In America, we've always been told Communism is evil, But is Capitalism much better?


Capitalism:
System of government is democratic
Property is privately owned
Driven by free enterprise
Wealth distributed unevenly
Education and health care provided by private entities
Freedom of the press Class distinctions: upper class, middle class and working class
Focus is on the individual and his/her own progress in life

Communism:
System of government is totalitarian
Property is owned by the state
No free enterprise is allowed
Wealth distributed equally
Education and health care provided by the state

Give me your thoughts on both

Socialism is the way to go.

Communism can be democratic. I am more favorable toward communism because the class system in capitalism has gotten to the point where the lower class is disrespected and mistreated while the 1% buy elections to forward their agenda. In the American public school system you're taught that communism is evil, and I think this is a relic left over from the cold war. After doing independent study on the subject I favor it much more than capitalism.

I used to think Communism was evil, but the more I learned about it, the more I realized that it sounded so much more better than Capitalism. It could use some reforms though.

Edited 2/13/2015 23:55:24

I do agree. I like private property, just as long as we don't have the insane wealth gaps that we currently have. I think that if the human race is to go forward we are going to have to drop the competitive, greedy, destructive nature of capitalism and work together as a cohesive species.

dem commies r evil im tellin u guys

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, But do a little research, and you'll see that with reforms, Communism could be one of the best forms of government,

The major problem with communism is that it doesn't take into account the true nature of people and therefore sounds much better in theory than it works in the real world.

Wealth distributed equally

Who distributes the wealth?
The leader/dictator/government
Do you trust the people running things to actually do this?
Let's say we get lucky and the first leader of this communist nation does his job well, and distributes the wealth equally, treating himself exactly the same as every other person. What happens when it's time to get a new leader? How do you pick a trustworthy successor, and how do you keep them honest? Frankly I find it impossible to trust people to not pinch a little off the top for themselves, their friends, etc. This would be a problem that would keep getting worse over time, to the point that the people at the top live a more or less secret life of luxury and opulence with everyone else living in poverty. Equal poverty.

Property is owned by the state

This is the part that sucks for all the worker bees. How hard would you work if you got the exact same distribution of wealth (i.e. paycheck) no matter what you did, and you couldn't be fired? Economics teaches us that people respond to incentives, and communism gives no incentives for hard work, critical thinking, innovation, progress, etc. The only incentive anyone would have for doing anything is patriotism. That's it.
If you have a small community, patriotism could be enough, because the people performing would actually see the fruits of their labor.

Also, not all of your facts are correct. Democracy, totalitarianism, education and health care providers and freedom of the press are all things that have nothing to do with a country's economical system.
Freedom of the press is just a thing America's founders wanted to have prominence in the Constitution, in response to England's lack of it at the time.
Education and health care can be public or private. It boils down to if you want to pay the schools and hospitals more directly, or if you want to pay them through taxes.
Democracy and totalitarianism along with republics (America is more of a republic than a democracy. More precisely, America is a democratic republic), monarchies and others are just systems of deciding who is in charge. A totalitarian communism doesn't even make sense, because by definition the ruler is not equal. A democratic communism actually makes a lot of sense, and that sounds like a nice place to live. Everyone gets an equal say in every decision and an equal share of the wealth. In America, we call these places hippie communes. Read up on them, if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commune

Edited 2/14/2015 01:25:42

Communism has no wealth gaps because government gives the people the pay check. The person to your left could be working less then you and is getting the same pay you are. The person to your right could be working harder and gets paid the same as you do. Capitalist just depends on what your job is and how much you work. I support capitalist but you are entitled to your opinion.

Also N Korea is communist. Have no rights to the people

China has no rights

Iron russia

Also as hanky said it only works in theory.

Limited rights*

People get no rights and limited rights and freedoms so confused.

Also, I would go in a lengthy tirade about how North Korea is the greatest country in the world, but too tired now.

Edited 2/14/2015 01:02:11

I agree with most parts of Communism in principle. However, it's been proven more than once that communism doesn't work in practice. Look at what happend to the USSR. Look at modern day communist countries of North Korea,Cuba,Laos,and Vietnam (Not the highest rated in every area.) Of course you do have China but they're more of a mixture at this point.

Also, throughout history communist governments have tended to become very hostile towards religion. Even going as far to outright ban them and arrest/kill religious people. I'd perfer that myself and my family live, so I'd probably vote against any communist movement unless I knew for sure they'd be better than ones in the past.

North Korea isn't Communist

And Communism itself will never last very long, which is why it needs reforms. Unfortunantly, this may never happen.

Communism is great in theory, it fails, however, in practice, as human nature takes over and greed takes precedence over the people.

Unfortunantly, yes.

Capitalism has failed quite tremendously. Look at the US. A rich priveledged elite that has NO barrier between private business and government.

Massive corruption by banks and corporations, literally stealing money from taxpayers in the form of bailouts and stiumulus packages, whilst cutting benefits and putting further strain on the weakest parts of society.

Of course, there is also no free press, as the richest people benefitting from this also own mainstream media outlets.

You have the pioneer spirit, but the majority of wealth is inherited, not created. The rich are not rich from hard work and grit, that is only happening in a minority of cases.

It's hard to think of why American's fight so hard against free healthcare and education. Surely these things benefit everyone except for the rich that want to keep their families place as elite, educated healthy superhumans.

It might be hard to see how it's so bad if you live in the US, but go ahead and step over the border into Mexico, or god forbid further south. How is Africa and Asia handling capitalism?

Not well at all, starving children, rampant disease.. All the while the rich have enough in the bank to eliminate these problems entirely... yet don't..

Capitalism certainly has a long list of flaws, and I don't exactly like it, but I don't see Communism as a viable alternative either. At least not until people are ready to step up and do it right.

In the Soviet Union there was still mass starvation and poverty. The government had control of all resources and money, it had the power to solve problems but it didn't. This is what makes me wary of any future communist governments. I'm afraid we'll turn over all power to a government only for said government to turn around and screw over the people.

"North Korea isn't Communist" eh, communist, dictators same thing

I think communism could work if there wasn't such a stigma against it. It sucks that it gets demonized so badly and that people think the USSR represented real communism.

I think the key to overcoming the issue of human greed that always gets brought up as an argument against communism is to establish a system of "checks and balances" that prevents any one person (or a group of people) from rising to sole power. It's no different in the US Government. There always has to be a way of keeping selfishness and greed away from the government. Communism is no different. I don't think it's impossible to implement such a system.

In fact, if it wasn't so heavily stigmatized we could be having serious conversations about such a system in theory. I'm surprised there are even people on here that support it. Whenever I research it on the internet, people usually jump on the "it's evil because the Soviet Union" bandwagon.

Also, I would go in a lengthy tirade about how North Korea is the greatest country in the world, but too tired now.

Please do. I would find that incredibly amusing.