“The Pagans celebrated the solstice by cutting down holly and ivy and dragging it into their homes along with a giant yule log that they’d set fire to. It sounds rubbish, but with no app store to speak of, killing trees and plants was as good as entertainment got. Even at Christmas.” – Cunk on Earth
Or, as every person forced to live in communism called him at Christmas: “Hungry Santa”.
One of the things that I have done many times over the years is note that communism (Leftism) is a religion. It’s why the joke about “Real Communism has never been tried” is funny – the people who say that actually believe it. Beyond that, they actually believe, deeply, in communism.
It’s their faith.
Just like Christians believe in Christ returning to do stuff and then give us paradise, commies really believe that when Real Communism is finally implemented, the world will be safe for losers like them.
Communism depends on the rank and file believing that they’re not the problem, everyone else is. If everyone realized what a great talent they are, well, that stupid high school quarterback would be happy to clomp back into the mines and fields and factories humming the tune the loser wrote. The loser believes that centralized processes are better: if it works for me, it should work for everyone.
Apparently, the Soviets did one thing right: they made the best bread in history. Why, people would wait in line for days just for a single piece.
So what if a few million peasants starved? That’s a small price to pay for the coming workers’ utopia. There can be no compromise in our vision of the exact same prosperity for everyone, since our vision is perfection!
Yup, that’s communism in a nutshell. It has no real empirical evidence that it could ever work, yet it gets trotted out by the losers again and again. The problem isn’t with the plan, it’s that:
- The people sabotaged it!
- Foreign countries sabotaged it!
- The time wasn’t right!
- We ran out of people to kill!
- I swear, the dog ate the economy!
The result is always the same, a priestly class who aims to reeducate (convert) everyone to the religion of materialism. The end result of this – unless it’s stopped by a Stalin – is the endless Leftist Purity Spiral where there is no Leftism so far Left that it can’t be exaggerated further Left, and anyone to the right of this Left position is a heretic. As I mentioned, this was happening in the Soviet Union until Stalin just shot all the people on the far Left to stabilize the nonsense.
I was going to tell an awful bowling joke, but I’ll spare you.
One side note: I was watching the comedy Silicon Valley several years ago, and one of the characters said he followed the “left-hand path” which is a loser way of saying, “Satanist”. Just noting, Leftist, left-hand path . . . I’ll leave that there for you to draw your own conclusions.
Regardless, a lot if not all, of the problems we face in society today is due to Communism or it’s kid brother, Socialism attempting to put a central control on everything we do and think to conform to their current Narrative.
But I’d like to take a step back, since often libertarians (or Libertarians) make the same error: they equate magical powers to the market.
I remember my parents telling me, “I’ll give you something to cry about” when I was a kid. I expected a spanking, but instead they ruined the housing market.
And, yes, I’ll agree. The free market is so much better than the planned markets put together by commissars in Central People’s Warehouse No. 49, and has historically provided an abundance of “stuff”. Milton Friedman famously said, “In capitalism, goods wait for people; in socialism, people wait for good.”
It’s true. It’s also true that, just as communism is a poor religion, so is capitalism. Capitalism isn’t a religion, it isn’t a force, it has no morality, it’s a mechanism for distributing points.
Capitalism doesn’t care what it creates, as long as the points are properly distributed.
Probably the most free-market period in the history of the United States was during the frontier. Don’t want money, well, you could move out west, fend mostly for yourself, farm, and not worry (too much) about needing money. If you wanted money, you could get it by mining, trapping, killing buffalo or making railroads. Nobody stopped you doing almost anything if you were far enough out in front of civilization. But after towns sprang up?
When I was leaving home today, I had the feeling I’d forgotten something. Then I remembered. The Alamo.
Your friends and neighbors had a vote. Capitalism and free markets were constrained by morality, specifically Christianity. Was there booze? Drugs? Prostitution? Porn? Yes, those things were with us and have been with us.
But society was more cohesive at that time, and would shun the immoral, if they didn’t deal with them in extrajudicial ways. Laws weren’t required to constrain capitalism, the morality of the people constrained capitalism – actual religion took the place of economic religion.
Real capitalism isn’t a religion, and it won’t solve problems. And, yes real capitalism has been tried and is very successful when practiced by a more-or-less moral people, though the version that we have here in 2024 isn’t real capitalism. Examples?
- Regulations
- Taxation
- Labor Laws
- Federal Reserve Interest Rates
- Federal Reserve Cash Printing
- Welfare/Transfer Payments
- Government Spending (Education, infrastructure, defense)
- Unchecked Immigration
The last one is favored by many Libertarians. They note that in a market free of all of the other bullet points, well, just let anyone in. My response is that most people in the world don’t really want to be free people living in freedom: Most people in the world would just rather have free stuff.
Boeing®, putting the “final” in final approach.
That means creeping centralization and an amoral government bent on taking from one group to give to another, and the same material god that is worshipped by communists everywhere. But no one can say that the far Left is in a hurry – they keep Stalin.
“The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.” – Milton Freidman
And yet, when presented with freedom, people keep coming up with things like zoning.
As a left-hander, I want to file a formal protest because everyone refers to everything bad as “leftist”, “left hand path”, etc. etc. I am micro-aggressed and will hold my breath until the situation changes. Those f_ckers need to choose their own descriptor/pronouns as opposed to confiscating from those of us who just happen to have opposite brain dominance.
I find your statement rather sinister.
Well played.
That comment was rather gauche.
Hehehe! Ma Wilder was a leftie, too. Had a hell of a time teaching me to tie my shoes.
The beauty of libertarianism is that unlike communism, it really never has been tried and so therefore it is all theoretical. It sounds great on paper until you meet people.
Amen to that. I used to consider myself a 3/4 libertarian, largely due to the influence of some sci-fi books written by L. Neil Smith (sp?). He painted a very nice picture of a libertarian world, but the reason I never fully took the plunge, is that I couldn’t see how some of what he described could actually happen (mainly because people are a-holes and inherently evil). The free trade thing was the big bugaboo for me as libertarians claimed it is good for everyone as it will offer lower prices (for example) but it never addressed the fact that no one can afford those cheaper goods if there is no manufacturing left to provide meaningful employment. There is an ideal world and there is reality, and an effective form of government has to be able to answer to both.
The rugged individualists failed to organize.
“There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.” – Sir Pterry
I’d say that the early American frontier was pretty close to true libertarianism – it works when there is 20 miles between neighbors.
Libertarianism sounds great, until you realize that the people most supportive of it want the freedom to foul the air, the water, and the land before they move on. And, the neighborhood (with immigration).
“The imperium, gentlemen, is not lines on a quarterly ledger nor yearly elections. It is our children and grandchildren; our posterity. The empress, my mother, lets local communities decide for themselves.” Crown Prince Robert looked around at the Texas Board of Trade, his eyes lingering on Ben Rubin. “We will invade your country before that is altered.” ~ “Obligations of Rank,” Part One.
Bravo. You need to leave links!!!!
I recently re-read Rod Dreher’s book Live Not By Lies. People who are for the idea of communism have never studied the actual history of communism. Sadly, most of them will fail to educate themselves until they live through it.
They’re certain they’ll be poets and Marxist theorists rather than being in the mines or plant food.
Belief that the Non-Aggression Principle could possibly work is as much a religious belief as the delusional pipe dream of “real communism”.
Yeah, when I was younger I really liked the NAP. Then I met people.
Regulations, Taxation, Labor Laws, Federal Reserve Interest Rates, Federal Reserve Cash Printing, Welfare/Transfer Payments, Government Spending (Education, infrastructure, defense), Unchecked Immigration
The last one is favored by many Libertarians. They note that in a market free of all of the other bullet points, well, just let anyone in.
It is not possible for one human population to avoid competition from another human population. If you temporarily set up an iron curtain, the people outside grow in wealth and tech past you, then make war on you, which you lose. Just ask the Aztecs.
L. Neil Smith was a pacifist. He didn’t approve of any collateral damage, therefore the colonists could not shoot back at Lexington Green, which was in the middle of town. He never found an answer for this. The answer is, the actual way you’re being judged is evolutionary success, and therefore the principle should be that NAP is a strategy, not a straitjacket. The NAP is a statement where you advertise about your personal peaceful foreign policy towards other humans. The mere words on paper restrain no other persons, you have to actually defend yourself.
What do you mean, “no manufacturing left to provide meaningful employment”. Did somebody take away your hammer, saw, and shovel? You can always produce items useful to you, like food and shelter.
Yes, but the current reality requires taxes on all manner of property – even the Amish have to knuckle under to keep their farms.
Communism mandates cannibalism if the group decide it’s necessary. It’s like a Vulcan principles applied in Haiti.
Jess
I think communism always ends in cannibalism.
Regulations, Taxation, Labor Laws, Federal Reserve Interest Rates, Federal Reserve Cash Printing, Welfare/Transfer Payments, Government Spending (Education, infrastructure, defense), Unchecked Immigration
The last one is favored by many Libertarians. They note that in a market free of all of the other bullet points, well, just let anyone in.
It is not possible for one human population to avoid competition from another human population. If you temporarily set up an iron curtain, the people outside grow in wealth and tech past you, then make war on you, which you lose. Just ask the Aztecs.
L. Neil Smith was a pacifist. He didn’t approve of any collateral damage, therefore the colonists could not shoot back at Lexington Green, which was in the middle of town. He never found an answer for this. The answer is, the actual way you’re being judged is evolutionary success, and therefore the principle should be that NAP is a strategy, not a straitjacket. The NAP is a statement where you advertise about your personal peaceful foreign policy towards other humans. The mere words on paper restrain no other persons, you have to actually defend yourself.
What do you mean, “no manufacturing left to provide meaningful employment”. Did somebody take away your hammer, saw, and shovel? You can always produce items useful to you, like food and shelter.
“not possible for one human population to avoid competition from another human population”
Fuck’s sake. As a Chinaman (genetically) “my people” are never going to out sprint West Africans, out-marathon East Africans from the Great Rift, out-strongman Nordics. In the same way, a bunch of literal retards from say the Congo are never going to out-innovate heritage Americans, out-engineer Germans or Japanese. Because in all these cases the substrate Just Is Not There.
The way Congolese can beat us is if assholes subsidize the importation them into the West, and dump them in Berlin, in Copenhagen, in bloody Peoria. (Less of a problem in East Asia because they are generally suspicious of outsiders, purely despise negroes, and are less controlled by Jews.) But the imported Congolese won’t “win” by suddenly becoming smart, disciplined, and noncorrupt. They win by being an economic drag (see who controls us for why the majority of our idiot social welfare policies — and we can blame “we are all equally brothers in Jesus” evangelicals too), by violent crime, and general shitty behavior. And by outbreeding the high IQ, low time-preference (ie capable of planning and patience) local, heritage people.
It’s not just “Congolese”. So the other day a friend called me to see if I could help a young MD from an Arab country get hired. Call the guy Hassan. Hassan is here in the US on a (bogus) H1 visa. (He has no real skills; although he has an MD from back home, he hasn’t even done an internship. And he’s never had a real job. He’s been the privileged son of a surgeon back home, and just went to school his whole life.) Hassan got the H1 because someone was using him as free labor.
The H1 grantor is pulling Hassan’s sponsorship which means he has 60 days to find some entity to sponsor his H1 status. My friend tells me that it was pretty clear in December that this was going to happen. Did Hassan start looking elsewhere for visa support? Try to improve (okay build) his skills and therefore value? Nope. He used daddy’s money to buy his sponsor luxury goods. A Tumi bag, Mont Blanc pen, expensive “status” shit like that. Because that’s how you gain favor where he grew up. My friend told me this and I exploded (I’d listened and even made suggestions about how to help Hassan for nearly an hour so far). “He bought fucking Mont Blanc for REDACTED? Now I’m completely against this guy. Do you understand why?” Friend allowed he didn’t. “Because Hassan made it clear that he operates based on an entirely different set of values and what’s considered normal behavior. I don’t want shithead baksheesh culture in my country. I don’t want people who operate by shithead principles in my country. Hassan needs to go home, be a rich man’s son there, and good luck to him. But he doesn’t belong here.”
In case it’s not clear, I have no personal animus toward Hassan. He might be a nice guy. But he has the wrong operating system to live in my civilization, namely the West. Persons are not fungible. We are not interchangeable because we differ in culture. Even though I’m genetically Chinese, I fit in better in heritage US, Canada, the bloody Nordic nations for that matter, than I do in East Asia. (If it sounds like I’m undermining my own point, maybe so, but the point is that I’m culturally Western, and specifically best fit to high-trust, Protestant-origin societies than to say Korea, Japan, and especially not China. Basically I’m a mutant. Been told that to my face mostly by Chinese, and by Koreans. And they’re correct.)
Genetic substrate matters. Culture matters. YOU may see each person as an individual. But the Chinaman is going to see you as a big nose (assuming you’re white; no chinaman uses “round eye” — that’s made up by white people). The Japanese will see you as a foreign monkey. Someone will see you as a subhuman goy that exists only to serve him. The African “immigrant” like the Gypsy, sees you as “meat” to be drained of wealth and resources. You can chose to ignore tribe, but the rest of the world is tribal. And frankly, if the nations of the West are to survive, whites need to tribe up. You can bet your ass the Japanese, the Koreans, and the Chinese are tribed up.
Of course humans act tribal, it’s genetically-coded instinct. So is Communism, it’s a great ape tribe with two million times more members. I suspect, the parts of your reply which you believe are strongest, I see as a straw man. Your reply designs adaptations to the continuance of a bunch of government behaviors which I want to jettison. Let’s try a 90 degree turn, and cover new ground other than, ‘libertarianism is just a willfully-blind-smart-people form of ringing doorbells on your block to get out the vote’.
What I believe will work is for libertarians to actually defend themselves from the depredations of other humans. Actually behave like you understand how government is an organized crime gang. Then, when someone enters North America whose culture you don’t like, you are free to not work with him. So free you can post his picture on a website and report I’m not working with him after workplace observations A, B, C.
Last year, Illinois passed new gun registration and ban laws. 98% of the population allegedly possessing said guns declined to obey. You may have observed the lack of door-to-door gun raids in Illinois to enforce this law. Your theory of politics says big government can’t be resisted because government has tanks, fighter jets, missiles, and homoerotic training regimes. Yet the logistic requirements to defend against government sufficiently well to ignore it are so small you can’t see them from the street. Please adjust your theory of politics so it makes predictions which match these observations.
Similar gun registration with similarly low compliance occurred in Connecticut in 2014, in that instance sending out 250,000 registered letters to suspected gun owners. I wonder which registration scheme told them where to send the letters?
“Your theory of politics says big government can’t be resisted because government has tanks, fighter jets, missiles”
Is that to me? Hahaha! Did I say that? (No, for the record, since you’re clearly projecting your obsession onto me.) It’s an idiotic thing to think, much less say. I’d sooner say “Ninety percent of capital-L Libertarians are socially-retarded high-IQ weirdos who should be put (collectively, heh) into a large sack. Said sack then to be weighted, tied off, and dropped into the middle of the Pacific.”
——
Sorry, John. You’re a polite, reasonable guy and run a polite, decent site. I apologize for my sarcasm on your “front porch”. And I should know better (and should have known better the other day) than to even engage. But this latest I couldn’t resist. And I cede The Last Word to my Anon friend. Out.
Don’t know why the first one got stuck in moderation. I approved it yesterday. Sigh.
General like-age on posts and comments doesn’t seem to work anymore, logged in or otherwise. So consider this a general response of 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 for the post & many of the comments.
I’m gonna shrug on that one – seems to be entirely a WordPress thing. And they don’t like me.
Communism is the religion that believes all happiness comes from material things.
Capitalism is the system of economics that believes that people should be able to have whatever they can attain, by turning them loose to do so.
The latter need not be practiced as a religion, and is invariably perverted by doing so.
The former has to supplant all religion, and be practiced like one, and even then it still fails, because it’s based on a false premise.
Half the world has been enslaved for a century and more fundamentally because Karl Marx was a lazy and dissatisfied glutton trying to rationalize why he couldn’t get what he wanted, contrary to reality, and less allergic to a pen than to sweat.
Well said. It is the worst of the two. But being a slave to either is still being a slave. (And I’m a confirmed capitalist supporter)