak morality, is characterized by compassion, humility, and patience. He died a madman.

We hardly need to comment on the 20th century harvest from these seeds. The thoughtful reader will recognize how the above philosophies prevail in today’s political and corporate life. As illustration, we will simply summarize that harvest in terms of a basic rule: the good tends to life; the evil tends to death. Clearly the harvest of the 20th century has tended to death. And the progress so far of the 21st has not abated that tendency much.

The following statistics are conservative estimates. More data continues to become available which reflects numbers far higher than these (for example, The Black Book of Communism, Mao: The Unknown Story, Hungry Ghosts, etc.). Nonetheless, the data below will suffice for our purposes. It declares the 20th century tale of deaths caused by deliberate state policy:

95.2 million deaths; 477 per 10,000 population — Communist states (international socialism)

20.3 million deaths; 495 per 10,000 population — Fascist states (national socialism)

3.1 million deaths; 48 per 10,000 population — Partially free

8 million deaths; 22 per 10,000 population — Free

The above figures exclude the 60 million estimated deaths caused by abortions since 1973 in the United States and their territories; the 35.7 million estimated deaths caused by 20th century wars; and the 15 million deaths caused by the state-sponsored Ukraine famine of the early 1930s. Be reminded: the first two state systems in the list above are/were atheistic, antichristian systems, whose first order of business was to suppress the Bible and the Christians. This is well documented and overt, but hardly ever stated in polite company. If the Spanish Inquisition of a few centuries back deserves censure, then surely the regimes alluded to above deserve opprobrium. But the public elite has never been known for consistency … or honesty.

The biggest characters (using that term deliberately) associated with the statistics above, were ALL disciples of the ideas of Darwin, Marx, and Nietzsche.

Is there cause for optimism in the 21st century? Well, if evil seeds can be expected to germinate in subsequent centuries, then surely good seeds will do the same. On that basis, we can be cautiously optimistic, although the harvest may be more fully enjoyed by our children and grandchildren. We’ll mention only one such seed, but a most critical one: the great shift in education from a state sponsored function back to a father and mother duty.

This tectonic redirection was clearly seen in the latter part of the 20th century but was accelerated after the draconian measures imposed by most — though thankfully not all — “First World” governments since early 2020. These mandates — very few were formally passed into law by legitimate legislatures — ironically exposed the philosophies pushed by state education systems to horrified parents who promptly removed their children from government schools and either began to educate them at home or, at great financial sacrifice, in private religious schools.

This is a consequential shift back to first principles. We are already seeing some impact in that major universities are actively seeking home-educated children or at least those whose education has been closely overseen by their parents. In sharp contrast to the Zeitgeist since the mid-19th century, the late 20th and early 21st centuries mindset of many is that the child is on loan to the father and mother by God. And it is the family’s duty, not the state’s, to educate him or her. We are convinced this shift tends to life and, therefore, will result in a more compassionate and a more life-supporting and life-affirming 21st and 22nd centuries. May our children and grandchildren see that day!

Declaration of Independence, original (“engrossed copy”) on display in the National Archives

Charles Darwin, 1809-1882

Karl Marx, 1818-1883

Frederick Nietzsche, 1844-1900

Darien Gap

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 Richard Barnes

This year (2022), between January and July, the Organization of American States (OAS) estimates that more than 45,000 Venezuelans have crossed the Darien Gap. As opposed to immigrants from other countries (Haiti, Uzbekistan, Central American nations, and more) the US Department of State has imposed visa requirements on Venezuelans that are practically impossible for most to meet. We have also pressured other countries in Central America to do likewise, the latest one to fall in line being Costa Rica. In March, as reported by The Washington Examiner, Mexico “has successfully put a stop to the trend of Venezuelans flying into its airports and then [going] to the United States after more than 100,000 were stopped at the border since last summer.”

What this means is that Venezuelans who survive the jungles, seas, and rivers just to get to the Darien Gap where they then cross a trackless wall of jungle 70 miles wide, are under the added pressures of bureaucracies who are determined to keep them from arriving and entering the United States.

Over 6.8 MILLION Venezuelans have emigrated from the Socialist Paradise, most finding refuge in Colombia, Peru, and Chile. But hundreds of thousands have headed elsewhere, including the United States, despite the almost insurmountable odds. The number of Venezuelan refugees exceed their Syrian and Ukrainian counterparts who are fleeing the devastation of wars in their homelands.

Venezuelans are fleeing another type of war: a war against man in the image of God. That is a war that never ends ends well: over 150 million deaths by Stalin, Mao, Ho, Pol Pot, Castro, and more in the 20th Century alone [see The Black Book of Communism]. (And that is in addition to the millions of deaths in the two world wars and all the hot wars such as Korea, Vietnam, and more.)

And so they, and others, seek to shorten their crossing of the Darien Gap by getting to Necocli on the eastern Colombian shores of the Gulf of Uraba. There they seek and pay unknown coyotes to cross the gulf to Acandi, on the western shores of the gulf. And there they either acquire the services of “guides” or other coyotes to cross the Gap, or just strike out on their own into the forbidding jungles.

It is a most frightfully hazardous crossing whose fatalities can only be guessed at. Besides treacherous rapids and muddy mountain sides and cliffs the refugees are easy prey to criminal gangs and cartels as well as poisonous snakes and other beasts. It is estimated that nine Venezuelans per hour cross the Gap, with at least 15 Venezuelans reported to have died trying to cross, in 2022 alone. Despite widespread reports of women and children being victims of rape and murder, they keep trying. Many have not lived to tell the tale.

Following are some of the tales of horror:

In January of this year, “María” [true name withheld] and other women, including a 13-year-old girl, were raped by seven men who then yelled, “Run, go! Else we will shoot you in the back!”

“María” and her companions did make it to Panama. The following bullets tell of just a few who did not.

Marine Carolina Castellano Suárez, 26 years old, was with her husband and minor son when she was swept away by the currents of a swift river. She was killed when her head struck a rock.

In March, Andreína Chiquinquirá Acosta who journeyed with her young son, fell utterly exhausted and died despite the efforts of her fellow refugees to revive her.

Merimar Paola Gómez Díaz successfully crossed the Darien Gap after walking for thirteen days, but was felled by cardiac arrest upon arriving at Bajo Chiquito in Panama. She was with her husband, three children, and mother.

In April Giovanni Prado died of a heart attack in the Darien jungles. His body was at a three hour distance from the nearest village; his daughter begged for help to recover his remains.

In June, Wilmer Monterola died in the Darien jungle after languishing there for 15 days with a broken leg, unable to move.

Anhelo José Montilla Godoy, 26, died on June 9, having reached refuge in San Vicente, Panama, but suffering cardiac arrest shortly thereafter.

In July, Luz Asleidys Steile Arguelles and her minor daughter, Lusied Antonella Chirinos Steile drowned in rapids as they sought to cross. Their relatives confirmed the deaths upon viewing a video of the bodies.

Freddy Alejandro Lira died of exhaustion in the Darien Gap in July: a reporter shared a video of Mr. Lira seated on the jungle ground in critical condition shortly before his death.

Luis Leonardo Cardozo Montilla, 34, was seeking to go to Utah where he had relatives. He did not make it across the Gap; he died in July.

José Gerardo Díaz died in July after being struck by a poisonous snake.

Daniel Rodríguez, after fruitlessly seeking to come legally to see his son, finally decided to come through the jungles. He was felled by a cardiac arrest in July as he sought to make it through the Darien jungles.

“Gabriel” [name withheld to protect friends and family still in Venezuela] who traversed the journey with his wife, two young children, and a cousin, did make it. He had gathered $8,000 over many months and by the time they arrived at the Rio Bravo, which they crossed illegally, they had used every penny. They turned themselves in and are now in Texas with legal status, working hard, and grateful to Americans. “I do not recommend crossing the Darien; it is a hell on earth. But I have no regrets. I am here and my wife and children are with me. I could never leave them behind. You leave with what is necessary and by the time you arrive, you have nothing. But you have your life.”

An educated guess for this state of affairs where the world’s migrants are incentivized to come in illegally, but not Venezuelans, is that Venezuelans know what Socialism — with or without a human face — actually does to a country and its people. We can’t have that, can we.

This state of affairs has discouraged my compratiotas, but it has not deterred them.