“Trump …. attacking Democrats as communists”

Reached this point in the thread and it is apparent that most of those on the right really don’t know what Communist means, what it is, or the fact it and the term’s application is history. It would be similar to Trump calling Democrats Bolsheviks

So how can anyone get stirred up over a politician employing an irrelevant and antiquated term to describe another? Doesn’t it reflect upon the intelligence and depth of reasoning of those voters Trump and politicians employing it are hoping to enlist?

 

It is like saying Marxism is like Fascism even though Marxist/Communist political theory is the opposite of Fascist/National Socialist political theory.

"'The eradication of state power' which as a 'parasitic excrescence'; it's 'amputation'; it's 'destruction'; 'state power is now becoming outmoded'; these are the expressions used by Marx about the state when appraising and analyzing the experience of the commune." All this was written a little less than half a century ago; and now it is like having to carry out excavations in order to bring a knowledge of undistorted Marxism to the broad masses." THE STATE AND REVOLUTION, VI Lenin, Penguin, 1992 p. 49.

Which is not to say that "Marxists/Communists" had not already developed politically expedient amnesia by the time Lenin created the USSR.

 

Kasich and RFK Jr are straight talkers.
IOW, they are probably unelectable. Alas.

 

Not to anyone with critical thought. Taxing something doesn't abolish it. You can't possibly be serious. Taxing income does not abolish income. You still have income.

We do not have open borders now, though we did for most of our country's history, and no, I don't support completely open borders.

I can tell you haven't actually read either the Communist Manifesto or the prerequisite Das Kapital. I've also written more to criticize both than you ever will.

 

Article goes into the history of Socialism and Communism.

'Do Republicans Know What Communism Is?'

'Some Republicans have taken to calling Democrats “communists.” It betrays a willful historical ignorance.'

snips:

'It’s not just Trump throwing the term around. One of his favorite Republican acolytes, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, calls Democrats — all of them, not just some of them — communists all the time (most recently in her speech to a white-nationalist group, in which she referred to “Democrats, who are the Communist Party of the United States of America”). When Republicans lost two Senate seats and control of the upper chamber in Greene’s home state in January 2021, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem called the winning Democratic candidates communists.'

snip:

'There is not a single Democratic political figure in the United States who espouses anything resembling communism as defined above (note to Trump, Greene, and Noem!). “Socialists” in any meaningful sense are few and far between and are certainly rare when compared to the members of left-of-center major political parties in democratic European nations. Whole tomes have been written about why socialism as it is generally known, much less communism, never took root in this country. One factor was the lack of rigid class distinctions based on precapitalist feudal systems; another was the early emergence of democratic habits; still another was a pluralistic culture in which religion was not identified with state power or compulsion. It doesn’t really matter anymore since socialism now connotes not the red flag of revolution but egalitarian policies aiming at the humanization of societies in which private property is taken for granted.

Perhaps Republicans rely on so much anachronistic name-calling because they are reaching out to immigrant constituencies with recent experience of actual communism (like Cubans) or authoritarian societies utilizing socialist rhetoric (like Venezuelans). But it’s getting ridiculous — as ridiculous as parallel claims that Democrats (like white, male, regular Massgoer Joe Biden) want to abolish religion and hate men. They should cut it out.'


cont:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/do-republicans-know-what-communism-is.html

 

Greenspan, a HUGE Ayn Rand fan, is probably the most famous Fed chair we've ever had. It's idiotic to call him or Ayn Rand communist. Marx was talking about a temporary central bank (wanting all money to eventually be eliminated) run by the working class. No one is dumb enough to think that's what the Fed is.

Note: I say this as someone who disagrees vehemently with Rand and Marx.

 

A quick communist primer.

I'm going to get a lot of hate for this one, but this summarizes Marx's thoughts very well, and Marxism is the only form of communism these people are willing to talk about. Note to those on both the left and the right:

I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE CONCLUSIONS BEING DRAWN ABOUT VALUE AND "THEFT" HERE AND WILL EAGERLY EXPLAIN WHY.

So don't pretend I agree with the following in terms of who is being exploited. This is simply the Cliffnotes for those who haven't read this stuff. This is tutoring to help (primarily Trump and his supporters) understand Marxism. This summarizes the basics of Das Kapital and how it connects to the Communist Manifesto.

----------

Let's say you own a lot of land, and that land is great for growing flax. Now, you could grow so much flax on this land that you could never actually farm all of it yourself. So what do you do? You buy flax seed and you hire people to plant that flax seed on your land. You give them money and they plant your flax seed. Then your flax seed grows into flax, and you can't harvest all of that flax yourself, so you hire people to harvest that flax. You give them money and they harvest your flax.

Now it is time to sell that flax! Unless the bottom has fallen out of the market on flax or you weren't paying attention to how much you were paying your workers, you will make WAY more money from your sale than you paid your workers. But wait! There was value added here between you buying the seeds and you selling the flax, and the workers are the ones who are responsible for that value! Every penny you collect that was due to their labor (you did no labor of your own) was STOLEN from them! They provided ALL of the value, but you are collecting MOST of the benefits! You are exploiting them! You are benefiting from the value that they created!

Now you sell your flax to a textile company. The flax needs to be turned into fabric if it is ever going go be put to actual use, so they are going to take care of that. Of course, the guy you sold it to has the ability to buy way more flax than he as the ability to turn into fabric himself . . . so he hires workers . . . and the cycle continues, and he gets rich from the linen the workers created (there's a Lenin joke in there somewhere).

And the linen is used to make clothing, which again, a factory owner gets most of the benefit from while the textile workers do all of the work.

All of this sets up a system where there are two main classes: those that own the means of production (land, raw goods, factories, etc.) and those who are hired to use those raw goods to make something of more value than the value of the raw goods themselves while the owner collects most of the value they created. Those hired people are being exploited, with their employers getting most of the benefit of the value added by their work. So let's eliminate the distinction between the two! Let's remove the ability for private individuals to own the means of production like land and tools and the like (pay attention, @Wild Bill Kelsoe , because this is the most important part of both socialism and communism and the very first point from the Marx list that you like to cherry pick from and misrepresent), so that they can't exploit workers anymore!

 

And Democrats outright calling for Trump to be shot. Which is worse?

 

John Avalon "The Extremist" and Garry Kasparov take these insulting idiots to task.
Also point out that calling Democrats Communists is so offensive to the millions who were killed under Communist regimes.

Even ole' Lindsey Graham and the last Republican poster boy Madison Cawthorn..
An educational listen that Trump Republicans will stay far away from.


'Many Trump-leaning Republicans accuse their political counterparts of being "communist". Reality Check’s John Avlon speaks with Russian dissident and former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov about what real communism is and why Americans shouldn't resort to extreme name calling.'

 

What was your opinion of the Trumpists bashing down the doors of the Capitol outright calling for Pence to be hanged for failing to overturn the Constitution?

 

Of course devout partisans will only see the ugliness from the other side, Reps laughed as terms like "crooked Hillary" and dems laughed at "basket of deplorables".

Bidens "soul of the nation:" referred to "MAGA republicans" MAGA philosophy is semi-fascist. The same guy that wants 87K IRS agents strengthening their grip on working people is calling the kettle semi-fascist!

Neither party sells respect or freedom.

 

You've fallen for some some desperately dishonest bull ****:



And it is okay to criticize MAGA republicans . . . who supporter overturning our election. It isn't "semi-fascist" to defend the results of our elections.

 

What you just posted is a blueprint of the Democrat agenda.

 

Did Communism exist in 1787?

 

Wilson was a commie...lol. One of the most tyrannical presidents we've ever had.

 

Well comming from the side that gave “forgivable loans” un-ironically called “payday protection program”, that just a LOT rich

 

What Dem platform seeks the end to all private property? And, no, taxes don't mean the end to private property. I look forward to showing a THIRD blatant misrepresentation on your part after you already misrepresented the parts about central banking and inheritance. Your "standards" so far would make Adam Smith a communist. He did support public education, after all, and *gasp* that's also on the list you keep cherry picking from and haven't yet represented honestly!

 

The attempt was being made by using the EPA to abuse the clean water act to control private property. Luckily, the Supreme Court shut them down recently.

 

Wow who knew Alex Hamilton was a Commie?

The American System was an economic plan that played an important role in American policy during the first half of the 19th century, rooted in the "American School" ideas of Alexander Hamilton

The American School, also known as the National System, represents three different yet related constructs in politics, policy and philosophy. The policy existed from the 1790s to the 1970s, waxing and waning in actual degrees and details of implementation. .



It is the macroeconomic philosophy that dominated United States national policies from the time of the American Civil War until the mid-20th century. Closely related to mercantilism, it can be seen as contrary to classical economics. It consisted of these three core policies:

1. Protecting industry through selective high tariffs (especially 1861–1932) and through subsidies (especially 1932–1970).
2. Government investments in infrastructure creating targeted internal improvements (especially in transportation).
3. A national bank with policies that promote the growth of productive enterprises rather than speculation.

The American School's key elements were promoted by John Quincy Adams and his National Republican Party, Henry Clay and the Whig Party and Abraham Lincoln through the early Republican Party which embraced, implemented and maintained this economic system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_School_(economics)

 

I don't watch youtube videos. If you have an argument, make it. The term "MAGA Republican" was fed to people to rebleat for the purpose of demonizing those with opposing views. Can you name a MAGA republican position you don't understand support for?

 

This is not the elimination of private property. If it were, every time the police legally confiscated property it would be communism. Anyone who supported taxes would be a communist. Your standard is dishonest. I'll ask again and you will, once again, fail to honestly answer: What Dem platform seeks the end to all private property?

 

The hiring surge you were talking about was mostly replacing retiring workers, over the course of 5-10 years. And not all of the hiring would be for agents. And it would bring the total IRS numbers back to previous levels. And yes: I don't understand support for denying the results of the election and overthrowing democracy.

 

Gutting taxes on billionaires and Corps as they increase the debt their kids will have to pay for?

 

If the government tells you what you can and can't do with your property, you no longer own.

If the government totally controls where you go, when you go and what you do, are you a slave? Yes, you are.

 

Taxes are complex. If you started reading tax code/laws and lived to be 1000 years old, you would still commit several crimes without even knowing about it. Poor and low income are disproportionately targeted for audits. While hiring 87K agents is not a gain of 87k, it is still an increase and those supporting it are not in a position to criticize authoritarianism. Like mosquitos, both dems and reps are just trying to get their proboscises into the tax payer blood stream. Dems just suck a little more. (See what I did there)

I completely understand challenging election results. If you are referring to riots, the vast majority of those referred to as "MAGA republicans" did not, so it is not a MAGA Rep position. Is there an actual position you don't understand support for?

As long as Americans are at each others throats, politicians can spend our money like thieves with stolen credit cards.