sourboy said:
The more I sit and watch America's so-called Democracy become more and more corrupt, both in the government and by far too many of the people,
I must say I don't think this is the case. The free world is not getting more corrupt - on the contrary, better media and more public criticism cause corruption to slowly die down.
sourboy said:
I wonder what other system might work. Often times my thoughts lean towards something where everyone is equal in a more true sense, sharing more and working together more, for the betterment of all. Now sure, everything is capable of becoming corrupt, but was the fall of Communism due to the corruption, or the nudge that rival Democracies imposed upon it? Couldn't it just as easily have gone the other way, with America fragmented and the CCCP leaning on the world?
Historically, a non democracy is more likely to collapse. Democracies have better leaders and have public criticism which allows for better decisions. Dictatorships (including communist regimes) do not have these safety mechanisms, which means that they make many more mistakes and that these mistakes are bigger and aren't repaired as quickly. So in theory, if the soviet leaders were better, they could've won. In reality, it's the system which caused bad leaders to take power, and therefore the system is to blame for the failure.
Also, the US isn't made up of different people, so I doubt it would fall apart the way the USSR did.
sourboy said:
I created this thread with the intent of gettings facts about Communism (and maybe comparisons to other governments) without the propaganda, so as to get a better understanding of what worked, what failed, and what was or can be learned from it. Opinions are welcome also, as a revised form of Communism or Socialism is likely the next step towards a Unified-type government - but please, no trolling or flaming. We all know democracy won out - but this is not an America-CCCP thread, it's meant for the understanding of Communism and the future of a potential revised version.
Well, I think the failures of communism are quite obvious. As to where it worked - I can tell you that in Israel there had been attempts to make collective communities (known as kibutzim). These were successful at first, in the sense that they were able to survive. However, living conditions were generally not as good as in other communities. Today most of these have ended up in one of three conditions:
1. Most kibutzim have abandoned most collective features - they collective dining hall, the collective children care, collectively owned clothes, cars, etc, were eliminated. Members recieve a salary, whereas in the old days the kibut provided for their needs and they were given just a small amount of money for personal needs.
2. Many kibutzim have gone into deep debts, and as a result were abndoned by most young people, causing an even worst situation in which most members have already retired and the remaining work force isn't capable of paying back the debts.
3. A minority of the kibutzim were able to create successful industries on their lands. Some of them remained true to their original farming nature and have created successful wine or dairy industries. Others have abandoned agriculture as their main source of income, and have established factories. At first the members would work at the factories, but today most of them employ cheaper workers who are not members (young people, Palestinians, foreign workers). The richest kibutzim are those who were fortunate enough to be near main roads though, as they built several malls and shopping centers which are the best source of income they can have - reliable, don't require members to work there and very profitable. It should be mentioned though that even those whose main source of income is a factory or a shopping center still retain a smaller agricultural industry, as one of their main values was that of working the land.
Hope that helped you.
