First of all, all that bs about virtue and competition is just that bs. It is a western cultural value that has absolutely no universal utility. Most cultures put family before everything else, which leads to a more collectivist (as opposed to competitive) conscience. 'Virtue' can mean anything, which is my major beef with Leo Strauss - he never defines what 'virtue' is. (Leo Strauss is the ideological father of neo-cons like richard Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Clarence Thomas and others. He also advocated atheism because 'rationality and religion' are incompatible. Ever wonder why Rush wasn't married in a Church? Look no further than Leo Strauss's political philosophy. Rush is an atheist.) Look at China. It has the fastest growing economy on the planet. Socialism with allowances for entrepeneurship seems the be the chosen model for most states. China is communist with capitalistic allowances. And the communism that you are talking about isn't Marxism. It is Stalinism or Maoism. Marx advocated revolution (all revolutions need not be armed), but not genocide. Nelson Mandela is a Marxist and he is one of the most peaceful men on the planet. Other notable socialists - MLK, Gandhi, Orwell, and others.
Well I don’t think its BS. You don’t think the world is competitive? While you may not be trying to demolish your coworker, you’re trying to do your work better that he does his…except in a union shop, where individual output doesn’t matter. China’s economy didn’t start booming until they “adopted” capitalism to some extent. Even before then there was, as is usually the case in repressive economies, a strong black market that helped keep the economy afloat.
You don’t think the USSR was Marxist…at the very least under Lenin? That’s what we most associate with the Communism in the US. Lenin, Stalin, Mao are all variations on a theme. They may not have followed the recipe exactly, but Marx was the inspiration.
Mark
