I know I should probably talk about what I'm thankful for, but I just finished reading Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto, and I just had to say what I'm NOT thankful for. Judging by the title of this post, I think you know what I mean.
I know I don't need to tell you that Communism (on a mass scale that is) is a bad thing and that it doesn't work, but part of my school work is to write about what I read, and I decided I'd put my writing in a post.
First off I'd like to explain my comment in parentheses above. Communism on a national, state, county, or any group of more than say... 20 people, for that matter, will not survive. There must be a common bond between every individual in a Communist society. If there isn't, someone will get lazy. In a family setting Communism is used every day (not in the strictest sense of the term, but bear with me). A family has a common bond: that of love and care for one another.
For example, a father goes to work every day and supplies his family with income. His young children are not able to go to work every day so they are dependents. In a nation ruled by Communism, this would not last long. However, this father is bound to care for and feed his children. He is giving according his ability (out of love and commitment), his children are taking according to their need. Eventually, this father will retire, or will become too sick to provide. At that point, hopefully his children will be able to provide for him in his old age. Now the children are giving according to their ability ( out of love and commitment) and the father is taking according to his need.
The common bond is Love, Care, and Commitment.
Naturally, this isn't exactly the same as the purest form of Communism as suggested by Marx, but you get the point.
Also, there are other common bonds. There are some hippie communes in the backwoods of Missouri where everybody gardens, has long hair and plays drums around the campfire. The common bond here is a particular belief. that belief may be a religion, a view of the environment, it my even be belief in Communism itself! But as I said before, these groups are rarely over 20 people and if they are, they usually don't last long.
If you disagree, please comment, I'd love to hear from you.
And now onto the atrocious statements made by Marx in his book.
when talking about how the current (The Manifesto was written in several editions over the mid 1800s, so keep in mind what "current" means here) general system of economics and government in Europe, Marx states:
"there are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality..."
He then goes on to say that in order to establish Communism as a form of government, you must first use Socialism.
"Of course, in the beginning, this [That is, Communism] cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and o the conditions of bourgeois [that is, the land-owners and upper class] production; by means of measures therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production.
These measures will of course be different in different countries.
Nevertheless, in the most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable:
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public
purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a nationally
bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands
of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state;
the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the
soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies,
especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with the manufacturing industries; gradual
abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more
equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's
factory labor in it's present form. Combination of education with
industrial production &c., &c."
Heavy graduated income tax? Free education in public schools? Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels? Equal liability of all to labour? I don't know about you, but it seems like we're living in a very socialistic society! Now keep in mind it took 150 years for these few of the ten points to become part of American society, and it may take some time to have all ten of these points to become reality, but still!
A 150 year old recommendation coming true is FRIGHTENING!!
And just to prove that Marx never read a bible ( and was a nut):
"Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached in the place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church?"
Oh, and one last thing; the last 6 words in the infamous "The Communist Manifesto":
"WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES,
UNITE!"
The TV box. It's about 4 1/2 feet long!
Here's the real thing. I based my model's paint job of of this picture. This particular Blackbird is being used by NASA for reasearch.
Here she is from the front. The vertical fins are flared outward to deflect radar.
The wings are shaped like trapezoids to deflect and absorb radar waves, shrinking it's radar signiature significantly.
