Everyone talks about what the “best” system is but none have adequately solved the human corruption problem. Every system eventually falls due to human corruption imo. The US founders were on to something by trying to break up power and have each group kept I’m check but that too is failing.
Stop trying to fix the symptoms.
The US founders were on to something by trying to break up power and have each group kept I’m check but that too is failing.
Yeah, separation of powers is a pretty old and workable concept, 8 times older than the whole history of the US, and has worked for most democratic countries since.
In addition to the corruption problem, there’s also the problem of who gets to make the decisions. The people affected by those decisions want them to be made by smart people who have their best interests at heart. But, those aren’t the kinds of people who end up in leadership positions. Whether it’s capitalism, communism, even monarchies, the type of people who tend to be in charge are the ones who want power and know how to get it and use it.
The fact you think some old white englishmen created the partition of power tells us a lot about your level of education.
Lol talk more shit about things I never said loser
It’s true, but with Russia or China in charge, it would be even worse.
Wouldn’t really call what Putin or Xi has going on communism though, would you? They both operate stock exchanges and broadly private enterprise that systematically subjugates their working class while they constantly feel the need to expand their territory and purview of economic sway abroad. To me that sounds a lot like what we do when we talk about our capitalism.
It’s what I expect from these kind of people. Everyone in leadership is there for power, and they are all surrounded by others who benefit from them being in power. Almost all of them are not good people with good hearts.
Humble people with good hearts don’t seek these positions in life. So the conclusion must be that humanity will always be under these kind of leaders.
Or we could not have leaders. You know, if leaders are all bad people, let’s get rid of them
Every day I stray closer to being an anarcho-communist
Join us. We have knitting circles and cookies. It’s great. You get all the existential dread of knowing what the fuck is wrong with the world, with the added full knowledge that the things that could fix it will likely never happen because we missed our chance at a revolution before the people in power had nukes, and now even if you convince everyone that it would be better that way, those in power will straight up nuke their own people before allowing them to govern themselves, destroying whole swathes of the planet, along with unreplaceable history and culture.
Plus, there’s a nifty æsthetic, and a range of really good music from folk to metal.
You’ve very helpfully put your finger on exactly what holds me back. If I found myself believing in a lost cause, I couldn’t bear to go on. I am too close to despair as it is, so I will spare myself the small indulgence of certainty.
The trouble is knowing that it isn’t likely doesn’t stop it from also being true. I’m also of the opinion that just because full communism isn’t likely doesn’t mean we shouldn’t advocate for it, because any move toward liberty, freedom, equality, and the general principles of anarchism and socialism are good things. You don’t come to the table with your compromise, you come to the table with what you know you can’t get, and negotiate to something possible.
Do I believe communism is possible within my lifetime? No. Do I believe it possible at all? Absolutely, not only in the sense that if we did it it would work, but that we can and likely will do it, eventually, if we survive long enough. Do I believe it’s worth fighting for, even if I’ll never see it? Yes. Because the work itself is enough to improve lives, and the more people who throw their lot in with the far left the more likely we are to see real, substantive change for the better, even if it is incremental.
Also, sorry for the 4am wall of text. Haha
Hi, just checked your profile and first blog entry. How enchanting! ;-) what does joining do? Allow us a blog space?
Aww. You may be the first person to actually read my blog. Lol. What is your question about joining?
its a dictatorship pretendintg to be an oligarchy pretending to be a democracy. i would call it ‘captured democracy’.
but its just a dictatorship with extra steps.
Xi yes, Putin no. Both are Authoritarian on the Y axis, but Xi does actually dictate a Communist country on the X axis.
Xi kinda killed the illusionary pooch (diplomatic and economic) by shutting down Hong Kong.
Do you guys even understand XY axis over on solarpunk or do you just think that refers to sex?
I kinda wonder.
The political compass is literally a propaganda tool created by right wing “libertarians.” It’s complete bullshit.
Well that answers that at least. Found the new lemmygrad.
Lemmygrad is tankies, which is exactly the point. You can’t tell the difference between anarchists and the people who murdered them. The political compass exists to create that confusion, equating “libertarianism” (by which, they mean right wing “libertarianism”) with the original definition of libertarian socialism.
Even the choice of “libertarianism” as a name was intentionally chosen to confuse things, to steal a word and destroy it’s meaning. IIRC, Murray Newton Rothbar literally said that he was intentionally stealing the word “libertarian” for the right. The whole thing is about propaganda and confusion, and the political compass is part of that.
Removed by mod
I hate to be the one to break this to you but the Berlin Wall fell. Russia is capitalist.
Russia always was capitalist, that’s kind of the point of Animal Farm. If you look at the company towns of the Kentucky Coal Miners historically, it’s the same structure as the Soviet Union: the company (or the state) owns everything and enslaves the workers. One used debt, the other pretended to represent the proletariat, but the ruling class extracted labor from the workers and only supplied them the minimum necessary to survive. Lenin was a reactionary pretending to be a revolutionary.
Very cool post. 5/5
Ironically the same in left leaning countries just corps banging the workers and blaming someone else using insane propaganda every single fucking where
I really dont see any Romans pressuring me around here.
Gestures half heartedly at all the Roman inspired government buildings.
Rome didn’t have aircraft carriers and tactical nukes.
Rome lasted long enough to find its own ancient artifacts.
Yeah.
Casual club conversation
This post is WAY more insightful than 99% of people realize. I would argue that the only people that fully understand are part of the corporate engine that drives it.
Are you implying you’re a corporate shill?
I’m a mole
As a european it’s always been fucking WERID how americans panic and reach for their guns at the mention of socialism.
In all fairness, we panic and reach for our guns at the mention of just about anything. Right this very moment, I’m pooping on company time, scared out of my wits, a nine millimeter at the ready atop my presently ankle adorning boxers.
WAS THAT THE DOORBELL!!!
I mean
There was this whole thing called the Soviet Union then there was like a missile crisis
And there was like a group that called themselves National Socialists and they did a genocide and tried to take over a bunch of land by force
We also had to fight a bunch of talking trees that dug tunnels because military industrial complex and heroin
It’s definitely many layers of propaganda but as an American I definitely understand WHERE it comes from, I understand why most people here flinch at the word.
You also gotta understand we had multiple generations in a row huffing lead gasoline so while younger millennials aren’t impacted as bad, MOST Americans are legitimately lead brained.
Bruh
The Nazis were literally IN Europe. The USSR literally built a WALL here splitting the continent. And you’re saying that explains why America is the one with socialism PTSD???
Ain’t nothing more American than making everything about you I guess.
I guess you can’t fucking read lol, the comment I’m replying to was TALKING ABOUT AMERICANS. I didn’t make it about Americans the fucking European did.
Holy shit dude how did you fuck that up so bad
But European don’t panic at the mention of socialism (what the comment you’re replying to was talking about) yet the Europeans have suffered FAR MORE from your examples of “socialism” than Americans. You can’t explain away how American politics differ from European politics by appropriating European tragedies.
You are so shoved up your own ass it’s insane. Firstly, really bad reading skills. I never justified the response, just that I understand the origins. For fucks sake use your brain a little before attacking someone and sounding like a dunce for it.
But it DOES NOT explain the origins. The USSR and the Nazis are not CAUSES. They CAN’T BE because otherwise Europe would never integrated elements of socialism!
I think we actually agree on that, it’s just semantics at this point. Whatever.
Also watch your aggressiveness. I didn’t call you names and I expect the same in return.
It wasn’t just leaded gasoline. I was busy getting hot boxed with cigarettes in my grandparent’s leaded gasoline car before burning some asbestos, plastic cutlery, and batteries in the living room fireplace.
Forget no seatbelts or bicycle helmets. Our chemical exposure would probably send a younger person without a built up tolerance into instant seizure.
I also remember crimping down lead shot sinkers on my fishing line with my teeth. Good times. Good times indeed.
called themselves national socialists
Those are the guys who were famous for their propaganda (amongst other things)?
Also, N Korea calls itself “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. People call themselves all kinds of things to get what they want.
It might be the “National” part of “National Socialist” that ended up being the one that caused all the trouble, I think.
As an American I wish it was easier to pack up and move to Europe :(
This is a genuine question from a European, what does make it difficult to move here?
Eh for me it’s a lot of things. For one just roots, family and friends. Then next is work, I’d have to find a new job over there (doubtful my current one would let me work abroad), and I’d need to see if visas would let me work over there, and for how long. I would probably make less over there, but cost of living is lower too, so I’d have to do finances. Most countries don’t let you own property unless you’re a citizen, and I wouldn’t be, so I’d have to rent for a while. Path to citizenship would then be difficult, and I would have to pay taxes for both countries. Then just pure logistics of what do I do with everything here, would have to basically start all over. It’d be much easier if I was in my early 20s, but I’m nearing 40 which makes it much more difficult.
Maybe I just suck at the research, but from what I can tell getting a permanent residence visa is not easy for Americans. If I’m wrong I would absolutely love to know.
France seems to be relatively easy to gain permanent residence and even citizenship, but they do expect you to learn fluent French. Most of the EU requires birthright citizenship. A few will grant it to the decedents of immigrants, like Ireland, though they only do it for two generations out.
Money mostly.
There is usually something like needing $250K in the bank to be considered for permanent residency. Then the paperwork costs money, so most Americans will have to wait until they get refugee status.
Money for the most part for a lot of people.
Passports are $400+ USD, then there are the plane tickets, which are hundreds of dollars. Then to top it off you need to have room and board while looking for a job and someplace to live.
Another thing I’ve heard is fear of leaving the known and family.
Do Americans not usually have passports? I just assumed most people had one (I’m not American though).
No. Most don’t leave the US, so there isn’t a need. Plus, until recently, Canada and Mexico only needed an ID card like a drivers license.
Pretty much the only time we need passports is if we travel outside the U.S. and territories. Those that take cruises or cross borders to other countries would, but generally speaking a majority of Americans don’t have passports.
US passports are pretty much free.
Do you mean visas?
Several things keep Americans from moving to Europe.
First, immigration laws of the country one is moving to. If one is not able to get a passport from an EU or EEA county based on ancestry, you basically need to be sponsored for a work visa by a company in the country you want to move to, which can be quite difficult. And even then, you have to be employed in that country for long enough to qualify for permanent residency, then citizenship, which can take up to 7 or 8 years in some countries.
If one is lucky enough to have parents or grandparents who emigrated to the US from a European country and can claim citizenship based on that, it’s a lot of work to get all of the paperwork together and verified and accepted by that government’s consulate (at least it is for Germany, but German bureaucracy is … special).
Second, the US is one of the only countries in the world that double taxes its citizens. If someone was born in the United States, they will have to file taxes reporting income to the US government every single year until they die, and PAY taxes to the US government on any income over a certain amount every year until they die, regardless of the source of that income, and regardless of the fact that taxes on the same income need to be paid to the host country.
While I have zero respect for the snivelling shitgibbon name Boris Johnson, he was born in New York and had to renounce his US citizenship to escape the IRS. You also have to PAY the US government $2350 (in cash) for the privilege of giving up your citizenship, which is also…unique.
Sometimes there are tax treaties that can take most of the sting out of the double taxation issue (Norway’s is decent for US citizens), but it depends on the country.
Finally, it just never occurs to many Americans that leaving is even a possibility.
It’s the boomers who do this primarily. I guess they were spoon fed this shit as babies.
European here.
This seems to mainly only be an issue in the US. Socialism = Communism = Enemy
If at all anything, the opposite seems to be the case here. We’re looking at the US as a “this is how bad it will get if we let go” example
Socialism = Communism = Enemy*
*Unless Russia 🤑
The USSR collapsed several decades ago. Russia now is fascist, over a Capitalist economy.
There are elements of capitalism there, but I wouldn’t call it a capitalist economy. Capitalism requires that private individuals own the means of production. But, in Russia does anybody outside Putin’s inner circle really own anything?
Yes, absolutely. The Russian Federation is the direct result of a collapsing Socialist system in the hands of Capitalists, just because fewer and fewer people own things doesn’t mean it isn’t a direct result of Capitalization of the economy.
The USSR wasn’t really socialist at its core, and the new Russia really isn’t capitalist at its core.
In the former system, the theory was that the people / workers owned the means of production. The reality was that it was the leader and those close to him who really “owned” them in the sense that they had power over them. It was all about who you knew in that system. In a true socialist system, it should have been up to the people to make decisions, but in the USSR it was up to the party’s elites, and the people just had to live with it.
In the current system, it’s Putin and his close circle who own everything. While they allow capitalist type activities to happen, the capitalists don’t really own anything. If they displease Putin anything they have can be taken away on a whim. If you stay on Putin’s good side, or at least stay beneath his notice, you can operate as a capitalist. But, become too successful and you’ll be reminded who’s in charge.
Both true socialism and true capitalism require that the rule of law apply to everyone, even the leaders. If the leader can just ignore the laws and seize the “means of production” without facing consequences, it’s authoritarianism, not capitalism or communism / socialism.
The USSR was a flawed form of Socialism, but was fundamentally Socialist. The majority of the economy was run by Worker Soviets, in a process called Soviet Democracy. The Politburo, ie the highest Soviet, had a massive amount of influence and power, but day to day decisions were made locally. I would agree, I don’t think it was a particularly good form of Socialism, but I would still consider it Socialist.
Modern Russia is absolutely Capitalist at its core, that’s the entire foundation of the Russian Federation. The Capitalists are the Oligarchs! The Inner Circle are Capitalists! just because it’s a higher stage of Capitalism doesn’t mean it ceases to be Capitalism.
The USSR was a flawed form of Socialism, but was fundamentally Socialist
Was the rule of law strong enough that decisions were being made by the people, or were they being made by authoritarians? Because if key decisions weren’t being made by the people, it wasn’t socialist.
The Capitalists are the Oligarchs!
The Oligarchs are feudalists, not capitalists.
just because fewer and fewer people own things doesn’t mean it isn’t a direct result of Capitalization of the economy
In fact that’s the natural progression of a Capitalist economy
I think you missed the point
Russia isn’t socialist anymore. It’s a fascist capitalist hellscape, which is why Republicans like it
the opposite seems to be the case here
Cries in Lindner
Well, French president and several of its ministers are saying that socialist left, or radical left, is extremist. So no, it’s not an America problem. It’s very much a Europe problem too.
Europe uses the word socialism differently. It’s a difference in how the words are used and the time they are used. If we consider socialism shared responsibility, we have it America in many ways but we are hesitant to expand it. That’s because of our fear of large government power.
If we me socialism as the workers owning the means of production. Well no country does that. Normally it’s the government owning everything and the workers being abused such as the Soviet Union or Cuba. That’s the large governments Americans dislike.
Yeah, socialism isn’t taxing the rich, it is or at least have always led to brutal dictatorships because the real one is just communism with extra steps.
Social-democracy on the other hand is wonder for the people (see Sweden etc) in real life.
I’m a conservative and read a wonderful article on why conservatives should be leading the charge to a social democracy like Sweden. It really changed my views on why we should be skippering certain endeavors. Just neither party here has really embraced the basic concept.
An example was national health care allowed people to be more entrepreneurial since that is a large risk to not have insurance here.
That’s not being conservative my man.
Then you don’t understand conservatism.
🍿
That’s not being conservative my man.
Yeah y’all really don’t want to end up like us. We’re not the land of the free. The streets are most definitely not paved with gold. We’re just a giant ponzi scheme.
It’s actually insane how many of our institutions are actually based on pyramid schemes. No wonder we all use it as the symbol for conspiracy because it is a huge portion of how anything runs in the US. Cover the costs by convincing more people to join in at a less beneficial or profitable step down the pyramid and hope someone else will be coming behind you for you to take from as well.
I have a pothole literally 2 feet wide and at least 10 inches deep on my street that our city just can’t find the funds to fix…
Start a social media account for pics of the pothole. Keep tagging city officials in it. Call or email someone every time you’re reminded that the pothole exists so they will be too. Make the city rue the day they gave Cave Johnson lem… Potholes.
If they won’t do it some helpful citizen might end up reading something like https://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Pothole
Paved with gold? Lucky they’re paved at all this time of year.
No kidding. Their “fix” every year is to either fill all the potholes with asphalt, which the spring rains promptly loosen and get kicked out, or a thin “repaving” layer, which gets destroyed by the summer monsoons. I’m convinced Caltrans is a jobs program for people that can’t get a job otherwise, because those guys can’t seem to get anything done correctly.
In addition: government programs that help everyone = helping black people = no.
Yep. We should have told the colonies of Georgia and Carolina to fuck off, and we’ll get around to conquering them, after we kicked The King out of the other 11 colonies.
If one person had voted differently during The Continental Congress, we would have started abolishing slavery
Fascinating history.
No, because the majority of people do not live in the US.
So the amount of influence is the same from the US and Russia and China.
We aren’t as uninformed as this meme suggests about the concept. We know it has positives, but we also know the negatives, of which there are many.
…i am confident you don’t know shit. I say this with respect, tho it doesn’t sound respectful.
Because the way you replied to the barest possibility that you are ignorant or misled is to post “no i’m not” instead of being curious and searching for what you might have missed. If you’re not curious, and you don’t consider yourself propagandized you are exactly this meme, whererever you may be from.
What negatives? Do people turn evil, or do tools stop working, if tools are owned by a collective?
Yes. You see, if most of the profits aren’t taken from all the people making them and given to like, just a few people to keep for themselves, we’d have mass hysteria!
I shudder to think of what the workers might get up to if they had more of the money they created, or more of a voice in their workplace. They might start doing dangerous things that benefitted themselves instead of the stonks, and that idea is just disgusting to me
Remember when Barbie didn’t end with Will Farrells head in the guillotine?
I mean, I think Mattel probably would have hard vetoed that. I’m honestly shocked they got the fascist line in.
Ugh you just reminded me of the right’s comic strips where women put men’s balls in a guillotine with “the left wants to do this” idea.
Any criticism of capitalism is the same as historical communism and therefore always wrong. Accept your fate, citizen.
That’s just historical capitalism. I can fix him!
Real capitalism has never been tried!
Real capitalism would require:
- Flameout Professional Fire Services (i.e. no publicly funded fire department)
- Johnny’s Good Eats Certification (i.e. no FDA testing to keep food safe)
- SuperStonk Seal of Approval (i.e. no SEC regulating private companies, just for-profit companies doing that job)
- Rodney’s Roads and Trails (i.e. all roads are private, you need a payment plan to use them)
- Policing by Pinkertons (i.e. all policing is private and for-profit)
- Job Insurance, LLC (you pay for private job insurance when you have a job, you hope for benefits if you lose it)
- 401(k), or starve (you didn’t contribute to your 401(k), that’s too bad)
- Only private health insurance, no medicare, no medicaid, no Obamacare, no CHIPs, etc.
You could still have a military, but injured soldiers would be treated by private MASH units, soldiers would be fed by Taco Bell (paid for out of pocket), on base housing would be contracted out to AirBnB, aircraft maintenance would be contracted out to Boeing, and of course Veteran’s Affairs wouldn’t exist.
Basically the fascist Chile of the Chicago Boys’ and Pinochet’s wet dreams.
Except, even there, it was only a dream. Fascism may have elements of capitalism, but fundamentally if the leader is above the law, then private individuals don’t own the means of production, it’s only the leader who truly owns everything, and so it’s not really capitalism.
“Most powerful empire the world has ever known”
Lol Americans
The Romans conquered the known world with pointy sticks and diplomacy.
The US hasn’t been on the winning side since ww2 despite having nukes and spyplanes.
Even the British Empire spanned the globe, and all they had was cannons, rum, and syphilis.
You seem to completely misunderstand American diplomacy.
Just because America doesn’t have the same style of conquest, doesn’t mean they aren’t conquerors.
America was the first empire to realize that all empires eventually fall whose agenda is toppling nations and replacing their flags with their own.
The USA invented a unique twist: never replacing the country’s flag.
Instead, as evidenced by countless examples such as Iran and Panama, the American agenda has always been installing a new national leader whose interests align with American ideals of democracy and “freedom” (predominantly of the white Christian variety). But they keep their “flag”, or in some sense maintain a national identity through the new leader, so it feels a lot less like they were conquered.
But if they fought I’d bet against the pointy stick guys and the syphilis guys.
Are you claiming that Victorian England could take modern America in a fight?
So are you trying to make him say what he didn’t say because your butthurt ?
So you agree America is more powerful than the British Empire?
I just wouldn’t call it an empire, that’s all. I’m not a historian but to me, empires are made by occupying other countries.
The US is a powerful nation of course, but they don’t have the same focus on conquest as the other countries throughout history have had.
In military power, yes. Greatest empire ever, no.
One, no empire is “great,” they all suck donkey dick, that’s the definition of an empire, two, the meme specifically states “most powerful.”
A few trolls can take America by installing a puppet red head president who will then dismantle the country in a few years time.
Did they have taco bell tho
Yeah they may not incorporate other countries like previous empires, but their sphere of influence is undeniable unfortunately.
Rome wasn’t the most powerful empire, merely the third longest lasting; the Assyrians and Egyptians had a run that puts Rome to shame, and the Khans wielded far more power than any individual emperor.
The US is just the only world power left in modern time that could deploy anywhere within 24 hrs with more than just a strike force (and they can do so far far harder than any previous “empire”). The US “empire” is based on deployment potential, banking, and diplomacy. Nukes are just the key required to gain entry to the table so you don’t get wiped at deployment.
Bricks is literally the alliance trying to match US power and still hasn’t. This is mostly a barrier to entry problem rather than personal power, but it does stand that no previous empire could match the modern US in millitary, finance, or diplomacy.
But hey give it 50 years we are doing our best to shit on two of those.
leftist_meme.png
