Mr. T and I were thinking about the persistent appeal of communism. About why people continue to fall for it. Generation after generation. So, herewith some speculation – and deconstruction!
. . .
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Dayum … this is one psycho pussy:
‘The podcaster is a troubled and typical millennial known as Liz Plank. Together with Governor Gretchen Whitmer it appears they decided to mock Holy Communion using a Dorito as the sacrament. Kamala Harris previously said Doritos chips (diabetes fuel) were her favorite snack.’
https://youtu.be/P2UsUkZH9WA
People who are exceptionally well educated but lacking a clue about translating academic success to financial security look at Communism and think to themselves, “What have I got to lose?”
This is especially true of the individuals whose finances are crippled by poorly-considered student loans which they used to buy nonsense like travel overseas on a “YOLO” binge.
The appeal of communism is simple: economic rationality. Imagine yourself as lazy, fat and stupid, and unable to achieve the lifestyle you want by working. It makes SENSE to vote for people who will take something from somebody else and give it to you.
“Capitalism” and “classical liberalism” assume that you have unlimited freedom and unlimited opportunity and all you have to do is seize it by getting your ass out of bed and working. When the U.S. was founded, that was largely true. It was an empty continent, and the government was not empowered to take from A and give to B. It made more economic sense for you to work. You could literally get more that way.
However, we must admit that Karl Marx was right when he argued that capitalism invariably created monopoly. Imagine trying to build and sell your own cars in today’s marketplace. You literally CANNOT compete in the so-called “free market” with the Big Three (triopoly?) by building cars in your own garage the way Henry Ford did and putting your name on them. The last guy who tried was John Delorean — forty years ago. Musk is able to do it because of government subsidies — communism for the rich.
Capitalism works when there is a new, developing market. When no “system,” and no “special interests” exist. Once an established “system” is in place, it becomes a question of how people can leech off it. Hence, communism.
Which is why we are going to get Harris. She was a moron and an idiot. There was an established political system in place in California. How was she going to get ahead in it? By sucking off Willie Brown. And it worked!
There are a lot of voters who can relate to that.
>There are a lot of voters who can relate to that.
Sucking off Willie Brown?
Jesus. Who knew?
Evidently we are talking San Francisco.
>She was a moron
Was, my ass.
>makes SENSE to vote for people who will take something from somebody else and give it to you.
As a friend of mine once said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need means I can generate a whole lot of needs and not very much ability.”
‘Was, my ass.’
HAW! I LOL’d.
Right Adi,
That phrase “from each….to each…” drives me nuts; what if your needs are infinite and your abilities are zero? Seems to apply to a lot of lazy ass ‘muricans who would rather game the system and be leeches rather than do anything constructive.
That’s a good point, but there’s also the group of people who are the outside looking in. The intellectual class always gets shafted by the free market. The people fail to bow down before their superior intellect, and so they’re forced to “languish” in the liberal strongholds of academia and think tanks. Every so often they are trotted out on the corporate media to spout their nonsensical rhetoric, which most people mock as the kid in the back of the room throwing spitballs.
It was said that during the heyday of the Soviet Union there were junkets to Moscow to see with thine own eyes the glorious people’s state. It was said that even their guides couldn’t believe how much the visitors would gush about the situation. Of course they would be happy to only see the positive, they assumed that if the US was made communist, they’d have their chance too.
Capitalism leads to monopolies when there is a government for it to lobby, so rules and regulations can be created that then largely lock out any new and small competitors.
In an actual free market, with zero (or close to) need for licenses, cartel membership, endless taxes and rules, it is the established behemoths who are much more likely to find themselves in the ‘dinosaur’ position and go extinct.
It used to be ‘innovate or die’.
Nowadays it is ‘how much is your politician worth to buy?’
“Imagine yourself as lazy, fat and stupid, and unable to achieve the lifestyle you want by working”
Hey!
Eric,
Speaking of the Forum:
My posts are just disappearing into the aether if I include a link. They used to do that if I included multiple links, but now it’s just one.
As Kurt Cobain once asked: Am I the only one?
Thanks for the heads-up, BaDnOn – I’m having it looked into!
Thanks, Eric!
While you’ve got your IT hat on, be aware that your RSS feed has stopped working and it is now stuck at the ‘Clarkson’s Right’ article.
Thanks, John –
Our computer guy is looking into this. Over the past two weeks, the site has been hit with several bot attacks. It’s a hassle for all; my apologies and thanks to everyone for their patience.
I know I sound like a broken record, but there is no difference between democrats and republicans with respect to their affinity toward acceptance of communalist principles.
Both support:
Progressive taxation
Public indoctrination . . . Oops education
Property taxation so that there is no such thing as private property
Acceptance of homosexuality and other deviant behavior.
Acceptance of labor unions and lawfare that ensures business’s cannot defend itself from said unions
The list goes on and on.
BID, you need to look a little closer. While what you say is absolutely true for the leadership of the 2 wings of the uniparty, the rank and file are in fact quite different.
Your rank and file Dim-o-crat really believes they can vote themselves magic and remain untouched by the black side of that magic. That you can actually pick up a turd from the clean end.
Your rank and file Republican wants taxes cut to the minimum, schooling to be a local matter, really doesn’t want to deal with the deviants, and holds a low opinion of the “labor unions”. They are usually weak enough to be chivvy’d (SP?) into supporting the party’s candidates, but they don’t much like many of them and do what they can to light a candle rather than bitch about the darkness.
I was a delegate for Ron Paul at the Rochester MN convention. Wasn’t allowed to vote. But I do remember the wonderful moment that the dingleberry encrusted anus which is Tim Pawlenty was up to speak and mouth his support for the boys in blue, he was greeted with mostly icy silence. Since good folks don’t throw crap that others have to clean up.
So yes, there is a difference. But one of the big goals of the communists was to gain control of one or both of the American political parties and it looks to me like they succeeded.
AD
I don’t disagree with the idea that the average person that identifies as republican may want lower taxes . . . But try getting them to agree to no income tax or the principle that taxation is theft. Good luck with that.
“I was a delegate for Ron Paul at the Rochester MN convention. Wasn’t allowed to vote.”
And with that very move back in the Ron Paul days, the republicans conveyed exactly how they felt about freedom, liberty, and the voice of the “Republican” voters. Prior to that move, I would have agreed that I more readily identified with Republican’s. Then they showed their true colors during the Ron Paul campaign. That was a very enlightening moment for me.
Vote harder
Two things every one likes: Free money and free stuff. Free is my favorite price. Trouble is that NOTHING is free. The price is simply hidden or denied. TANSTAAFL,
Back in childhood there was a thing called a ‘mental institution’ — ‘the funny farm’ in the vernacular. They were state-run, quite large, and every small town had legends about a couple of former residents who had been sent there after outbursts of spectacularly erratic behavior.
Novels such as Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next (1962) promoted the notion that if one failed in life, one could always crack up, check into the funny farm, and probably live a decent, carefree life with colorful figures like oneself.
This is the appeal of communism: everyone gets to fail — and indeed, those who break the mold and succeed are ruthlessly, enviously punished. Yet everyone at least gets a tiny flat in a brutalist apartment block, and a food ration. You can’t lose (although you can’t win either).
Communist political leaders can indulge their egos by rabbiting on for hours before captive listeners. When Kackala did this in a recent interview, spewing incoherent word salad in response to a delicate question about our best ally in the whole world murdering women and kids, CBS helpfully cut and replaced her faceplant fumble with a brief, coherent answer to another question.
That’s communism, folks: failure has no consequences.
And they ask me why I sniff glue …
Kammy works the phones at the DNC:
https://ibb.co/60018Q5
In Oregon, there is a ballot measure 118 in this upcoming election. It is a wonderful example of full Marxism. Most of the time, to raise taxes, the government threatens less government services, i.e. the schools are going to close, no more hot lunches for the little whelps, no more fire and police…cats and dogs sleeping together…mass hysteria.
However, this bill places a 3% revenue tax (sales tax) on businesses over $25MM in revenue and in exchange provides a direct payment to everyone of about $1600. So now, this people are voting someone else’s human effort (big bad rich corporations) measured in $ directly into their pockets with the state government as the enforcers. My question is why so cheap $1600? Should be $16,000. Interesting that the liberals who run the Oregon company I work for are against this whole heartedly while I’m sure they have Harris lawn signs at their homes. Get ready for taxing unrealized capital gains me bosses.
True Marxism and it will pass.
Parasites robbing the slaves…..
“to raise taxes, the government threatens less government services”
@ 15:09 in video…taxes should only be 2%…all the infrastructure has been built a long time ago….in some G7 countries total taxes come to 60%….why?…because the control group…the marxist leaders….the slave owners….. have their younger generation that needs lots of cash, cars and castles….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDtsuCVtrPE
Oregon.
I’ve linked this here before, but it merits repeating. The state ran this with a straight face a dozen years ago before the healthcare exchange totally failed on Day One.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6HMDFXA50o
Heartwarming!
Why do bad things happen to good people? 🙁
“People would rather be taken care of than be free.”
-Dennis Prager
Along these lines, people would also rather be equal than free.
I could go on for quite a while about the notion of “equality” that communism is obsessed with, but the bottom line is that while all are equal, some are more equal than others.
“equality” that communism is obsessed with”
but….the control group on top…. is very rich and own multiple castles, cars and offshore accounts….the masses own nothing and suffer….
and…the laws only apply to the slaves on the bottom….
Envy is the primary driver this time.
The 2008 “financial crisis” never ended. Everything was papered over with more fake money and further covered by artificially suppressed interest rates.
Those who were children – or not even born yet – are now coming of age and have spent their entire lives being bombarded by mass media and opportunistic politicians that “capitalism hollowed out the middle class.”
Meanwhile, anyone with 2 brain cells knows it’s due to the government and their crooked pals at the Federal Reserve which have destroyed the currency.
Makes total sense that as these kids/young adults look down the barrel of adulthood with practically zero opportunity to pursue the “American dream”, that the path of least resistance to sustaining themselves (short of an inheritance from wealthy Boomer parents or grandparents) is to have the heavy hand of government provide it to them.
In fairness, there really is an unholy mix of fascism and communism, and whilst government and the feral reserve are quite guilty, the big mercantilists are all in on it.
And most of those boomers are not wealthy, they blew it living better than all the generations before, so there won’t really be much inherited wealth. Worse, since they were blowing it faster than they were making it, they kept working and hogged up the higher paid positions which their kids and grandkids should have been timely promoted into.
It’s a mess and a trap, and we’re going to have to gnaw off a limb to escape it.
True story! The Boomers WILL NOT QUIT!
Varying reasons between boredom, not being rich ENOUGH and those that weren’t that financially successful in the first place who need to work beyond typical retirement age.
My understanding is that even the Boomers that are well-to-do are going to run into the buzzsaw of absurd health care costs that will likely erode most of their wealth.
Therefore, the windfall that some of their heirs may be expecting, is not likely to be there.
The role of the Commie Fed seems pretty straightforward – to help the chosen few – take advantage of free money to buy up all the worthwhile assets, so when the inevitable collapse of US currency occurs, those few corporations and oligarchs can say “damn…what skill and luck we have, in that now we own everything that IS nailed down!”
Sucks to be the hoi polloi who are on the wrong side of what Max Keiser called “The Interest Rate Apartheid Wall.”
How about why the fuck should I “retire”? I’ll decide what’s the best use of the one item that I’ve a fixed but yet-to-be-determined quantity of: TIME. Or at least until my employer or clients decide I can’t cut it anymore.
“How about why the fuck should I “retire”?”
You self centered old asshole! Don’t you know that you are keeping some deserving GenXer from finally making something of his life!
Please know that was sarcasm.
I’ve known many colleagues that have been forced into retirement for one reason or another and did not live another year.
You keep on going!
[True story! The Boomers WILL NOT QUIT!] – Flip
Hey,,,
My son pretty much agrees with you. Thought my continuing to work until I was 65 was somehow preventing success stories of the recent generations. I told him most corporations were laying off and not hiring. It didn’t matter when I quit. Oh well,,, like talking to a wall.
My sister-in-laws ‘children were/are concerned their parents/grandparents are stealing the inheritance they deserve. lol. Many of the recent generations tend to think boomers worked their entire lives for them.
Yes,,, the children today believe their parents – boomers- owe them a living.
Only when I retired and he found out they weren’t replacing me did he let up a little. In fact they laid off more. When I went to wok there were 25 of us. When I left there were 6. Today there are 3.
Most boomers I know are working to pay off children’s debts,,, the biggie being education loans. They signed for the loans then cried big tears when their was no freebie, high paying jobs ,waiting for them.
Many boomers are forced to work due to the high cost of living. You mention medical. For some reason many say it’s free. My wife and I pay $500 per month. Very expensive when on a fixed income. Please let us know where this free is!
We also have to continue paying taxes for the parasites in the indoctrination centers humorously called schools.
When I asked a friend who was a manager why they hired boomers…. he simply said “Because they show up”. I didn’t know how to answer that.
Between the currency debasement,,, inflation,,, and the politicians stealing any funds not nailed down there are few good paying jobs. They were shipped off during the late 70s, 80s and 90s. Boomers went on strikes, boycotts but could not slow the pace. I remember the TV company Zenith. A strike just ended with the contract guarantying their jobs. A few weeks later Zenith packed up and went to Mexico.
I don’t know what the answer is but I can guarantee you its not an election. Nor is it inter-generational hatred. We have plenty of groups hating each other.
“parents/grandparents are stealing the inheritance they deserve”
I laugh when my parents apologize for spending my inheritance on extravagances. Hell, I’d rather have them around and happy than to have them gone and have their money.
Spend it, I say!
Ken: “concerned their parents/grandparents are stealing the inheritance they deserve”
Years ago (obviously) there was a pretty good weekly financial advice program on Propaganda Broadcast System. The host was talking about wills one time and said the best one she ever saw read “Being of sound mind and body, I spent it.”
Unless the gummint takes all we have, directly or through collapse, we will have something to pass on. But with any significant purchase we now say “Well, I guess xxx might only get new tires instead of a new car.”
In China the retirement age is 50….and you get a government pension….
In the G7 countries lots of people retire at 70 or keep working till they die…the cost of living is so high they can’t quit working…..
Nobody there will hire you if you are 50….except as a nanny….
There is lots of problems though…like 24/7 surveillance…they keep a tight grip on the slaves…but…the G7 has almost caught up in that area….
China is an absolute monarchy….so you know who runs it….
I agree, DA –
My own parents lived beyond their means and ended up with essentially nothing. I got into an argument with my mom over this a few years ago – when she was still living independently, before the Alzheimers took hold. She made a snarky comment about my “old truck” – as contra her new Lexus. I shot back that my truck may be old but it’s paid for and I paid cash for it while she (my dad, actually) was making payments on that stupid Lexus.