“…generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you. But it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.” ~ Barack Hussein Obama
Here is a brief history of Communism, and it‘s negative effect on the citizenry who have had to live under it’s oppression. It is vital to understand how dangerous it would be to allow any form of Marxism to attain a foothold in The United States of America.
Let us be clear here, lest some take exception to my characterization of the Soviet Union’s governmental system as Communism. Communism, Socialism, and Marxism are varying extremes of the same concept.
A rose, by any other name…
If you know of anyone who needs to be educated about this evil, please share this post with them. Edit it accordingly if you feel the need.
In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto”, a book which has since become more or less the Socialist’s Bible. In it, Marx and Engels envisioned a society which would be, for all intents and purposes, truly equal.
This profoundly idealistic system of government is best encapsulated in the famous quotation by Marx, "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."
The society which Marx and Engels advocated proposed to eliminate the “divide” between the bourgeois and the proletariat, that is, the ruling class and the labor class. According to the Manifesto, capitalism creates classes among the citizens, and leads to the oppression and exploitation of the lower classes.
Communism, and socialism in general, is designed to cultivate a classless society in which everyone is truly equal, and such social problems as racism, sexism and oppression are eliminated.
The core belief of Socialism hinges upon the idea that no man should be independent, but instead part of a “cooperative” group that wholly depends upon each other to accomplish the goals of the “Collective“.
Let me add here, also, that God has no place in Marx’s concept of Communism. Communism is a necessarily atheistic system.
It is a noble idea, and, were it possible, would be a Utopian form of Government. A Government in which all citizens would have equal opportunity to become self sufficient. However, as was soon discovered, the Utopia of Socialism proved to be, and always will be, virtually impossible. Indeed, it was self sufficiency itself that was most problematic to this Utopian ideology.
In 1917, Vladimir I. Lenin took the basic principles of the Communist Manifesto, and bastardized them, creating through force, a Socialist government in Russia.
This emergence of Communism, as a “legitimate” government, was accomplished during what is known as the Bolshevik Revolution, in which Lenin led a revolution against the czar, Queen Alexandra, catching the monarchy off guard during World War One. After three years of struggle, Lenin finally took control.
The revolution itself costs thousands of lives, but the following years proved to be much more deadly to Russia’s citizens.
During the ensuing years, an increasingly paranoid Lenin instigated what is known as “The Purge”, in which thousands of Russian citizens were rounded up and placed in gulags (also known as “re-education camps“) in Siberia, where they were tortured, sometimes for decades and often resulting in a painful and prolonged death. Others were lucky by comparison. They were simply executed, often times without the formality of a trial, or even any evidence of wrong doing. People were routinely executed and tortured for very minor offenses.
Naturally, what misgivings the Russian people may have had about this new system of government were effectively squelched. It became life threatening to complain about the government’s policies.
In all, it has been estimated that Lenin and his successor, Josef Stalin, exterminated 20 million or more Russian citizens, often for the crime of merely thinking negative thoughts about the ruling Politburo, which was by that time, a devastatingly repressive dictatorship.
The Communist government was characterized by repression, oppression, and depression, both economic and physical.
In the schools, students were indoctrinated into the Socialist theory of Government, and were instructed not to doubt the party’s stated intentions. Eventually, any student that departed from the party line could have been punished, often by torture or death, depending on the severity of the perceived offense.
In an effort to eliminate any possible dissent, citizens were encouraged to report any suspicious talk or activity by their neighbors and friends to the police, and were rewarded if they did, and often punished if there were any suspicions by the Government police that they knew about said offense but failed to report them.
Newspapers were expressly forbidden to write about anything without approval of the state, under penalty of law. Citizens were forbidden to listen to radio and television programs that originated outside the Soviet union, and if discovered, were subject to be sentenced to abnormally long prison sentences.
National Elections did not offer a choice of candidates. The only choice citizens had was between yes, do you affirm this candidate or no, you don’t. Ballots were open so election officials knew how one voted. Voting was potentially dangerous.
Children were trained for whatever occupation the ruling party deemed appropriate, regardless of the child’s aptitude or desire. For instance, a child may be blessed with a talent for art, but if the party decided the child should be a bricklayer, the child’s aspiration to art would be squelched in favor of creating a career as a productive bricklayer.
Citizens were told what to do, what not to do, how much they were allowed to earn, where they could or could not go, and in many cases, with whom they could associate. And they were threatened with punishment if they failed to comply.
Every aspect of life in Communist Russia was intensely monitored and scrutinized. One could not trust friends, neighbors, or even family to keep secret anything expressly forbidden by the Communist party.
No one was allowed to own property. No one was allowed to have more money than his neighbors. Anyone who was found to be hoarding any money, food, or goods not approved by the state had their money or property confiscated, and were often imprisoned.
The people of Russia soon became ensconced in poverty, mostly because the Government leaders took more money from them through excessive taxation than they could afford to part with, and used the ill gotten gains to lead exceedingly extravagant lifestyles. Each person, whether educated or not, skilled or not, lived on a limited income. All people earned the same amount of income regardless of their abilities. And this income was not adequate to live comfortably. Meanwhile, the Russian leaders lived sumptuously off the labor of the ordinary citizens.
Karl Marx's concept of equality was ignored by those in power.
This resulted in a lack of incentive and an apathetic attitude towards industriousness.
And a pervading feeling of hopelessness.
In short, freedoms were limited to the point of absurdity in the interest of maintaining order.
Other repressive Socialist systems of government, some better, some worse, still exist in some countries in the world, such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and Venezuela. Like the USSR, all have failed to create a successful working model of Marx’s idealistic vision of Utopia.
In China there is currently mandatory abortion. That's not choice.
None can duplicate, or even come close to the freedoms we enjoy as free Americans.
There are several schools of thought on the eventual cause of the failure of Socialism to live up to the ideals proposed by Karl Marx, but in the end, I would have to say that the root cause of Socialism’s failure is the fact that people are simply not wired to be equal. It is unfortunate, but true. While some people are ambitious, others are complacent. While some are hard working, others are lazy. Some people are content with things as they are, while others are continually striving for bigger and better opportunities.
All men are created equal, but no man can be coerced into equality. It is not the government’s right to dictate the dispersal of wealth to the people. Nor is it their right to deny basic human rights to any individual based on class distinctions and level of wealth.
Man has the inherent right to be what he can be, and no entity, regardless of intent, may usurp that right.
And yet, this type of Government is exactly the type of government Barack Hussein Obama has in mind for the people of the United States of America. The words and phrases he himself has used in his speeches and interviews are damning evidence of his true vision for an American utopia.
Words such as “redistribution” and “middle class” and phrases such as “Spreading the wealth” and “social and economic justice” are indicative of the kind of language employed by what I call “closeted Socialists“.
Those are Obama’s words.
Now that Barack Hussein Obama is President-elect of The United States of America, many of the freedoms we now take for granted may be suppressed. Fortunately, he didn't get the filibuster-proof majority in Congress he needs to literally "change" America to his Utopian vision of a Marxist America. But he can do some serious damage to the country, nevertheless.
Make no mistake. Obama does not have the country's best interest at heart. His motivation is power. Power for himself. He desires control, above everything else. He places utmost importance on his personal power, rather than the power of a free society. Indeed, a free society is in direct juxtaposition to Obama‘s aspirations.
Like Vladimir Lenin, Obama will ignore the equalateral society envisioned by Marx.
He wants you to be subservient to the state. The state, according to the typical Marxist, is to be your God.
Mr. Obama may try to control our people, but he cannot control our minds. He may break our backs, but he will never break our spirit.
Regardless, whatever transpires in the coming Presidential election, one positive remains:
Americans will rise to the occasion. Despite being bruised, battered, and bloody, tyranny shall be defeated, and this nation, under God, will emerge victorious.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTell me where can one run into Big Brother? Here, where lips say "first amendment" but the tongue is forked.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteYou say faith is incompatible with socialism but give no reason why. The position on religion by Marx and Engels was that the conservatism of faith kept the proletariat in thrall to the owners of production who provided them with places of worship.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that, I don't think you know how to make a case that socialism cannot tolerate religion. After all, Sweden, Norway, Denmark are all exceptionally Lutheran countries, Cuba stopped harassing the Roman Catholic church in 1991, and no one is going to get Roman Catholicism out of Venezuela and Bolivia.
Pathetic historical regression devoid of reality, constructed on fear and anxiety of bearded ghosts.
Such is the rump of right-wing politics today.
"Do you think we should allow people to put pornography on the air? Absolutely not, particularly on television and radio... the very same people that don't want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC to limit pornography on the air. I am for that. I think pornography should be limited. But you can't say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you're allowed to intervene in another. That's not consistent."
ReplyDelete--Senator Charles Schumer, comparing Talk Radio to pornography; and as such, in need of "regulation".
We can say Socialism doesn't tolerate faith by previous and current communistic states' position on faith. Faith was not tolerated at all; it was persecuted. Abused.
ReplyDeleteLook at Canada. The Church is persecuted for taking a stand on homosexuality. Hate Crime, they call it.
Can it happen here? Do you even care?
Canada.
ReplyDeleteWestern capitalist country.
Aimless Ulysses slips and says that capitalist democracies are anti-religion.
The Church is persecuted for taking a stand on homosexuality.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a solid example of one such incidence of "persecution" of Christians in Canada? (I'd prefer something from a commission or court, itself, or some fairly reliable media - not WND or other biased source).
ONCE "Capitalist." Still to some measure, "Capitalist." Slipping into Socialism with hate-crimes legislation, and socialized healthcare.
ReplyDeleteMark Steyn was subjected to a court trial for daring to speak negatively of Islam.
Do your own leg-work of the other.
Uh....who said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses"?
ReplyDeleteAs I said, God has no place in Socialism.
Yeh, Mark, you can believe all you want in a white bearded God, but no one is going to really think that what you think actually affects the reality of Christian faith.
ReplyDeleteMarx said it for reasons I mentioned. But his view of the role of religion does not have a place in the theoretical structure of socialism and its operations.
As a matter of fact, the extent to which the Soviet Communist Party repressed religion reveals the degree to which it continually sacrificed proletariat interest to their interests in ruling. For such reasons, people who have actually studied socialism (as opposed to kitchen counter bloggers) call Soviet Communism, "state owned capitalism."
Marx also said that Berlin's pigeons were the worst in Europe. I'd love to see your mind on display telling us how that fits into your "understanding" of socialism?
"Marx said it for reasons I mentioned. But his view of the role of religion does not have a place in the theoretical structure of socialism and its operations."
ReplyDeleteYes, that's what I said. Did you interpret the words, "God has no place in Marx’s concept of Communism" differently?
White bearded God? Where did you get that from anything I have said? I suppose, if God wants to have a white beard, or a black beard, or a purple beard, or no beard at all, He can. Personally, I think God transends physical appearance.
Who are you to say He doesn't have a white beard anyway?
By the way, Feo, aren't you recovered sufficiently to go back to work yet? Or have you quit work, expecting him to give you everything you used to work for, as so many Obama worshippers are?
ReplyDeleteEL, exactly! Don't tear down religion and democracies wont put you on trial.
ReplyDeleteIt's all you anti-religious anger that is so especially
disconcerting.
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ReplyDeleteMark, who hates to have to match wits in a discussion, turns into a sophomore again.
ReplyDeleteI am a lazy unemployed layabout. And I'm in a commentary thread with you.
ReplyDeleteHumm.
And what are you?
It's that sharp mind of yours
at work again.
Mark, you're weaseling. You wrote:
ReplyDelete"Let me add here, also, that God has no place in Marx’s concept of Communism. Communism is a necessarily atheistic system."
Now you are recognizing your overreach and trying to say that Marx simply did not have a place to put God.
Let's put in a way you can read:
1. Marx was anti-religious.
2. Socialism and its various forms are not "necessarily atheistic."
3. "He" is not God.
4. To talk about God having whatever beard God so chooses is to talk like a nine year old.
"Don't tear down religion and democracies wont put you on trial."
ReplyDeleteAnd what of freedom of speech? Is it illegal to have an opinion about the validity of another faith? Say, Islam?
If the God of the Bible is the only God, and there is no other way to heaven but through the sacrifice of Jesus, then Islam is a false religion.
And to blare such beliefs in the open marketplace outside of a context of mutual engagement and respect is false Christianity.
ReplyDeletePaul engaged in the marketplace of ideas, using Greek philosophical and theological discourse to connect and persuade.
First, appreciate the fine points of Islam and then engage in love.
That is being a Christian.
Not hollering from the depths of dogmatism.
You do not pattern yourselves after the very models you claim.
Whited sepulchers.
"2. Socialism and its various forms are not "necessarily atheistic.""
ReplyDeleteIt most certainly is, as Marx envisioned it, and as Lenin enforced it.
Let's get one thing straight:
Marx envisioned a collective utopia, wherein every person is equal. Lenin attempted to implement that philosophy, but upon finding out it is impossible to achieve by people who are diverse in as many different ways as there are grains of sand on a beach, tried to force equality on the people.
Obama has the same dream cultivated from studying the works of Marx, and Alinsky, and listening to various Marxist mentors throughout his formative years. And he appears to naively believe it can still work.
"4. To talk about God having whatever beard God so chooses is to talk like a nine year old."
Oh that's right. Go for the cheap ad hominen attack instead of addressing the point. That's ok. Thats what all so-called intellectuals do when they can't win an argument. You are in good company with the likes of Keith Overbite and Chris "Screwball on Screwball" Matthews.
You are beginning to bore me. Go back to work.
I'm doing the Lord's work.
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating that Mark completely ignores Feodor's estimable point that such nations as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are officially Lutheran while having robust socialist polities. He continues to write about Marx and Lenin, while ignoring the current reality that religion exists in all sorts of variations in all sorts of polities. Ours is officially a secular nation, yet one of the most robustly religious in the world. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is not descending anywhere, except perhaps finally throwing off the horrid weight of "lone superpower", and becoming just one among the 200 or so nation-states on the planet. It will be nice to be just another place, better than most, worse than a few, for a change. We will not have to worry so much about what others do, how they organize their lives, and can be America without worrying that China, say, or Venezuela isn't America enough.
By the way, Marx was quite correct in his description of the religion of his day being the opiate of the people. For many, it still is. This is hardly an atheistic statement, since many Christians over the centuries have said, roughly, the same thing. I see no reason in the world why anyone should get their panties in a wad about it.
Meanwhile, Russia, having turned heavily capitalist and hard back to Orthodoxy Christianity, is an increasing threat to NATO.
ReplyDeleteFeodor said:
ReplyDelete"You say faith is incompatible with socialism but give no reason why."
I can. Socialism is IMPOSSIBLE among imperfect humankind. As long as there is greed and humankind is motivated by it, socialism will never succeed.
I do believe we'll one day live under a perfect socialism, however. When he who is perfect rules the earth.
I know y'all think that means Obama, but some of us are waaaay more realistic than that.
Mark said:
ReplyDelete"God has no place in Socialism."
On this earth, Mark. As long as humans rule it. And until Christ reigns, that's what it will be...humans ruling it.
al-ozarka, which in Arabic means "from the Ozarks," says from one side of his mouth that socialism is heaven...
ReplyDeleteand then from the other that we should not work toward it.
That is the exact same stance o Soviet Communism.
Congratulations, someone here finally understands something.
Too bad it wasn't you, Feodor...
ReplyDeleteToo difficult for your to grasp, ain't it, Feodor?
ReplyDeleteFeodor said:
ReplyDelete"al-ozarka, which in Arabic means "from the Ozarks..."
If that ain't an occasion for a "d-uh!", there never was one!
Thanks to my pal, Truth-Pain for inspiring the name...I love it!
Kind of weird to see you guys reveling in Soviet Communism.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I would think that you both are the kind of guys that know the slogan, "What Would Jesus Do?" is precisely a call to work to make heaven active here on earth while acknowledging that perfection will never arrive.
Perhaps you can mature from your commie obsession that sells a false heaven so cheaply and pick up the heavy work of Jesus: housing the homeless, taking in the widows and orphans, sharing what all have together so that all have something.
You'll find this in your New Testament, when you read it.
Feodor spouted:
ReplyDelete"...sells a false heaven so cheaply..."
I thought you hippies were all about hope and change, Feodora!
I'm appalled!
I keep forgetting that the saviour has arrived.
He'll be annointed in January, right?
"Perhaps you can mature from your commie obsession that sells a false heaven so cheaply and pick up the heavy work of Jesus: housing the homeless, taking in the widows and orphans, sharing what all have together so that all have something."
ReplyDeleteFeo, I am continually surprised at your ignorance. Yes, we are to house the homeless, take in widows and orphans, share, etc.
But we are supposed to do those things VOLUNTARILY!!! We are not to be forced to do any of those things against our will. The belief that God needs government to mandate what we should do voluntarily demonstrates a lack of faith in a God Who can make that work without governments help.
God, Mark, you sound like a four year old who refuses to be potty trained. Using the toilet is the right thing to do, your will has nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd who said anything about a belief that God needs a country to do anything? That's your anger and paranoia putting words in our mouths. But try to weasel out of this: Paul says God uses a country to do lots of things, Romans 13:1-6.
So you can help yourself by seeing yourself as being used by God via Barack Obama.
It's a lot healthier... and Biblical
I sincerely doubt God uses Obama. God would never advocate killing babies.
ReplyDeleteYou're the one who applies the common sense of the Bible literally. Are you just going to ignore it here?
ReplyDeleteOf does this part not apply to now (which is doing what I have always suggested we do with scripture: interpret it).
Mark, Excellent post. JWR has an article on OB's appointments. I think it was yesterday or day before. Also a great read....much discord here....I think you are spot on....stay well...
ReplyDelete