I was sitting in my bed, in the process of drifting off to sleep when this idea hit me. Mind you, this is not an epiphany that I have just experienced, but something I have suddenly felt compelled to write about. I had just watched quite a few Vlogbrothers (youtube.com/vlogbrothers) videos, and, laying in bed, my mind began to run a bit wild, as it often does. I'm not really sure how, but somehow my mind latched onto this topic. Now, let us proceed.
In the United States of America, the media and government is constantly trying to burn into citizens' minds the evils of communism and the glorious capitalist system. Communism is depicted in many prominent Western capitalist governments as an oppressive system under a ruthless dictator which causes the citizens of these societies to be constantly in fear, sad, poor, and generally just miserable. While this has been true in many cases (see: Stalin's Russia, North Korea & Kim Jong-Il, etc.), this is not a fundamental part of communism. There have been many communist leaders and communist governments in general that have both been successful and well-liked by the citizens of the countries in which they operate. A prime example is Lenin's Russia. After years of absolute rule and poorly-suited monarchs, Lenin's Bolshevik party defeated the fractured Mencheviks (sp?) and gained control of Russia. Lenin and the Bolshevik party adopted communist ideologies and a comparatively liberal system of government opposed to the Czar's (and, no, that is not an egregious grammar error, I mean the Czar's system of government and ideologies, not the rule of multiple Czars. And, yes, I write Czar instead of Tsar. I know you may consider it to be incorrect. Stfu.). Long story short, many of the reforms, changes, and laws implemented by Lenin were extremely popular and Russia experienced much prosperity under Lenin.
Now, here is where we get to why communism gets a bad reputation. As an economically middle-class citizen of the United States, I have to say the ideology of communism is not unappealing in the national and international economies' current state. Communism is centered on the elimination of class distinction, the equal distribution of goods, a state-controlled economy, and nearly everything being equally distributed and regulated by the state. Hypothetically, all citizens would earn the same salary, have the same size of house and the same amenities, the same cars, the same clothes, the same
everything, as to make everyone completely and entirely equal. This appeals to me, as well as many of those who do not live in stucco mansions in Bergen County with tennis courts and four-car garages. In theory, this concept is great, correct? But where we reach a problem is communism in practice. With power comes corruption, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As one Enlightenment
philosophe wrote and as I paraphrase: it is impossible for one man (person) or one small group of people to carry all of the responsibilities in the world. In many communist governments, there is one central leader who often acts as a type of dictator, having total or almost total power over all decisions in the nation. Citizens follow these leaders blindly, charmed by the "cult of personality," and, thus, near-absolute power is granted to those who so vehemently fought against absolutism. With such great power, these leaders often abuse their power. They get power-mad, paranoid, selfish, and every other troublesome emotion and feeling that one may encounter. This is how we get our Josef Stalins, our Saddam Husseins, our Kim Jong-Ils.
I beg of you, please consider what I am putting forth. Communism is great in theory, but almost always fails miserably or backfires when put into practice. Abuses and misuses of power by leaders with too much power have always been the issues of communist nations, and human nature renders these things inevitable. So it goes.
-xo
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