Socialism

[moondog]

Socialism

Socialism is a political system that denies the validity of property rights. Instead, it claims that all property is communally owned. Instead of being a variant of property rights, this is an invalidation of those rights. It destroys the concept of rights by invalidating their base in human life.

Under socialism, control of property is put into the hands of society as a whole. The first effect of this is that people cannot be independent. They cannot live on their own efforts, because there goods will be stolen. This means that to live, they must act in accordance with the wishes of society. They are enslaved.

The destruction of property rights has an additional effect, though. It destroys the efficacy of one's mind. Without the freedom to act in accordance with one's rational judgments, their minds are invalidated. There is no point to thinking if one cannot act on those thoughts. Since one thinks in order to promote one's life, socialism necessarily leads to an inability to promote one's life. You are required to act against your best judgment and against your best interest.

Socialism is an evil political system. All political systems, though, rest on an ethical system. Socialism is not an exception. It rests on the moral system of collectivism. It is when collectivism is accepted as valid that socialism is possible. It is through collectivism that the crimes of socialism are ignored.

[moondog]

Collectivism

Ask not what your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy

The concept of value requires a purpose and a beneficiary. It requires answers to the questions "Value to whom?" and "Value for what?". Collectivism is an answer to the first question. It says value to the collective, whether that's society, your tribe, your family, your nation, your race, your sex, or any other group or category you "belong" to. The standard of good is that which benefits the group.

At the root of this ethical standard is the belief that a collective is more than just individuals interacting together. It is the belief that the group is an entity itself, more important than the sum of the individuals. The individuals become secondary to the collective. Their well-being and even their lives are ignored if the group has something to gain. Individuals are not recognized. They are merely a tool for the group.

Collectivism is a form of anthropomorphism. It attempts to see a group of individuals as having a single identity similar to a person. The collective is claimed to have ideas, and can think. It has purpose, and it acts to achieve goals. It even has a personality, called culture. It claims to have moral rules the collective should follow. It claims to have collective rights, as well.

Since the collective is actually just individuals interacting, the collectivists have to change their views of individuals. They morally evaluate people according to the results of the collective. If the collective manages to accomplish something great like land on the moon, every individual is given equal credit. If a nation goes to war, everyone is to blame. And if an individual refuses to acknowledge the superiority of his collective, than he is a traitor and is eliminated. This is the result of collectivism.

Collectivism demands that the group be more important than the individual. It requires the individual to sacrifice himself for the alleged good of the group. Although different from altruism, collectivism complements it well. Altruism demands sacrifice for others, collectivism demands sacrifice for the group. Collectivism leads to altruism.

[saunterelle]

Thanks for the lessons. I don't think you'll find much support for socialism on this board.

However, I'm curious as to your reaction to the Bush Administration using socialist methods (buying banks, etc.) to try and stabilize our credit markets and economy.

[The Big Dog]

At risk of stepping into the middle of a budding discussion, the Bush administration's long slide into Wilsonian progressivism proves largely that the man was never a conservative in the first place.

And remember.... even though the left puts fascisim on the right, each and every fascistic movement had a socialist cause at it's core.

[saunterelle]

It's always a nifty trick when you can paint the guy you voted for as actually being on the other side and try to blame his horrific failings on them.

[harpman1]

It worked for you for Bill Clinton.

[moondog]

Nov 24, 2008 18:17:11 GMT -5 saunterelle said:

Thanks for the lessons. I don't think you'll find much support for socialism on this board.

However, I'm curious as to your reaction to the Bush Administration using socialist methods (buying banks, etc.) to try and stabilize our credit markets and economy.

Which part of the Bush administration? Congress or the White House?

[moondog]

Communism

Communism is a form of socialism. It puts control of all property into the hands of the government directly. The results have been impressive: over 100 million people killed in the last century.

Communism is the bloodiest form of government ever conceived. It enslaves the entire population, and rules through fear. Because it destroys property rights, it makes the production of wealth almost impossible. Since the use of one's mind is no longer a method of creating wealth, communism has only one method of production: Through hard physical labor. But without the use of reason, even this is severely limited in its scope.

Since the population gets an equal share of the wealth produced, there is virtually no incentive to produce, since one's effort is of negligible benefit. To compensate for this, the government must intimidate and force the people into working hard. Since self-interest is eliminated as a motivation for production, it is replaced by its cruder sort of self-interest in the form of fear of death. The government slaughters citizens to keep the rest in line.

This is encouraged because the government policies are failures. Communism is supposed to produce limitless wealth, making all of its citizens happy and rich. But with the ability to produce impaired, the success never happens. To distract the population from its failure, the government must blame it on others. And anyone guilty enough of harming everyone in society should be killed of course. Communism lives on scapegoats.

Communism is a brutal system of government. It does not just fail to protect individual rights, it establishes a system of violence force. The results have been exactly what one would predict: starvation, poverty, and the slaughter of millions.

[moondog]

Fascism

Fascism is a form of socialism. The best example of Fascism was Nazi Germany. Fascism is the public ownership of all property except in name. It allows citizens to pretend that they own property, but they must use it in accordance with the wishes of the state. Since ownership means the ability to control a piece of property, the ownership is actually in the hands of the government.

Fascism is often confused with other aspects of the Nazi regime. The Nazis were racists and nationalists. These are not necessary components of Fascism, though. Fascism is simply government ownership of all property in fact, with private ownership of property in name.

In every significant way, Fascism resembles Communism. It also has a record of massive slaughter, scapegoats, starvation, and destruction of wealth. It has the same moral base as Communism. It is founded on Collectivism. They are different faces of the same evil system.

[saunterelle]

Nov 24, 2008 19:10:21 GMT -5 @moondog said:

Nov 24, 2008 18:17:11 GMT -5 saunterelle said:

Thanks for the lessons. I don't think you'll find much support for socialism on this board.

However, I'm curious as to your reaction to the Bush Administration using socialist methods (buying banks, etc.) to try and stabilize our credit markets and economy.

Which part of the Bush administration? Congress or the White House?

The White House, including Bush-appointee Hank Paulson.

[harpman1]

Nancy & Harry were nowhere to be found, of course.
They were developing carbonless cars.

[moondog]

Nov 24, 2008 19:17:42 GMT -5 saunterelle said:

Nov 24, 2008 19:10:21 GMT -5 @moondog said:

Which part of the Bush administration? Congress or the White House?

The White House, including Bush-appointee Hank Paulson.

Well, since Congress voted to secure the money and to give Hank Paulson the authority to distribute the money, how is it that it is only Bush who is practicing socialism and not the majority of Congress?

Seems to me you are picking nits and pointing blame at someone who is a convenient target, rather then the actual perpetrator.

Did you vote or did you not vote to put your representative back into office for the next two years? If you voted to return them, then ultimately it is you who is engaged in the practice of socialism via the representative you supported. Because both representatives from this area voted yes on the bailout you blame on one person.