Sure. There’s my wife’s grandsmother, who’s almost completely senile, but still a communist; there’s also my FiL, who was raised a communist but got over it, although if you get him drunk he’ll sing the Internationale, in Bulgarian.
There are still *flat earth *proponents out there.
When did your family move from the USSR to the US? Why did they move?
When were you naturalized? Are your parents US citizens? What are their political views?
Have you visited China? When or why not? Let me tell you, someone who can teach English and Russian over there can probably lead a really good socialist lifestyle. (I taught English in Beijing in the late 90s.)
Why do you choose to live in the one country that is most closely associated with the fall of communism?
You know, I am somewhat bothered by the ridiculous Western myth that you democrats have the power to “stop” your own leaders if they get too dangerous. Really? When has this ever happened? When has a representative democracy ever removed a truly dangerous leader from power?
No, what tends to happen is one of two things: either the dangerous leader rigs the system so an render himself immune to popular checks, or he is able to surf a wave of mass hysteria and human stupidity while staying well out of the reach of his opponents. For an example of the prior, look no further than Adolf Hitler, who is after all an excellent example of the type of individual that representative democracies tend to spew forth. For an example of the latter, take a look at Little Bush, who spent his first term starting illegal wars and taking a huge steaming dump all over the US economy, only to have the cretins reelect him to a second term for more of the same.
No, your myth of true democratic power is a lie. Were your system to produce intelligent, thoughtful, effective leaders, rather than mass-murdering abominations, perhaps I would be able to share its politics. As things now stand, though, I’ll stick with the single-party states; they tend to be less dangerous than you supposedly enlightened Westerners.
Also would like an answer to this.
Your reasoning contradicts your conclusion. In a situation of scarcity, which of the following is a better solution: to do nothing, or to carefully manage the distribution of the scarce goods?
Your capitalist theory advocates doing nothing. You admit the existence of scarcity, yet your solution is to turn your back on it and let individual people fight it out over the control of scarce resources. It is an anarchical and senseless approach to a very real problem.
We socialists, on the other hand, want to see governments take an active role in distributing the resources. Only then can we assure equitable and fair distribution. Only then can we have a system in which no one is left behind, in which everyone’s basic needs are met.
And the U.S.S.R was such a shining example of this.
walks up and bites Paul
hugs Olentzero.
Did you post this from a parlour?
Yeah, except for that inconvenient fact that during times of scarcity, especially in the case of emergencies, the capitalist pig country the USA seems to be pretty generous in distributing scarce resources to those in need…and not just at home either. How generous are the communist countries? Back in the USSR days, they couldn’t even feed themselves, because…TA DA! They couldn’t even manage their own resources effectively, let alone help anyone else. Where did a lot of the USA’s surplus grain go? Russia, that’s where! Why? Because a communist government like the USSR had doesn’t provide incentives for people to do a really good job at what they do, breeds inefficiency.
Lenin was no saint…he probably accounted for 2-3 million deaths (extermination of the Kulaks), plus famines caused by collectivization. Stalin was the big achiever-possibly 50 million deaths (including 4 million Ukrainians). After that, it was not too bad-Kruschev probably accounted for a few hundred thousand, Brezhnev less.
With a track record like that, how can you endorse such a system?
Mao was up there also-perhaps 35 million deaths.
I would say that Communism was probably one of the most efficient destryers of human life. in history.
What fairy-tale world do you live in? The US is “generous?” Are you kidding me, or do you really think you can sneak that one past me?
For your information, the US has long been one of the most reluctant foreign aid donors in the world; year after year, it consistently ranks near or at the bottom in terms of per capita giving among industrialized nations. It has NEVER lived up to its promise to give 0.7% of its gross national income in international developmental aid - a promise it made FORTY years ago! What little giving it does engage in tends to be political rather than sincere; year in and year out, one third of the aid goes toward supporting the genocidal regime in Israel and the vicious dictatorship in Egypt.
You need some further education on this topic, my friend. I suggest starting here: Foreign Aid for Development Assistance — Global Issues
And for your information, the Soviet Union was charitable and generous to the fault. It was our aid that enabled China, Vietnam, and North Korea to catapult themselves into the modern age. Oh, and let us not forget that we single-handedly kept the economies of Cuba and all our satellite states up and running. And we committed countless billions of rubles to aiding left-leaning governments around the globe. Our generosity is something that you can only ever dream of emulating.
The OP clearly doesn’t care about that given the mindset he has shown, which is typical of communists, that anyone not properly serving the cause of communism should be marched out back and shot in the head.
Time and time again he has extolled the wonders of communism while utterly ignoring the pain, suffering and death that has invariably been the result of its implementation.
And frankly, I prefer a system where I can choose any of a number of grocery stores to go to in order to select however many loaves of bread I want from a number of different brands and then pay for it and be on my way, all in a matter of minutes.
I hate long lines. 
I really have to wonder… is this thread a whoosh, or is **Commissar **serious?
Hmm…speaking of “satellites”, OP, I wonder how many democratic countries have sent their tanks running over students protesting for a little freedom? Mother Russia has.
And China, of course, has done the same thing to its very own people.
You are pissing in the wind of human history by trying to extoll the wonders and righteousness of communist forms of government. You can continue to tilt at these windmills all day long, but you aren’t getting anywhere and you can’t get anywhere. The ship has long ago sailed (and sunk) when it comes to the viability of communism as either an economic system or form of government.
And on preview, I still agree with you, Crafter_Man, that the OP is likely a whoosh. Perhaps even a back door way of encouraging criticism of communist regimes. But since people are people are playing along anyway I thought I’d add my two cents again. Enough can’t be said with regard to the evil that is communism and new generations need constantly to be reminded of that lest it rear its ugly head yet again.
I wonder, too. He has that whole Pravda-style “glorious workers paradise” rhetoric down a little too pat. Who actually talks like that in real life?
I do no such thing. I am, however, a realist. Look at your own economic model. You’ve had a thousand years of feudalism, several centuries of proto-capitalism, and a solid two hundred years of true capitalism to iron all the bugs out. And yet, here we are in the 21st century, watching the global flagship of capitalism sinking before our very eyes.
Communism has been around for less than 100 years, and its flagship is now pretty much running the show. It’s clothing your people and taking care of their material needs, and it is buying up your debt so that you don’t go under too quickly.
From any sane perspective, it is clear that socialism has won. Game over. Time to accept it and move on into a glorious Communist tomorrow. And yet, all you can do is shriek about some mistakes that were made decades ago, when we were still trying to perfect our system. Seriously, let it go.
Fine with me. I’m with the Chinese on this one - private businesses are to be encouraged, as long as they do not harm the people or the economy. You’ll have all the privately owned stores and bakeries you can ever want in our brave new world.
Er, most of them? How can you try to take the moral high ground when your hands are drenched in the blood of innocents?
And let us not even start on the subject of what you do to other people… The Native American genocides, the annexation of half of Mexico, the illegal invasion of Hawai’i, the dirty Latin American wars, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the outrageous occupations of Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the destruction of Yugoslavia… This could go on forever. Suffice it to say that when it comes to viciousness and mass murder, your people wrote the book.
No, I am completely serious. This is what I truly believe, and I like to discuss it with other people in a serious and intellectual manner. This is not some game that I am playing with you for some dubious amusement. I am what I am.
He must be for real, a communist troll doesn’t make sense. Not allowed to charge for crossing the bridge you see.
If nothing else, the thread has revealed this utterly ludicrous image (also posted upthread) of happy Chinese life under Mao.
Who knew they got The Donna Reed Show in China? 