Long-revered radical icon Marx was no role model

Anyone who cares to do some in-depth research on Karl Marx will find out that first and foremost he was a deadbeat dad.

He left his wife and children to fend for themselves while he went gallivanting around Europe, attempting to enthrall the masses with his philosophy of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Marx believed, in other words, that the world owed him a living. He did not work except for being a radical journalist. He did not support his family. He relied on other people who did work to pay for his food, clothes, travel and to put a roof over his head.

It has been speculated that some of his children died of malnutrition. His wife sold all the household furnishings until she and the children lived on the floor. Meanwhile, he was fathering a child by another woman. There is also evidence that he deplored bathing and was a drunkard.

Is this the example we want our school and college kids to embrace? I think not.

There are folks who will say that we must separate the man from his philosophy. The problem is, he lived his philosophy.

David Elledge

Arlington