RIP: Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Age 89

The chronicler of the Soviet gulag archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn died at the age of 89. He died of heart failure according to his son.

I can recall reading his book, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," and reading with anger and furiousness at the capricious nature of the Soviet Union and the Communist apparatchiks. Specifically, I can recall a passage where he talked about writing using nothing more than frozen feces because there was nothing else to use.

Millions were murdered in the slave labor camps scattered throughout the Soviet Union's vast Siberian gulag archipelago. Millions more were broken and left a mere shell of their former selves all because they did not obey the diktats of the Soviets.

I find it entertaining to read about how the New York Times notes that Solzhenitsyn was able to erase lingering sympathy for the Soviets among leftist intellectuals, especially in Europe, given that the Times and the same intellectuals are attempting to pursue hard leftist policies in the name of the greater good.

No greater good can come from government control over all aspects of society and the personal life, and yet that is what is proposed by some, including Obama, Gore, and Pelosi. When one talks about how you must control your carbon emissions and the government will set limits on what you can or cannot eat, it begins the slow slouching toward socialism and no good can come from that.

UPDATE - goofed on the age in the header - fixed.