Communism Sucks

Competing Views: Conservative vs. Liberal

In order for a society to work, it is necessary for its citizens contribute to that society in the form of taxation.  How would we maintain a military, or build and repair roads without taxation?  How would we pay our teachers, fireman, and police without taxes? So taxes are a must.

There are, however, two competing philosophies as to the extent of taxation the citizenry must endure.

On the one hand, conservatives favor limited government and believe that our earnings are our own property; and that government should get as little as possible and only then to do that which is absolutely necessary and no more.  It is the conservative view that our earnings are rightfully ours, and that government has no right to take more than absolutely necessary.  You will find conservatives – Republicans – adamantly opposed to systems such as Marxism, Socialism, and Communism that require the majority of one’s income be handed over via taxation for the benefit of the collective.

Republicans see no shame whatsoever in the individual doing as he or she sees fit with his or her own money. If people want to donate money to some cause that helps the poor, that’s their business; if not, that too is their business; and its no one’s place to judge those who choose not to. Charitable contributions should be the individual’s choice.

Liberals, on the other hand, believe in a much more extensive government that has unlimited reach.  They believe that the vast majority of one’s earnings should be turned over to and spent by government officials as they see fit.  It is the liberal view that government – or the collective – has an absolute right to citizens’ earnings in the name of advancing common causes. Individuals, according to the left, have a moral obligation to look out for the rest of the collective by contributing most of their income in the form of taxes to fund endless programs designed to benefit society.  You will find that liberals – Democrats – are sympathetic to systems such as Marxism, Socialism, and Communism.  Indeed, if you were to check the voting records of all members of the CPUSA (Communist Party USA), you would find that they vote exclusively for Democrats. (Sure, there are some CPUSA members who vote for the Communist candidate, but they realize their candidate hasn’t a chance in hell of winning; so they vote for the Democrat.) The CPUSA actually endorsed Barrack Hussein Obama for president in 2008.

Democrats believe citizens have a moral obligation to help those less fortunate; and if we are not willing to do so, then its the moral obligation of government to step in and take money from those who are not less fortunate (i.e. the middle and upper classes) in the form of taxes to pay for causes that help the poor. Sure, charitable contributions should be an individual’s choice; but if the individual chooses not to voluntarily help the impoverished, then charitable contributions should be taken by force via the IRS – this is the liberal point of view; and it is more commonly referred to (not by liberals of course: they’re too cowardly to admit to it) as “redistribution of wealth.”

Democrats believe that there is an invariable amount of wealth.  That is, there is a fixed amount of wealth out there and no more; and that each citizen is entitled to no more and no less an equal share of that wealth.  It is all too common to hear Democrats, when discussing wealthy people, say something like, “Well, it doesn’t take a million dollars to live on, so the wealthy should be willing to give up a larger portion of their income so that others may have more.” Bob Beckel on FOX News’ “The Five” recently stated, “Its justice” in regard to the idea of progressive taxation (which is making the rich pay more just because they can).  Yep, libs don’t like the fact that the rich are rich, and they are determined to make them pay up.

Since the reality of life is that there are people who have more than their fair share, and there are those who have less than their fair share, Democrats take the stance that this is unfair and has to be corrected.  Regardless of ability, intelligence, effort, or circumstances, the liberal left believes in equal results.  They believe they must fight to change the system to insure equal outcomes, and they have concocted two names to describe what it is they are fighting for: “social justice” and “economic equality”.

Flawed Communist and Collectivist Philosophy

It is upon the beliefs of the liberal Democrat that Communism is founded. It is the underlying philosophy of Communism that the individual does not exist for his own benefit.  The purpose of the individual is to participate in the betterment of the COMMUNity or the collective.  Accordingly, the welfare of the collective is the main concern, which means that individual rights must be curtailed if necessary for the sake of the common good.

But isn’t everyone working together for the common good, for a society in which there are no poor and no rich actually a good thing?  I mean, that sounds great doesn’t it?  Just think of what a wonderful, grand utopia we would live in if the goal of all citizens was the good of everyone.  Isn’t that how it should be?  Why would anyone be opposed to that? Doesn’t Communism sound like the cure for all of society’s ills?

Wrong.  Communism is not great.  There never has been, is not now, and never will be anything good about Communism for two main reasons:

First of all, the idea that people are that altruistic by nature and will voluntarily go along with giving up the vast majority of their income for the good of others is a fantasy.  That is not how people are; that is not human nature.  People are selfish by nature, and I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing.  For me to want to take care of myself and my own family first as opposed to taking care of the family down the street is not evil.  Its actually the smart thing to do. Of course, others who have given up their own interests for the welfare of others are to be commended; but those who haven’t shouldn’t be condemned and called selfish either.

In order for this Communist fantasy of all people working together for the good of all people to become reality, force is required.  The Soviet Union had a secret police unit called the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Gezopasnosti (KGB) which specialized in implementing this force.  The purpose of the KGB (translated “Committee for State Security” in English) was to eliminate opposition to the schemes of the Communist Party in the USSR.  The KGB imprisoned, tortured, and killed the citizens of the Soviet Union who refused to cooperate with the interests of the collective.  The same things happened in Vietnam, China, Cuba, and North Korea.  In Communist nations, opposition is dealt with by whatever means necessary.

Millions of people have been put to death in the name of Communism:

1. Stalin (Russia/USSR, 1932-39): 23,000,000
2. Ho Chi Min (Vietnam, 1953-56): 200,000
3. Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79): 1,700,000
4. Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50): 49-78,000,000
5. Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94): 1,600,000
6. Fidel Castro (Cuba, 1959-1999): 30,000
7. Vladimir Ilich Lenin (USSR, 1917-20): 30,000

Source: 1900-2000: A century of genocides by Piero Scaruffi

Interestingly, Barrack Hussein Obama, before his election in 2008 stated that we needed a KGB-type force in this nation. Obama advocated “a civilian police to match the size and power of our armed forces.”  More recently, Obama proposed enlarging the U.S. Marshal’s Service into a “stability police.”  What exactly did he mean by those comments and what was his ultimate goal?

So basically in a Communist nation, the individual becomes nothing more than a slave to the collective with no purpose in life other than to sustain and advance the collective.  The individual becomes degraded and objectified.  People don’t like being degraded and objectified; they don’t necessarily like being tortured and killed either.  Eventually, the citizens will rise up against this treatment and the government will be overthrown. So much for the utopia.

The second reason that Communism is bad is because it simply doesn’t work.  By his own admission, mass murderer Fidel Castro, who led the Communist revolution in Cuba, stated after decades of Communist rule in Cuba the following: “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore”.  The truth is that it never worked.

By making all people equal, by depriving reward for hard work, by rewarding laziness and apathy with the mediocre standard of living that is the norm for everyone, motivation and incentive are basically a thing of the past.  If the local pediatrician is going to have the same income level, status, and living standard as the kid who flips burgers at a local restaurant, then why spend all those years and all that effort to become a pediatrician. Hell, just take the easy way out and flip burgers.

“Communism doesn’t work economically because of the fact that the government is in complete control of all production and everyone gets the same no matter how hard they work or how lazy they are.  Thus the incentive to work decreases dramatically.  The country’s wealth goes down, shortages occur, no inventions are produced (as the government would steal them away anyway, leaving no incentive) and the economy eventually collapses.  Just look at the Soviet Union.  Of course the fact that they were a harsh totalitarian dictatorship didn’t help things much with them either.  Eventually China will surely suffer the same fate.  What amazes me is that there are even comunists today, even in the United States!  Though they are, they are few, and communism is dying. Hooray!”

jimmyman as posted on Why Communism doesn’t work…

Communism, Marxism, and Socialism – all systems that advocate a centralized, all-powerful government – are doomed for failure from day one.  They have always been, are now, and will always be bad ideas.

About Professor Twist

I'm just a regular guy who likes to write about that which I find interesting. I am keeping my identity undisclosed because I am a small business owner and am well known in the community I serve.