Communism is a totally discredited system and anyone who clings to it is living in a dream just like the Islamists.
The Scandinavian model of socialism is what the world needs. Basically a liberal democracy working in the frame work of capitalism with high taxes, high benefits and pensions, a well funded NHS, an ethical foreign policy and progressive environmental policies.
It's not perfect but nothing is. The quest for perfection without the safety catch of democracy is dangerous and leads to misery and ultimately the gulag.
Panoptic you seem to be arguing for communism not Scandinavian socialism. If you are then you are a believer!
Like a Muslim who clings to belief even though the Koran has well and truly been debunked.
You are a religious man.
But I have a hunch that like most anti capitalists you are less driven by a positive enthusiasm for communism and more driven by a negative hate for capitalism/America.
Usually when people base their politics on a dislike or a negation of something they fall into the trap of not having anything constructive to contribute to societal progress.
In other words communism is an after thought for the anti capitalist movement and they have no well thought out plans of how the world would work in the absence of capitalism or how they would enforce this new world order without resorting to totalitarianism.
Yes capitalism is unfair but it has created (through trade not war) countries with almost a total lack of poverty and it helped create the conditions for human rights to be upheld.
Without capitalism the West (Western Europe and America) and the East (Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore etc) would be closer economically to the Middle East and Africa.
Yes there would be less inequality because we would all be in poverty unless we built some very big prisons and torture chambers and started processing all those who didn't sign up to the new utopia.
It's funny that almost all of the countries that have embraced liberal democracy and capitalism have flourished, reduced poverty and become to a certain extent more humane.
The countries that have rejected democracy and capitalism have in almost every case failed and caused far more inequality and suffering than Morgan Stanley or Citibank ever could.
The mistake many anti capitalists make is assigning intention to the inequalities we see in the world as if it's all being controlled by evil puppet masters. The Bilderberg group, The Israel lobby, The Elders of Zion, The Illuminati, America, The Neocons, Haliburton etc etc
Most of this lunatic conspiratorial theorising comes from nothing more than jealousy.
"Their riches are unfairly accrued by secret government and my lack of abundance is being imposed on me by that secret government" "Burn the rich"
You may not be a conspiracy theorist but almost every anti capitalist I know is a fully paid up member of the anti imperialist meme and you just have to read my previous post to see what I think of that.
? Reply #12 on: Today at 03:13:06 AM ?
http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=4011.0If you think capitalism is the big evil (Not theocracy, fascism, communism, genocide or human rights abuses) then I suggest you watch this. I disagree with this guy on most things as he is an anarchist but he puts a bit of well needed perspective on the hysterical proclamations of the anti capitalist rabble.
To paraphrase him "You might want to read the Gulag Archipelago before you start equating a Starbucks punch clock to a fascistic or communistic dictatorship"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1JcUBx2dxU
Topic: Capitalism and Other Kids' Stuff