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Yo bro, I am 2 chapters in now, great book, thanks for the recomendation.
So I can see now why this can leave a bad taste in your mouth as far as socialism/communism goes, and "left" or "progressive" in general.
The first thing I want to point out is that while I consider myself "left" and "progressive" and I think our government needs a healthy dose of socialist programs, I am nothing like the Marxist followers of the 20th century. (e.g. Pol Pot)
Leaders like Lenin and Stalin came to power during an era where you killed people who disagreed with you. There were no issues with rounding up dissenters and shipping them away. As the book mentions, this has its foundations in the Czarist regimes that pre dated the bolsheviks.
It shouldn't matter whether you are right or left, imprisoning people because of their beliefs or simply who they are is criminal.
Also, unlike the Bolsheviks, I do not being Capitalism is inherently evil. I do not think pure Capitalism is healthy either, who would want to live in a world where ideas and people are valued solely by how much money they can bring in?
I do like that Capitalism keeps people motivated and leads to increased productivity (the more you work, the more you can earn).
As I've mentioned before though, people can only make large amount sof money in a Capitalistic society with the help from thousands if not millions of other people. Where socialism comes into play for me is that someone needs to protect and advocate for the people who are not rich, who do not have power. This ends up being the great majority of people.
Capitalism unchecked would lead to a gulag type situation where wages were continually driven lower and lower, to the point where people were working in hopes that they could simply get enough to eat.
I know this is a digresion, but I'll repeat this again. My goals when trying to figure out the "best" government and leadership is to:
1) ensure productivity of the nation
2) reduce poverty and increase prosperity for everyone (particularly the lowest wage earners)
3) maintain individual freedoms
4) ensure equal opportunity for all citizens, regardless of what socio economic status they are born into
I think those goals are best met with a mix of capitalism and socialism. Its a constant balance between what is fair for the individual and what is fair for the community they live in and that ultimately provides them with the means to get educated, secure employment, and conduct business and commerce in an environment that is stable enough to support such activities.
So I can see now why this can leave a bad taste in your mouth as far as socialism/communism goes, and "left" or "progressive" in general.
The first thing I want to point out is that while I consider myself "left" and "progressive" and I think our government needs a healthy dose of socialist programs, I am nothing like the Marxist followers of the 20th century. (e.g. Pol Pot)
Leaders like Lenin and Stalin came to power during an era where you killed people who disagreed with you. There were no issues with rounding up dissenters and shipping them away. As the book mentions, this has its foundations in the Czarist regimes that pre dated the bolsheviks.
It shouldn't matter whether you are right or left, imprisoning people because of their beliefs or simply who they are is criminal.
Also, unlike the Bolsheviks, I do not being Capitalism is inherently evil. I do not think pure Capitalism is healthy either, who would want to live in a world where ideas and people are valued solely by how much money they can bring in?
I do like that Capitalism keeps people motivated and leads to increased productivity (the more you work, the more you can earn).
As I've mentioned before though, people can only make large amount sof money in a Capitalistic society with the help from thousands if not millions of other people. Where socialism comes into play for me is that someone needs to protect and advocate for the people who are not rich, who do not have power. This ends up being the great majority of people.
Capitalism unchecked would lead to a gulag type situation where wages were continually driven lower and lower, to the point where people were working in hopes that they could simply get enough to eat.
I know this is a digresion, but I'll repeat this again. My goals when trying to figure out the "best" government and leadership is to:
1) ensure productivity of the nation
2) reduce poverty and increase prosperity for everyone (particularly the lowest wage earners)
3) maintain individual freedoms
4) ensure equal opportunity for all citizens, regardless of what socio economic status they are born into
I think those goals are best met with a mix of capitalism and socialism. Its a constant balance between what is fair for the individual and what is fair for the community they live in and that ultimately provides them with the means to get educated, secure employment, and conduct business and commerce in an environment that is stable enough to support such activities.
