<p>Ieng Thirith, sister-in-law to Cambodian dictator Pol Pot and a ;leader of the communist Khmer Rouge, died Saturday.  ;She was one of the few women behind the horrors of the &#8220;killing fields&#8221; era in Cambodia. Her victims never saw her face a trial for her heinous crimes, she was judged incompetent and released in 2012 after being diagnosed with progressive dementia.</p>
<p>Overall the Khmer Rouge killed over 2 million people through starvation, forced labor and execution, roughly a quarter of the population of Cambodia (1960&#8217;s through 1997).  ;The intent was to create an &#8220;agrarian utopia&#8221; in the socialist/communist tradition.</p>
<p><strong>Author&#8217;s note:</strong>  ;Our purpose for writing this is to show the folly of socialism and communism as a poltical-economic means of government.  ;The commonality is shown though history, Lenin killed about six million people, Stalin killed 30 million people, Mao killed 25 million people, all in an effort to force a population into a socialist/communist mold that was not compatible with human nature.  ;In every case, it has failed, human nature will not be denied.</p>
<p>I find it ludicrous that Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, is gaining ground based on political-economic proposals shown to not work over and over again. And it&#8217;s not just the uninformed who support him. ;Can we please get democracy and free enterprise added back to our education system so we don&#8217;t fall into this trap?</p>
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