HAB ICH DOCH DAS WORT VERGESSEN!

The things you learn ... the Paul Dukas tone poem and the Fantasia animation thereof featuring Mickey Mouse as the not-quite-Entered Apprentice both build on Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling.

According to The New Neo, in German political writing, Goethe's text influenced more than a few people you might have heard of.  "Goethe’s poem was so famous that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Germans both) referenced it in The Communist Manifesto, 'comparing modern bourgeois society to ‘the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells.''"

More recently, the Democrat establishment might be finding themselves in the same spot.

The message is that we are not wise enough to know what the result of our efforts will ultimately be. When we call forth any powerful forces—inventions, weaponry, politics, laws, theories, artistic creations – they can be used for good or evil and everything in between, and we don’t necessarily have any say in the matter. The same is true if we call forth powerful destructive forces such as mobs, for ends we think we are achieving.

Right now, the “we” is the left (books, the press, the education system, the Democratic Party), and the force that’s been called forth is the Antifa BLM mob. Elected politicians such as a mayor like Ted Wheeler of Portland or Jenny Durkan of Seattle have already glimpsed the army of broomsticks coming towards them to trample them. But this is no cartoon.

Power Line's John Hinderaker has a different metaphor for summoning the destructive forces, "The Democrats sowed the wind, and now they are reaping the whirlwind," which is a less apposite parable with the same caution, namely, be careful what you wish for.

[T]he story is not just about magic. It’s an admonition. And the subject—the theme for which those spells and charms stand as tokens—is the notion of telling falsehoods in public discourse. You may start this process with good intentions, the narrator tells us, but they will quickly overtake you. The lies have a habit of taking on a life of their own, like those dancing brooms. They will in the end work mischief.

Perhaps it's the Noble Lie. Perhaps it's hubris. Perhaps it's overweening confidence in your own persuasive abilities.