"I actually see socialism, communism, and capitalism as all valid economic philosophies. In fact, the best system is probably a cross between all 3. They would be very weak standing on their own."

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

15 Day Political Thing, or whatever. All done at once.

So I recently started following http://ftm-communist.tumblr.com/ 

It’s a great blog. He created a “15 Day Political Challenge” post. Only here’s the thing: I’m in a political mood right now, and this mood is known to change with the wind. Also, I’m a lazy motherfucker. Since there’s no way I’d maintain over the 15 days, I’m gonna do all of it now.

Enjoy the giant wall of text on your dash.

1. How do you identify politically? What is the name for your political views?
Communist. Technocrat. Statist. Feminist.

2. What three political issues are the most important to you?

• Church and state should be forever separate.
• Matriarchy should replace patriarchy as a social structure.
• Having a home, food, clothes, healthcare, education, and being safe in society being inalienable human rights.

3. Do you believe in third parties or find them harmful to liberal politics?
I think nothing of them. Wherever democracy and capitalism reside together, democracy becomes nothing but a glorified monarchy. Democrats and Republicans are one in the same - Capitalist Stooges. That’s the reason that Democrats and Republicans are the only ones elected to national offices.

4. What do you think of Communism? Socialism?
I believe whole-heartedly in the economic ideas of Marx, Engels, Trotsky. To a lesser extent, Lenin, Guevara, Castro, and Chavez (these men were more practical, and what can I say, I’m an idealist). I also support the economic ideas of Stalin, but not the social ideas (same goes for Castro when it comes to social policy).
I feel that Socialism is kind of CommunismLite, it strives to achieve the same as Communism, but whilst working within the Capitalist framework. Like Lenin said, it’s the transition. And as long as it gets bread on the table for every person in the world, that’s alright.
I’m not a Socialist, but Socialism is probably a more practical goal. I mean, every developed country is practicing Socialism to some degree or another.

5. What do you think of anarchy?
What can I say? I tried it. Turns out I do believe in the state. At least for the time being. I don’t see how infrastructure will be maintained, rights protected, and safety ensured without it.
Society will probably develop in the following way:
Feudalism -> Capitalism -> Socialism -> Communism in its pure form, which is stateless.
I bet we can get pretty close to that last stage before I’m dead and buried. 

6. Do you vote? Why or why not?
Haven’t voted yet, haven’t even been of age for an entire season, but I plan on voting always. Our revolution will come through the ballot box. Slowly but surely, socialism will come to America by way of the vote.

7. Is war ever justified?
Yes. Wherever there are oppressed people, if a gun is what’s needed to dispose the tyrant, then so be it. Europe was liberated from the Nazis by way of the battlefield. East Asia from Japan. Cuba from Batista. And so on.
Thankfully though, we are moving to an age when the gun will be needed less and less. 

8. Can the ends justify the means if the means are morally questionable?
Damn it, you shouldn’t have brought out morality. You’re going to move me to a philosophical mood instead of political. I’m… fighting… articulating… the nonexistence… of…. morality…. GAHHH!!
Okay, it depends.
Let’s take the current economic situation. Capitalism is violent. The world over, people are suffering, starving, dying because of capitalism. All wars are fought over resource control, after all. The leaders might cover it up with “Liberating Europe” (or any of the other occasions listed in #7), “Spreading Democracy” (here’s looking at you, Iraq) or with any other motive; religion is a popular way governments inspire the masses. But in the end, it’s all about resources. The war between Pakistan and India isn’t Allah vs. Krishna at its core - it’s all about controlling the Kashmir Valley.
Now, an open revolution against Capitalism, while being violent in its nature, would result in a more peaceful global existence. This would be justifiable. A moment of violent chaos to end the systematic violence inherent with the Capitalist system? Sure. Especially considering that the violence of a revolution or of global riots would pale in comparison to what we currently live in.
But then there’s Stalin and Mao. The societies they governed quickly became very safe places to live in. But that’s because they would kill anybody that threatened the peace or threatened their government. In this instance, the ends do not justify the means. Same for the violent nature of Capitalism. But violently disposing Capitalism, Fascism, any other form of tyranny? Sure.

9. What do you think of political parties?
Good in theory. If I may quote (or, rather, ad-lib) The Thin Red Line, “In this world, one man… in himself… ain’t nothin’.” Meaning, it takes a collective to make a difference. But, like I said earlier, when democracy and Capitalism coincide, democracy is nothing but an over-glorified corporatist monarchy.

10. What do you think of democracy? Can we resolve the problems that democracy has now?
I think it’s a great system, but it does have its flaws. If democracy were to exist in its extreme form, then we have a system where 51% of the population has the right to take away the rights of the other 49. I absolutely do believe in the democratic approach to policy making, because the people should be in control of their countries, but there should be a government to protect the rights of the minority. It’s been said before that a free society society is one where it’s safe to be unpopular, to be in the minority.
I believe in collective ownership of property and means of production, with democratic decision making. But, like I said, in a society where democracy must live within the framework of Capitalism, democracy is reduced to a thin veil of corporate reign.

11. Who decides questions of morality and justice: individuals, the state, or communities?
Hey, we’re back to morality. The answer to this question is community determines morality, the state determines justice. And it’s a good thing that society, even though it dictates morality, does not get to decide justice.
For example, the Casey Anthony trial. The media convicted her. The public convicted her. The evidence did not. Sure, she was probably guilty. Sure, it would have felt good for some crazy bitch to go down for killing her kid. But thankfully, the state determined that “probably” is not sufficient, and neither is “feeling right.” When you go to trial, you are innocent until proven guilty. If communities were in charge of justice, this would not be the case. Just look at lynch mobs.
And morality is all on the community. Let’s look at history. The bible, a book on morality, was written by various individuals of historical Hebrew minorities. Because slavery and capital punishment were morally acceptable pursuits by the community at the time, we get verses to support slavery and to support execution as punishment for various offenses. Now, let’s say another book on morality was written by various individuals, but of our community, and in modern times. Since slavery is no longer morally acceptable, we would not have these verse. But since capital punishment is now a matter of debate, we might end up with conflicting verses and arguments supporting both sides.
And take a look at Ancient Greece, where hebephilia was practiced and accepted by the whole, as was homosexuality. But in the Hebrew community, they were not accepted. As the books of the Hebrew community took over Europe, homosexuality becomes a sin, but has since become more tolerated. As for hebephilia, it has never returned to acceptance, for which I’m sure we can all be thankful.
One more thing, to make my case for community determining morality, and then I’ll move on. Let’s say you go to a party, and you’re just a fucking asshole to everyone. You decide to make your own morality. In addition to being a total jerk in conversation, you tip over the kegs, you lick all the slices of pizza, you don’t flush the toilet, you throw a chair through a window and punch some guy in the dick. Chances are, you’re not going to be invited to more parties anytime soon, because, by the community’s standards, you’re a piece of shit.

12. Who is your favorite political figure of all time? Post a picture of him/her.
Okay, this one is pretty tough, but I think I’m gonna go with Leon Trotsky. I know, it’s a bit of a Commie cliche, but whatever.
Here’s a picture of him (center) with my I-think-fourth-cousin (though it may be slightly more distant), labor leader Harry DeBoer (far left), who wrote an essay on how to win strikes.

You can read it here: http://www.workerscompass.org/rl/robleum2008/Howtowinstrikes_deboer.html 

13. Describe your idea of utopia.
Omfg. That’s a tall drink of a question. Okay…
Technology that has reached post-scarcity. No money, no private property. Anything you want, you can get. No market system. Everyone has a house, food, clothes, a first-class education, and premium healthcare. There’s no competition, only cooperation. You can feel safe without police or military needed for protection. Our jobs are no longer what define us. Most people don’t even have jobs and have been replaced by automated, solar-powered systems. Nothing to do but chill, unless you want to farm, or want to create some great piece of art, or teach, or design architecture, or become a research scientist, or whatever. But you don’t have to. There’s no government, but nobody notices. Green technology has made everything we do sustainable. Some little windmill on top of a skyscraper, because of advances in technology, is enough to power the entire city. Religion has fell into obscurity, which is not to say that nobody believes in god or the bible or Jesus or Krishna or whatever, but these beliefs are no longer political forces. Theists and atheists will continue to debate, meanwhile the sciences continue to advance, and social decisions are not dictated by archaic books.
But that’s just a bunch of dreaming. It will never happen in my lifetime, hopefully I can in someway help towards getting us down that road faster though.
But that’s enough of that. Hopefully the next question will make seem less like a starry-eyed romantic. (Even though, I feel it should it be stated, every Communist is a romantic. Everyone who feels the pain of his brothers and sisters who have been fucked by the system and want to do something about it is a loving person. A loving person loving someone they’ve never met, someone they can’t even put a face to, but wants them to be happy? Wants them to be free to live their lives That’s a romantic.)

14. Which country’s political system do you admire the most?
Ohh…. France or Norway. They’re both very democratic-Socialistic nations, even if they’re still Capitalistic in nature. They both trounce America when it comes to quality, affordability, and availability of education and health care. They have a higher quality of life than we do, and higher rates of secularism.

15. Shout something political.
Workers of the world, unite!

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Jesus, fuck, it’s finally over. *Whew* Well, there ya go everybody. Have fun scrolling past all this shit on your dash. MuaHahahAhahAhAHhahAhAAA!!!!

And if you actually read all of this, I love you so much.

Stealing an article from texasronpaulgirl, via a-petro-manifesto.

Posting it instead of reblogging it, because I think a little forward is necessary.

The article itself is filled with inflammatory and equivocal language. Bits like “Socialism, communism, Marxism, whatever you want to call it” and “Marxism demands a strict centralized command and control government, where the people surrender all of their rights to the almighty government” show a profound misunderstanding, or perhaps miseducation.

But nonetheless, there are seventy Democratic Socialist members of congress. I feel it my duty as a good young libertarian to pass this list along. That’s not too McCarthyist, is it?