Shins said:
Bigbadwooof said: You have to understand how the term 'means of production' is defined in economics to partake in this discussion. A basic foundation of economic theory would be nice too.
I do, do you? Means of production are not just things like factories and machines. Things like Labour, time, and skills are also means of production. In fact labour is by far the biggest mean of production I can think of.
From google:
Quote: means of production noun noun: means of production (especially in a political context) the facilities and resources for producing goods. "in this society, the means of production are communally owned"
There is your definition of means of production, and then there's the definition in economics, which we use for the purpose of discussion about economics. Human labor only falls within this definition if you are referring to slave labor. Nobody is referring to slave labor. In the google example they are referring to the factories, machinery, land, and raw materials as being communally owned.
Quote:
Quote: As I have said, there are strains of communist ideology that have no centralized government whatsoever. They would operate by the workers owning their workplace. In other words having equal shares in whatever business they are involved in. Cooperatives. I could go into greater detail, but I will leave it there.
Those are fiction.
They are no more fiction than your Libertarian fantasy land. These are ideologies, which have never been put into practice.
Quote: It is impossible to share national resources communally without an authoritarian government, just take a minute and think about it.
That's your view. I am not a Communist Libertarian myself anyway. I was just pointing out that there are very left wing ideologies that require no centralized government. I was trying to demonstrate that the size of government is not the only factor in left vs right wing politics.
Quote: Your ideology relies on every single person go go along voluntarily, that is absolutely ridiculous! What do you do when people don't play along? You'd need a Nazi-like government in order to keep everyone in line. This is the inevitable result of perusing your fictitious ideals, you only just empower fascists in the real world! Highly dangerous.
Our current society requires everyone to get along. If they don't, they go to jail. We have the most massive police state in the world. This is CAPITALISM.
Quote: Now if you're talking about private co-ops I'm all for it, as long as you can enter and leave as you wish, and as long as the government does not force you to be a part of it. These types of organizations exist today and you could join one tomorrow.
I am very much in favor of a situation such as this, but I would prefer an economy that was entirely composed of this sort of organization.
Quote:
Quote: The way things are done in the world today only serves to concentrate wealth, and therefore power. At the end of the day I would rather have power concentrated in the hands of people who are democratically elected, chosen by society, than unelected individuals who control the government, and bear no responsibility to the public interest.
I agree, that's why we need to go back to a Capitalist economy. Socialist concentration of centralized power has created a revolving door of wall st and government who pay themselves huge amounts of money out of the public purse. We née to reduce centralized power and restore it to the people. You want to increase government power, not power to the people. Even if that's not your goal, those are your unintended results. It makes no sense to turn to give the government more power if you want more people power, that's the opposite!
We are living in a Capitalist economy. Capitalists Capitalize on existing Capital to create exponential gains, which concentrates wealth, and therefore power. Hence the name 'Capitalism'. Capitalism is only good for the Capitalist. Given a long enough timeline, wealth will always concentrate under a Capitalist system.
Don't get me wrong, Capitalism has done some great things in the world, but many of us feel that it has run its course, and we want something better. You can't argue that Capitalism doesn't concentrate wealth and power unless you don't understand economics, because that's exactly what it does, by design. If you wish you argue on behalf of Capitalism, then you must take the route of defending the concentration of wealth and power. A good Capitalist sees no problem with this.
Quote: Also there are major problems with democracy. If 51% vote to enslave blacks again do you really think that is good?
Individual human rights need to trump democracy. You cannot vote to take away people's rights.
Lol! Now who's the authoritarian? Who do you suppose should make these decisions? What we have here in America is a Republic. A 'representative democracy'. It has it's authoritarian components, and it's democratic ones. It's not perfect, but it's the best we have come up with so far.
I see what you're saying about Democracy. It's like two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner, as they say. It's not perfect, and your argument has been made repeatedly throughout history. However, it is the best we've got, and for now it will suffice.
Nobody is arguing for some sort of utopia. The world will never be perfect. That doesn't mean we can't strive for something better.
This is all really beside the point though. We were comparing Fascism and Socialism. I asked for you to tell me the difference between the two. Are you aware of the differences? The reason Fascism is considered right wing can be found in those differences. As I said, right and left are not defined the same way throughout the world as they are here. In America, right and left politics are very simplified, to the size of government. There are a whole host of other issues that get swallowed up by one side or the other, but in America, we deem right-wing as small government, and left wing as big government. I have described how left-wing political ideology can exist without the involvement of centralized government whatsoever. It really muddies up the American model, which would have you calling Communist Libertarians conservatives.
-------------------- "It is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society," - Jiddu Krishnamurti
FARTS
"No my dog won't bite you, tho it had the right to. You ought to give him credit, cuz he knows I woulda let him" - Modest Mouse (And Wooof!)
Every one of you should see this video.

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