"When Edith Murray [his black maid] first sat down to table
with us--and we were the first white people who has ever asked her to sit at the
same table with them--she showed fear, then embarrassment. I will not presume to
say what her final feeling was. In any case, what we had to give her was not a
place at our table. What we had to give her was something that belonged to her
by right, but which had been taken from her, and which we were merely giving
back. It was her human dignity. Thus, by insisting on acting as Communists
must, we found ourselves acting as Christians should."

-Whittaker Chambers,
Witness

With those poignant words, Whittaker Chambers proffered the
best explanation of the socialist impulse--what motivates otherwise intelligent
and well-meaning people to fall in lust with radical and dehumanizing ideologies.
It is, simultaneously, Utopian hopefulness for the future coupled with profound
disillusionment with the present. At its root, though, it is something more raw,
more immediate: the human impulse to be repelled by hypocrisy and cruelty.

If you've ever read the autobiographical Witness, you know
that the book is full of profound insights into human nature, both individually
and collectively. If you haven't ... I urge you to pick it up today (as well as
the definitive collection of Chambers' other writings, Ghosts on the Roof).
Alongside his deep pessimism about mankind's future Chambers presents an uplifting
vision of what we can, and should, achieve.

All of this is prelude to pointing attention toward a
project that is worthy of your support. Liberty Island Contributing Editor Mark
Judge is working on a screenplay of Chambers' life. If you're not familiar, it's
a true-life story worthy of an epic spy novel. We can't think of anyone better
than Mark, who has a terrific visual and literary sensibility, to bring this
project to life. Chambers is someone the younger generation should study if
they are to understand the mistakes we made in the past so we don't once again
fall prey to the temptations of radical socialism.

If you're able, please support Mark's Kickstarter campaign
here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1818359616/whittaker-chambers-screenplay