Let's suppose that Martians were to land and examine the political and economic system of the United States. A summary they might come up with would probably look something like this:
1. Free education for all children in public schools.Now you're going to have to click the "Read More" link so you can get a look in the periscope above the brainwashing you're received. You'll be in tears before I'm done with you...
2. Central banking with executives approved by the government. The central bank provides whatever money the government requests for its operations.
3. A progressive, graduated income tax.
4. A high inheritance tax.
5. Broad powers of eminent domain. Cities can condemn properties and allocate them to higher valued uses.
6. Heavily regulated and licensed communication and transportation industries.
7. Industry bailouts.
8. Paying farmers not to grow crops ... or to grow certain crops like corn for ethanol.
9. Land use planning with a focus on creating parks and undeveloped spaces in and between cities.
10. Unregulated immigration to supply workers who actually work which are needed since easily available welfare allows large segments of the existing population not to ... work.
Because the deception you have lived under is pretty stunning. And here's a summary of it:
1. Free education for all children in public schools. (10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c)Say what? Well what I have done is to decorate my "Martian" summary with the ten points from Marx's Communist Manifesto:
2. Central banking with executives approved by the government. The central bank provides whatever money the government requests for its operations. (5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.)
3. A progressive, graduated income tax. (2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.)
4. A high inheritance tax. (3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.)
5. Broad powers of eminent domain. Cities can condemn properties and allocate them to higher valued uses. (1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.)
6. Heavily regulated and licensed communication and transportation industries. (6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.)
7. Industry bailouts. (7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.)
8. Paying farmers not to grow crops ... or to grow certain crops like corn for ethanol. (7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.)
9. Land use planning with a focus on creating parks and undeveloped spaces in and between cities. (9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.)
10. Unregulated immigration to supply workers who actually work which are needed since easily available welfare allows large segments of the existing population not to ... work. (8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.)
NoCo Surrounds Them - We Will Not Fall: The Bet: "Communist Manifesto (Chapter 2): 'Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.I'm guessing you've never read the Communist Manifesto have you? I think even the vast majority of hard-core (socialist) democrats haven't.1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.'
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c."
But when you look at things in perspective, the application of Marx's plan to the U.S. -- Europe is generally even more advanced of course -- is well along. The arguments are just all about degree (and degree of deception) and the modernization of Marx's ideas where they have become dated.
On the latter, I think the whole open borders strategy combined with putting people who should otherwise be working on welfare is particularly ingenious.
The only one of Marx's points that doesn't have a clear mapping is #4. But that may be due to ignorance on my part of how onerous the tax consequences really are of emigrating. And I'm guessing that emigration penalties would not be an obvious highlight to a Martian as I suspect they would have come in an armed spaceship and so it might not be on their "ray"dar to worry about.
But as for you and me -- we're screwed. At least unless the libertarian optimists like Gillespie and Welch with their new book "Declaration of Independents" are right. Libertarians agree with literally none of these key features of today's U.S. system's implementation of Marx's Manifesto. None.
O. And you might have noticed that inflation as well as taxation is putting the hurt on your standard of living lately? Look over on the right sidebar: "The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation" - V.I. Lenin. You think this is a coincidence -- I don't. Hopefully you'll come around to my point of view before you end up starving in the dark.
Pray Gillespie and Welch are right ... or get painfully used to holding your ankles ... you ain't seen nothin' yet...
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