Simple things that you think would change our lives

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Oct 21 2003, 8:28 pm
In response to Gughunter
Define communism.

This is the definition of communism I was using:

A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

This is the definition I suspect you might have been using, the one that I didn't mean:

A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people. (emphasis added by me)

Both of those are from dictionary.com.
Oct 22 2003, 2:04 am
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
Define communism.

Soitenly! [link]

Also see:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Oct 22 2003, 9:03 am
In response to Crispy
Crispy wrote:
Define communism.

This is the definition of communism I was using:

A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

This is the rosy definition, which in the real world simply couldn't occur (and couldn't be sustained). Which of course is why "theoretical" is in there, but basically that puts it at no better than a utopia.

To apply this definition to your earlier statement:

For example, communism would be great if everybody was perfect.

But if everybody was perfect, the flaws in a free market economy wouldn't exist either, and it would still work better and create more wealth. So absent the human flaws that Communism overlooks, the system it seeks to correct wouldn't need correcting and would still be superior.

Lummox JR
Oct 22 2003, 5:18 pm
In response to Super Maximus
Actually, on the point of our constitution, untill we've been around for 500 years or so, you really can't say its been that succesful. It might have worked so far for the past 200 years or so, but we might break down next year, who knows what the future holds.
Oct 23 2003, 1:08 am
In response to Lummox JR
Lummox JR wrote:
This is the rosy definition, which in the real world simply couldn't occur (and couldn't be sustained). Which of course is why "theoretical" is in there, but basically that puts it at no better than a utopia.

I agree, hence my earlier statement.

To apply this definition to your earlier statement:

For example, communism would be great if everybody was perfect.

But if everybody was perfect, the flaws in a free market economy wouldn't exist either, and it would still work better and create more wealth. So absent the human flaws that Communism overlooks, the system it seeks to correct wouldn't need correcting and would still be superior.

This is true. I wasn't advocating communism, merely pointing out that it's a nice idea in theory. =P

Quote of the Day: "Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was nice?" =)
Oct 23 2003, 1:09 am
In response to Gughunter
Gughunter wrote:
Crispy wrote:
Define communism.

Soitenly! [link]

Sounds about right.

Also see:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html

I guess I should probably read that sometime. If I ever completely run out of things to do, which is incredibly unlikely. =P
Oct 23 2003, 1:28 am
In response to Anarchy Robot
No matter how many revolutions there are, the only way to have a civilized government without it being a dictatorship is our current government, we may not like it, but any thing else is pretty much just a whole pile of ****. And if you did start a revolution, thank you for setting the world's technology back a couple of years.
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