bubosquared | (no subject)

Hm. I may not be the best person to ask, because I tend to have socialist leanings in my political philosophies, but I do think there's still a sense that "Communism is evil!" in the general public. I don't think it's really that rabid, really...I think it's much more of an insidious kind of thing...it's a lot more in the subconscious than it is in the forefront.

At least from what I've seen.

I think it depends on where in the country you are... it's not as intense as back in the 60's, and if you're in a college town, unless the college is like, Brigham Young University, then there's a lot of Communist and Socialist idealists... "Socialist" is one of the parties you can choose for your affiliation when you register to vote, at least in Oregon.

It is not uncommon for someone to shout "You Communist!" at someone who says something they don't like. Now, this is much in the same way that someone would shout "You psycho!", and I'm fairly certain that most people who say it don't actually associate it with actually communistic (word?) ideas, but. Still, the negative sentiment is there.

Like Sorcha said, it depends on where you live. Although it's still in the subconscious of just about every one, especially those of us who grew up during the Cold-War era (and more especially the baby boomers who grew up under McCarthyism).

People are pretty tolerant of Socialist and Communist ideas, as least the people I know. Then again, I live in the ivory tower of academia. :)

Oh, it's rabid alright. Just look at the civil rights era...any effort to obtain human and civil rights was considered communist. Still is in many cases.

Oh, not as bad as it used to be. There is still the mindset of 'Communism = Bad' (which I actually agree with because the human species is too imperfect to be able to handle it, so it's really the human factor not the credo). But, it's not rabid anymore, not in the general populace. Oh, you still have the ocassional moron, but that's like KKK and stuff. It'll never go away completely. ¬_¬

I won't go as far to say that Communism is inherently evil or anything, but I am strongly anti-Communism because not only is it simply a failed system, it completely throws liberty out the door for the sake of the "unfortunate." Communism does nothing but create a static economy with absolutely no driving innovative force, which ultimately fails, whereas Capitalism (true Capitalism, not the crap thats going on in Russia) is literally the only system by which people are free to live their lives, without becoming financial slaves to others.

http://www.moraldefense.com

(deleted comment)

Well, to fully answer your question would take pages. I'll be as consise and complete as I can though.

The definition of something which fails is pretty simple -- something which performs ineffeciently and inadequately and is largely unsuccessful. I'd say thats pretty standard and is something we both can agree on.

Socialism and communism are failed systems because (not only have they proven themselves as so) their foundation lies in the use of government coercion to force one class of people to be the financial slaves of another class. This restricts the individual liberty of the "fortunate" class, making them nothing more than beasts of burden, pandering to the every need of the "unfortunate." Eventually, the beasts grow weary of pulling the cart for society and eventually the entire system collapses under its own bloated self.

In terms of the economy, communist systems utterly fail because they restrict competition and rely on government (who operates by force, no persuasion) to run industry. In order to provide the jobs that everyone "deserves," government has to assign workers a task in which they have no comparative advantage. This lack of skill in each area calls for more workers than necessary in order to compensate for everyone. Not only does industry then produce goods based on government regulations, it does so in an incredibly inefficient manner. As people from and around the Soviet Union when it was intact can tell you, the majority of the Soviet produced goods were complete and utter crap, because the cost of producing them was so high.

Morally, socialism and communism are even more miserable than their political and economic counterparts. A socialist government uses its iron fist of coercion to take the earned wages of a particular class of people against their will (i.e. theft) to fund all sorts of political pet projects. An ordinary citizen uses force to extract money from another citizen and its stealing; the government uses force to extract money from a citizen and its called compassion. This is melarchy, pure and simple.

Part 2 (exceeded char max on first comment)

Now Capitalism, on the other hand, leaves people to support themselves. It doesn't call for one class to play parent for another class and doesnt call for government to contradict its original pledge to defend its people by stealing from them. Rather everyones successes or failures are determined solely by the choices they make. Some may start out at a higher economic status than others (because their parents worked hard to achieve what they have), but this only makes it more difficult for those on the lower end to achieve, but does not make it impossible. They simply have to work harder. Their life is still in their own hands, and they will succeed or fail based on this. That's one of the fundamental concepts of freedom. Being free doesn't mean you're owed any particular standard of living -- rather it means you are free to pursue your own goals and free to achieve whatever success you are able, and in doing so accept the risk that you are also free to fail. And if you truly cannot compete and must live off the dole of others, then you have the option to seek out the help of private charaties or individuals -- it by no means gives you the right to use the heavy hand of government to strongarm food and clothes from your neighbor. In leaving everyone to tend to their own, free from the governments initiation of force, everyone is free to pursue their own greed. Yes, greed. Greed is what it responsible for everything you use. Your car, your stereo, your computer, your hairbrush, your food, everything. Greed drive man to compete, and to create a product which is superior to that of his competitors in order to generate profit and therefore better his own standing. This drive to produce the highest quality products at the lowest possible cost in order to best his competition is something that a government appointed monopoly on industry can never obtain, and is the reason why government fails at everything it touches. There is simply no legitimate reason for results. If government misuses money, they can always just raise taxes to compensate. If a business misuses money, they face bankruptcy.

And just so you know, the US isn't truly capitalist. Capitalism is often defined as "government giving industry favors." Its far from it. True Capitalism is industry FREE from government, and is the only political/economic system in which not only provides for the ultimate level of freedom attainable, it is also the most morally, economically, and politically efficient system to date.

actually, something my mother and i were discussing was this. it started around the fact that i commented that in movies, all of the aliens are communists. the aliens being enemies, this is portrayed negatively, but the aliens are also portrayed as being much more smarter and advanced. so, one wonders, is it a mindfuck, or are movie makers not realizing the paradox/contradiction [depending on how you look at it] that theyre creating?