defeats are arguably more instructive than victories. many factors can lead to either but defeats are final and in the ultimate accounting, we have no true victories yet, only situations that have yet to yield defeat. after all, communism exists no where and fascists victories in the coming decades threaten even what socialism does exist. our first question must be what yields defeat, not what we hope might lead to victory. we only have the data to answer that first question, and even that far from conclusively.