Rummel then extends the discussion to the more general topic of unlimited power in the hands of any government, with lessons all too applicable to the current "war on terror."

The more power a government has to impose the beliefs of an ideological or religious elite, or decree the whims of a dictator, the more likely human lives and welfare will be sacrificed. As a government's power is more unrestrained, as its power reaches into all corners of culture and society, the more likely it is to kill its own citizens.

As a governing elite has the power to do whatever it wants, whether to satisfy its most personal wishes, or as today's Marxists desire, to pursue what it believes is right and true, it may do so whatever the cost in lives. Here, power is the necessary condition for mass murder. Once an elite has full authority, other causes and conditions can operate to bring about the immediate genocide, terrorism, massacres or whatever killing the members of an elite feel is warranted. But it is power – unchecked, unconstrained, uncontrolled – that is the killer.

Would that the staunch anti-communists of days gone by would take Rummel's comments to heart! Instead they seem perfectly satisfied giving unlimited power to their own government "to impose the beliefs of an ideological or religious elite," with the result that the "governing elite" may pursue its ends "whatever the cost in lives." How many WND readers will shout hearty affirmations of Rummel's column without ever realizing that they are cheering on their own government as it treads the same path blazed by Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot?