Originally Posted by
time4fun
Congratulations- you have demonstrated that you have nothing to offer.
But I'll help you out here. The problem with Communist and Socialist countries during the Cold War wasn't the socialism/economic systems. After all, China has a socialist economy, and it's the second largest economy in the world. At the time Russia had one of the biggest economies in the world.
It was exactly what I already brought up (which you apparently missed or didn't understand): they weren't (and still aren't) free societies. THAT'S what was, and is, wrong with them.
They are, and were, under single party rule and had no democratic form of government. Even today, Russia *technically* has a democracy, but the government has full control over the elections and is a big fan of adding ballots. And the Legislative bodies are terrified of defying Putin because they tend to disappear when they do (which means the leader of the country also controls the legislature with fear...which should sound really familiar). China technically has multiple parties, but the Chinese Communist Party is the official state party. It directs everything, and the other political parties are allowed to exist as long as they don't act like opposition parties. And the Chinese Communist Party ultimately determines the highest levels of leadership in the country (not on paper but absolutely in practice).
And here's why this matters: because somewhere along the way you all got your brains scrambled and started believing that Capitalism meant libertarianism, and that socialism refers to the government providing social services to its people. And now you, for absolutely insane and inexplicable reasons, have decided that helping people in need is evil and oppression. But having government that provides services to its people was A) never something exclusive to socialist/communist countries AT ALL and B) not remotely why people attacked those systems of government to begin with.
Actually what was, and is, wrong with the truly socialist and communist countries is the lack of free and fair elections for the highest levels of office, the existence of either an official or defacto state party, and the lack of free press and an independent judiciary. They're the same things that are wrong with Poland (which is turning into a crisis in the EU) and Hungary.
And it's literally what the GOP has been focusing on. Gerrymandering states so heavily that the opposition party needs 70% of the vote to control 50% of the seats. Massive voter suppression initiatives aimed at disenfranchising groups that are less likely to vote for them. Stacking the Courts with highly ideological judges, many of whom are unqualified for the job but who can be counted on to render certain decisions. Attacking the free press and calling them "the enemy of the people". And trying to overturn legitimate democratic elections in order to ensure their President can stay in power, despite the will of the people.
So not only do none of you actually know what Marxism, Socialism, or Communism is. You've completely missed the point of why people have been so against those things. In fact the party you support has become increasingly anti-democratic and is doing the same things that turned people against real Socialist/Communist/Marxist countries.
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