[lbo-talk] The shortest descriptions I could come up with for capitalism, socialism and communism

Doug Starkey ricardostarkey at aol.com
Thu Apr 2 19:14:06 PDT 2015


I'm a very longtime reader who virtually never writes in. I had a moment of inspiration with the help of a little legal medical marijuana which is thankfully easily available here in Santa Cruz.

I tried to use as few words as possible.

Capitalism is where everyone looks out for himself because he knows that there is no such thing as society. There are only individuals in competition with each other over resources that will always be scarce because human greed is bottomless. If it weren’t for organized groups of armed men enforcing laws designed by our betters, assholes would be rampant. God made us this way, and He brought us to capitalism. There is no alternative.

Socialism is where everyone looks out for each other because she knows that the organized people will deal justly but firmly with the few assholes in need of re-education who refuse to cooperate. 99% of people are good, social humans who want to contribute to everyone’s wellbeing because they seek social approval, and would naturally become contributors rather than parasites if nurtured by a society run by the people who actually do the work.

Communism is where everyone looks out for each other because she understands that every member of our species is our sister or brother. There are no assholes, there are only certain people who need more help than others. On this tiny speck in the universe that could possibly contain the only life conscious of itself, all living things are like leaves on an ancient family tree, and we owe it to each other to be helpful.

Doug



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