Fear in America is taking over our ability to govern ourselves.
It doesn't matter what the government recommends as policy, it appears that the American people are going to disagree with it regardless of how intelligent or helpful the policy may be for the masses.
It amazes me that people still argue this idea that our government has adopted Communism.
I was recently twittered that the United States adopted the Communist Manifesto a long time ago because we've instituted a Progressive tax.
All I could think was...
are you freakin' kidding me? To all of you that believe we are becoming or have become communist, let me give you a brief education in the definition of Communism.
Karl Marx was not the first or last person who wrote on the philosophy of Communism, but for all intent and purposes Marx is the father of Communism.
Marx looked at society as basically a class system, that the Bourgeois was the elite of society, that basically enslaved the masses, or the proletariat, or working class.
Basically, the educated, or the petty-bourgeois, are to take over government in order to educate the proletariat on how to take care of themselves and how government works.
This was done in order to abolish the Bourgeoisie and for all people to know how to govern themselves.
In other words, Marx believed in abolishing the classes of society because they had a tendency to undermine each other.
Basically, the Bourgeoisie consistently pushed the working class lower and lower into society making it impossible for them to be successful.
"In countries where modern civilization has become fully developed, a new class of petty bourgeois has been formed, fluctuating between proletariat and bourgeoisie, and ever renewing itself as a supplementary part of bourgeois society.
The individual members of this class, however, are being constantly hurled down into the proletariat by the action of competition, and, as modern industry develops, they even see the moment approaching when they will completely disappear as an independent section of modern society, to be replaced in manufactures, agriculture and commerce, by overlookers, bailiffs and shopmen," Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto.
According to Marx, There are steps to building a true Communist society.
Step one is socialism, basically a take over of government of all private industry and the implementation of social programs.
"You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property.
But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths.
You reproach us, therefore, with intending to do away with a form of property, the necessary condition for whose existence is the non-existence of any property for the immense majority of society.
" Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto.
People are arguing that the steps of the Obama Administration can be seen as proof that President Obama is a Communist.
I would argue that while it appears so on its face, the underlying reality is, Obama has no intention of taking over all private industry.
In fact, he only chose to take over the Auto Industry when it was about to fail.
This was not the intention Marx had regarding government takeover of Private industry.
Marx believed in the take over during a prosperous time, not a time of economic strife.
Step two is true communism, the abolition of government.
At this point Marx believe all people would be a government of sorts and everyone owns everything.
Each person has a responsibility to each other to take care of each other.
The best sense of this society would be a Kibbutz in Israel.
Everyone works, everyone eats, and all the money the Kibbutz makes goes back into the Kibbutz.
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto.
Everyone is invited to what is in a sense a city council meeting, all people being on the council because they have an interest in the decision process.
The Kibbutz feeds and houses everyone and everyone is equal.
Some argue that this step would not sustain itself on a national level, although that remains to be seen.
We've never had a nation take this step, and therefore all debate is theory based on this matter.
Marx believed that in order for Communism to sustain itself the nation had to be developed and self sufficient.
It had to be an industrial nation.
Remember that Marx was writing during the 1800s, and did not believe Russia was ready for a Communist movement.
He wouldn't have supported the Communist Revolution in China, Cuba, or North Korea either.
He believed Germany, France, or other Western European nations should start a revolution because they are wealthy nations and industrialized.
Marx philosophized that in order for Communism to come about the society needed to be developed.
Also, a Communist society cannot sustain itself in a vacuum.
Other nations have to become Communist as well, which is why the Cold War was so real for so many people.
It was true, except that the USSR wasn't in the final stage of Communism, not even in its first stage according to Marxist theory, and therefore not a threat to the spread of Communism as explained by Marx.
The USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba, these are not Communist societies, although they claim the name.
These nations are Dictatorships.
First of all, I don't believe a true Communist society is realistic.
One, people in mass are stupid.
Individuals are smart.
Also, I don't believe that people would be willing to give up power.
In other words, countries will never move into step two because those people would have no interest in doing so.
Power is an interesting thing.
People tend to not want to give it up once they have power.
So, for those that believe the US is becoming or has become Communist, I strong recommend reading the Communist Manifesto themselves.
I'm sure if Marx was alive today he would believe we were ready for a revolution when Clinton was in office, but unfortunately, that time has passed.
A revolution would fail because human nature would prevail and those that would take over the government wouldn't want to let go of their new found power.