“The more capitalism creates wealth, the more it sows the seeds of its own destruction,” writes David Prychitko on Karl Marx’s theories. “Ultimately, the proletariat will realize that it has the collective power to overthrow the few remaining capitalists and, with them, the whole system.” Think of it as a rosily optimistic Marxian corollary to Charles Darwin. Consider the centuries of properity for the peasantry after the sacking of Rome by Alaric I and the Visigoths in 410 CE.
Modern Visigoths under Trump I, plan to lay waste to Washington, D.C. starting January 20 (and even before). One of his chosen lieutenants, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., suffered cognitive damage after a suspected pork tapeworm larva ate part of his brain during a tour in South Asia. There are medications the World Health Organization recommends for treating neurocysticercosis, and preventative measures. But despite his own experience, Mr. Kennedy eschews many such interventions, including medications and vaccines.
If confirmed as the head of Trump I’s Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy would involuntarily enlist the entire population of the United States in a clinical trial to see what happens if the most advanced country in the world rolls back its medical technology to the 1950s.
As it happens, we have data on what that world looked like. The Wall Street Journal provided a series of heat maps illustrating that in 2015 (the original is interactive):
Perhaps there’s a Darwin Award in it for Mr. Kennedy. If so, many of his neighbors won’t be around to see him receive it.