Communism in the USA

Sure, if enough Americans were convinced of its viability... bear in mind, however, that they've been trying to become prevalent for most of a century and, to the best of my knowledge, haven't succeeded yet...

Huh?
If that photo is for real and you head the movement, you will pobably have a few followers.

Re: Huh?



Nah, hahaha, I'm a dude....but a very good looking and charismatic one.

But I'm not trying to start a communist resistance or anything.

Communism as an ideology has very successfully been vilified in the Western world. Nowhere is this more true than the United States where since George F. Kennan proposed its containment we gradually reached what can only be described as somewhat of a paranoia about communism.

The deep levels of paranoia have had lasting effects. I am no fan of communism but in it's essentially just an ideology. That it represents almost an epithet to most Americans shows how likely it is to become popular any time soon.

In short, I think communism is a flawed ideology but it's got a rep many many times worse than it deserves in the US and will likely not ever reach significant popularity.

Communism is a great way of building a new nation, or of improving an underdeveloped nation. Once this is acheived it becomes less and less useful. The USSR learnt this the hard way, China is trying to avoid the same fate. There is no conceivable way that pure communism would ever gain a serious foothold in the USA or any other developed nation because there are no real advantages to it. Once a nation becomes large and complex enough communism has nothing but problems to offer, (hence the rolling back of many facets of pure communism in China over the last ten years).

The problem with communism is people. If you could take away the people, and use ants, communism works pretty well.

Not much to add here, as I concur with everyone, which is weird. McG brings up a very good point regarding the basic flaw of human nature in Communist ideology. Perhaps Marx overlooked that in the Manifesto as he maintained a full-time maid, even in times of poverty.

I find myself identifying most with Craven's response.

An addition if I may:



After the words "flawed ideology", I would have inserted the parenthetical clause "(just as capitalism is a flawed ideology)."

I have long maintained that capitalism, as practiced in the United States, has looked much better than it should simply because it had the inadequacies and failures of communism with which to compare itself.

I think Communism in its purest form is one of the most noble sounding but patently unworkable systems ever invented.

The problem with any economic or political system seems to occur when you get people involved in the running of the system.

The only way TRUE Communism could work is if the entire planning and distribution system was designed, implemented and maintained by a computer system that didn't allow for outside influences (ie:no humans allowed to reprogram or make changes to the system)

Since the people of the world are unlikely to let a computer run every aspect of their daily lives. (ooops excuse me, my PDA just beeped to tell me its time to take my medication and then call my cousin. )

But seriously, in ANY system, the main problem is always the 'human factor' and always will be until we evolve to the point where personal ambition and greed are not the overriding factors of many peoples existence.

Cute, everyone agrees.


Now, a Cuban joke:

-What is Communism?
-It is the luminous horizon of humankind.
-What is a horizon?
-It is an imaginary line that, as you approach it, gets farther and farther away.

No more than a true Democracy would be possible in America. Both depend on small populations to actually work and it looks like were headed for a disasterous over-population. We are a Republic but we are also a Social Democracy. Anyone with a better suggestion? Both still depend on control of what the forefathers called "the rabble."

Oh....aren't we supposed to do that any more???

Gee, I wonder why...

"It would not matter if 3/4 of the human race perished; the important thing is that the remaining 1/4 be communist." - Lenin

"Better dead than Red" - Millions of Americans

Yes, in precisely the same way that walking past a cliff looks better when compared with walking off the cliff. :wink:

Communism failed in part because it refused to see that individual initiative rightly should be rewarded -- and rewarded substantially.

Capitalism will fail in part because it has abused that notion.

Communism failed because no one wanted to be the trash man and everyone wanted to be the rich person. again, communism fails because of people.

Capitalism, if it fails will fail because those that can't make it, will take it.

Communism and any other politics different to the Democrats and Republicans has no chance in the USA as long as there is this two-party-system.

The US is not a two-party system, it is a multiparty system within which the vast majority of citizens CHOOSE to vote for a candidate from one of two parties.

That is a matter of personal choice, not a restriction placed on the system.