Where Communism Works in America

9/22/2003 | Dan Evans

[staytrue]

Small scale communism has always been possible. Get a small group together for some meeting on something and everyone is treated as equals. You are usually willing to share with someone you can look in the eye and get an idea of his/her character. Large scale communism has always failed. Who is willing to share with the drug user living in a different state, 400 miles away.

[staytrue]

Black conservative columnist Thomas Sowell also wrote a piece about small scale communism thriving, but always failing at a large scale.

My best example is suppose a shoemaker decides he wants more money so he works twice as hard and makes twice as many shoes. That works. But if every shoemaker decides the same, there will be too many shoes, and everyone will go bankrupt. Scale matters. Microeconomics is not the same as Macroeconomics. Communism fails at large scales.

[walden]

Very, very strange perspective. Not saying you're wrong, just that I've never thought about it before. ;)

[viaveritasvita]

At the Oak Lane Colony in South Dakota, Robert Wipf is the assistant swine manager.

Now there's a hell of a job title. I'm sure the DNC has an opening for assistant swine manager!

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[WorkingClassFilth]

There is also the factors of shared ideals and personal relationships. As one old man I know states, communism only exists under God or the gun. I might add that under the gun, it needs to recruit and hold onto its subjects by force.

[Dan Evans]

The assistant swine manager works for the hog boss. I left out an interesting anecdote about the dangers of hog farming. On hot summer days the ammonia fumes can reach dangerous levels. One fellow was overcome by fumes and fell into the sewage. His friend came to rescue him and, of course he was overcome too. Only one died though. They invested in more ventilation fans after that. (They manufacture their own now.)

[Graybeard58]

"rebuilt it in about three days. They are, apparently, not union workers"

Interesting, too bad you couldn't resist the gratuitous shot at unions though.

[Graybeard58]

"rebuilt it in about three days. They are, apparently, not union workers"

Interesting, too bad you couldn't resist the gratuitous shot at unions though.

[Dan Evans]

Sorry, Graybeard, Though I used to be a union man if that helps.

[Taiwan Bocks]

Communists have many victories, damn them.

It's like when the PLO in 1974 declared the "phases" strategy to wipe out Israel.

Commies have changed their names whenever anybodies sensitivities were irritated.

Dialectic and marginalizing morality are settled for now, knowing that piece by piece the world will fall to them.

Basturds.

[Dan Evans]

Pat Buchanan says that the answer is for us to get back to our Christian values, but few people who lose their values are going to get them back. It's easier, however, to get more people who haven't lost them.

[wlansberry]

What goes clip-clop clip-clop bang, clip-clo clip-clop bang?

An Amish drive-by ;)

One of my favorites for years.

[Dan Evans]

In the 1950's, we had a lot of communists in America. But after the atrocities of the Stalin regime were revealed those numbers diminished followed by an identical increase in the numbers of Democrats.

Comparing Hutterites with communists was slightly mischievous on my part, though. The point is that communism is invariably evil and Hutterites are at the other extreme.

[goldstategop]

Its the same principle that works for monasteries and convents. The ideal life appeals only to a few and when its restricted to a few it works beautifully. But not every one has the capacity or the talent to live such a life and trying to force every one to follow it generally leads to disaster. Communism and celibacy work on a small scale but writ large, they generally burden individuals more than they can bear. Perhaps there is a lesson here somewhere for our big government socialists?

[NewRomeTacitus]

They're everywhere. They just aren't organized enough to recognize each other. A.N.S.W.E.R., MECha, N.E.A., P.E.T.A., Greenpeace, N.A.A.C.P., A.C.L.U. and many, many members of the Democrat Party are guided by Communism or are led by people who believe in it.
They Live.

[Lurker]

Washington, DC.

L

[Held_to_Ransom]

WHy not point out that the successful American communes predominantly religious based, and that Communism eschews Christianity as well as Judasm.

This of course raises the logical question as to whether a Christian nation would be better off than a atheist one, and the answer from American history is absolutely yes. We don't, of course, count the old south as Christian. They felt they were, but the dependence of 5 million of 4 million slaves doesn't set a particularly good Christian example.

[Held_to_Ransom]

The Amish don't believe in health insurance but doctors love them because they always pay in cash. How do they do this when they have a family income of about $12,000?

This is hard to peg. The IRS has trouble accurately accounting for barter arrangements when both parties to the barter don't report it. For instance, I know one Amish family that builds and installs 40,000 kitchens. I doubt they only make 12,000 a year at it, particularly as they are alwasy busy, and as they run a furniture store and factory to help cover the overhead...