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Well.. can it? And what are your thoughts on communism?

Yes. but not in this modern world.

people are too greedy for communism to work. people are too stupid for democracy to work. people are too evil for autocracy to work.

the fault doesn't lie in the systems, but in the people.

Communism can only work on local levels. It's great on small scales but fails in countries as big as the United States. Communism on a large scale can't really be enforced unless the country becomes a police state.

Ideally:
A republic for super-nations with no real head of state at the federal level to check corruption and protect individuals from state abuses. Democratic socialism with a mostly unfettered market at the state level as every state has different unique needs. States are practically countries. Communism, where wanted/appropriate, at the local level. Command economy at the lowest level(the family).

heroo wrote:people are too greedy for communism to work. people are too stupid for democracy to work. people are too evil for autocracy to work.

the fault doesn't lie in the systems, but in the people.

It's a system designed to be utilized by people. If the people are not able to practice it, then it doesn't work. Communism looks great on paper but very difficult to implement. It's very difficult for people to simply adjust from the capitalist system they grew up on to a completely different system that places more restrictions on them. On top of that, people do tend to be greedy so the temporary leadership becomes not-so-temporary after decades of being in power.

There was an article on TIME about the mentality of dictators and how most of them find it difficult to see why people go against them. The same goes for every communist leader -- that righteous, self-reliant, narcissist mentality.

In the end, communism was created to be put in practice by people. Part of judging whether it's a broken system or not is considering whether it took every element into account. Unfortunately, a huge part of these elements is human nature and their past experiences (whether their motive stems from greediness or creativity). Communism assumes that the people would simply fall in line and become part of the smooth machinery without considering individual thoughts.

No, but there's no definitive answer among politicians. I say no because I'm biased and really like Acemoglu's ideas about political/economic relations.

Fck communism.

omier44 wrote:Fck communism.

Haha.. I guess thats one way of putting it

no. but i think anarchy will triumph after we abuse all of our resources and half the population dies of preventable causes.

Barotix wrote:Communism can only work on local levels. It's great on small scales but fails in countries as big as the United States. Communism on a large scale can't really be enforced unless the country becomes a police state.

This.

heroo wrote:people are too greedy for communism to work. people are too stupid for democracy to work. people are too evil for autocracy to work.

the fault doesn't lie in the systems, but in the people.

I like this comment

Blindfire wrote:

Sad most of those guys butchered what communism is (was) and were very much insane. Castro and Marx kick ass though with their awesome beards.

I prefer to think that Karl Marx had a mane, not a beard.

Also, (large image)