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historical perspective as an instrument to gauge the potential, even probable, outcome of some of the current and ongoing journeys and quests which a man and/or associations of men and/or mankind as whole is currently undertaking. Unfortunately it has been a longstanding, even antiquitous, observation that if there is anything constant by nature which is to be learned from the lessons which history teaches it is that mankind does NOT learn anything from the lessons of history-sadly...

...it is perhaps for this reason, i.e. that mankind patently fails to learn from the lessons of history, that the journeys and quests of mankind are destined to patently fail-eventually-sooner or later they all fall victim to the vicious patterns of civilization which are cyclical in nature; the rises and the falls of one form or another of society/government/economics which have come upon the scene, burgeoned, flourished, declined, collapsed and disappeared only to appear again later on in the ongoing historical panorama, perhaps under a different label, for yet another season and cycle to springing again into existence yet destined for eventual demise.

With the advantage of a historical perspective one would think that we could recognize those elements which are indicative of say, for example, a course of fascism and be able to accurately forecast the eventual outcome of a journey or quest undertaken according to the precepts of this particular course based on the advantage which a historical perspective affords, as Alexander Tyler recognized within the democracies of the ancient Greek and Roman city-states certain elements and the eventualities to which they almost invariably led. Historical perspective should indeed give us the ability to recognize a particular course and the luxury to even alter this course if and when we recognize and realize that the eventual outcome-which is all but inevitable-will not be a desirable one.

Yet, the subsequent appearance of something which has in the past failed is never recognized as such. It always comes under the guise of something new and by a new nomenclature or under the auspices of the "bugs" having been worked out of it and hence this time around it will work. No one questions the quest while it is being undertaken-the questioning and reservations come only after-the-fact that it has failed to reach its objective.

This is perhaps man kinds greatest curse, that he can imagine perfection but consistently falls short in his attempt to

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