On Communism
This is from a post I made on communism in a forum about paintball (of all places): My comment is on page 3.
I agree with some of what others have already said. The greatest weakness of communism is its contrarity(is that a word?) to natural human behavior. We are selfish. Competition breeds activity and innovation. Communism removes the motivation to try to excel. Stagnation is a result.
Also most large scale communal systems have turned into tolitarian dictatorships because human nature still exists and if you become the top dog you tend to set the terms for 'equality'. Some people assume that government by nature is benign. Government is just another organization run by humans with human desires. The result is inherently imperfect and corruptible regardless of whether it is a democracy, replublic, dictatorship, or monarchy.
One personal issue I have with socialist and communist systems is agency and choice of action. I shall use a religious example so if it bugs you just gloss over this paragraph. Christ asked a wealthy man to sell what he had and give to the poor to be saved. The man walked away sad because he loved his riches. Note that Christ gave the man the choice, his riches or his salvation. Christ didn't force the man to give up his wealth. It was the man's choice alone.
Now when someone says we all HAVE to give to the poor and implement laws or regulations to redistribute that wealth, it is not giving me the opportunity to CHOOSE to be generous or compassionate. I lose an opportunity for personal growth. Now if society choses of its own free will to give it is good for all. Mandatory giving produces only bitterness in those forced to give and a sense of entitlement to those who recieve. Neither gratitude on the part of the reciever nor compassion on the part of the giver is encouraged. Nobody grows (shades of my earlier stagnation comment above).
Finally I have found that when those promoting a communist or socialist agenda are happy to feed the poor with somebody else's money. Don't raise THEIR OWN taxes but tax whoever is above you in social status. That is putting on a generous face while still being greedy. What hypocracy. I know many generous people and hope that I myself am sufficiently generous to the less fortunate but I feel that is our own choice as individuals to make, not decided for us.
I agree with some of what others have already said. The greatest weakness of communism is its contrarity(is that a word?) to natural human behavior. We are selfish. Competition breeds activity and innovation. Communism removes the motivation to try to excel. Stagnation is a result.
Also most large scale communal systems have turned into tolitarian dictatorships because human nature still exists and if you become the top dog you tend to set the terms for 'equality'. Some people assume that government by nature is benign. Government is just another organization run by humans with human desires. The result is inherently imperfect and corruptible regardless of whether it is a democracy, replublic, dictatorship, or monarchy.
One personal issue I have with socialist and communist systems is agency and choice of action. I shall use a religious example so if it bugs you just gloss over this paragraph. Christ asked a wealthy man to sell what he had and give to the poor to be saved. The man walked away sad because he loved his riches. Note that Christ gave the man the choice, his riches or his salvation. Christ didn't force the man to give up his wealth. It was the man's choice alone.
Now when someone says we all HAVE to give to the poor and implement laws or regulations to redistribute that wealth, it is not giving me the opportunity to CHOOSE to be generous or compassionate. I lose an opportunity for personal growth. Now if society choses of its own free will to give it is good for all. Mandatory giving produces only bitterness in those forced to give and a sense of entitlement to those who recieve. Neither gratitude on the part of the reciever nor compassion on the part of the giver is encouraged. Nobody grows (shades of my earlier stagnation comment above).
Finally I have found that when those promoting a communist or socialist agenda are happy to feed the poor with somebody else's money. Don't raise THEIR OWN taxes but tax whoever is above you in social status. That is putting on a generous face while still being greedy. What hypocracy. I know many generous people and hope that I myself am sufficiently generous to the less fortunate but I feel that is our own choice as individuals to make, not decided for us.
posted by Talmage at 11:07 AM
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