(I wrote this short essay over the past two evenings. I hope you'll find it interesting. It was originally twice as long. Please note that I take some license with capitilization. I do this to create a sense of emphasis and consistency regarding the major ideas I'm discussing.)

Communism

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

2. 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.

3. The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

Socialism

1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.

2. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.


For half of the twentieth century, America fought against Communism. We fought the Korean War and the Vietnam War to stop it from spreading. We armed Afghanistan to fight Communist invasion to our later peril on 9/11. The lesser motive for two atomic bombs being dropped on Japan was to show our nuclear might to The Communists. We've ended all trade with Cuba, an island nation 90 miles from the U.S. mainland. In a manner similar to sickle cell anemia developing as a defense against malaria, we built an arsenal of destruction that could effectively wipe out life on Earth. We effectively said "We'd rather make the Earth a dead, radioactive planet than live under Communism."

Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon despised Communism.

Reagan viewed Communism as some kind of aberant mass psychosis.

I wholeheartedly agree. Communism is a a dead, failed, oppressive, murderous method of government.

Twenty years after Reagan told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" we find a large percentage of Americans screaming at the top of their lungs for a Communist America, though these people rarely, if ever, call themselves Communists. Most of them are probably unaware that they're asking for Communism.

How did this happen? Why are things so different now?

I believe that this happened as an unintended consequence of the end of The Cold War. The reason you never hear this is because admitting it would be detrimental to both of the major political parties in The U.S. Ronald Reagan, I believe with the best of intentions, ended The Cold War.

Reagan believed this would help free markets spread throughout the world, end the ever-present threat of nuclear annhilation, and end the threat of Communist invasion for foreign nations and, possibly, our nation. He had to do it. It was a tremendous victory. Republicans will never say that Reagan's actions were an unintentional cause for Communist ideology in the U.S.

Reagan is a Republican God.

Democrats will never say that the end of The Cold War caused a spread of Communist ideals in the U.S. because they desired an end to The Cold War as well and they're not likely to say that ending it was a bad thing. They're also not likely to bring it up very much because it was an awesome Republican victory. Also, though they may be in denial about labelling their ideas as such, many Democrats support Communism. JFK's Democrats are long gone. (I suspect that many still vote for Democrats because they believe on some level that they're voting for JFK's party).

America was in The Cold War for 40+ years. When your nation is engaged in Mutually Assured Destruction with another nation, you'll find very little breathing room for an ideology that the opposing nation holds as its central premise.

When the Berlin Wall fell, people who sympathized with Communist ideologies in the United States came out. For 40 years, they held their silence, because they would be identified and there would be repercussions. Even after the Berlin Wall came down though, there was still enough bad feeling (and the negative connation still sticks today) to come out and say "I'm a Communist". So what did these people do?

They taught Communist ideals in our colleges and universities without ever calling it "Communism". It's been nearly 20 years since this started, so the people who are now running this society have, and are continuing to have, a never named Communist ideology as their formal education. It has now spread itself very effectively into our public education system as well. Screw reading, writing and arithmetic; we've got an ideology to sell.

A College education in America was once an exceptional thing. It was recognized as something that would give you immediate advancement in Capitalist America because you received a practical education with practical applications that could benefit industry and society.

That's changed. The same people who wanted to spread their ideology via colleges and universities worked to ensure that more and more people who couldn't afford, or, even meet the academic standards, for a college education were guaranteed admission.

Today, a college education is viewed as a minimum requirement for jobs that don't need workers who went to college, but, rather, need people who have an education. This is a consequence of the meaningfulness of a college education being so watered down. A meaningful, well intended intellect is now asked to pay many tens-of-thousands of dollars for an education that has much less practical applicability and is more of an assurance of appropriate social indoctrination. A degree in the Liberal Arts, for example, has become increasingly meaningless. A degree in English once meant "I can write and communicate", though that had limited market value.

Today, the same degree says "Well, I went to College, took a relatively easy subject, and was properly indoctrinated". It says "you probably won't be sued if you hire me".

(I know. My degree is in English. 50% of my education was comprised of professors preaching their Socialist political gospel.)

We are the Post-Cold War Generation. "Generation X" was a generation that was enjoying the immediate bounce of trying to identify a world in which a cold war didn't exist. Everything was as it should have been, but "Generation X" didn't know how to identify itself in this new world, and the Gulf War never added up to a defining moment. "Generation X" was a metaphor for the meaningless, but the letters may have an unintended significance. We're now into "Generation Y".

"Generation Z" is probably just that; The End.

Anti-smoking, in my view, is part of an agenda to end free-market Capitalism and move toward Socialism (Communism-Lite) then on to Communism. Smoking existed in Communist Russia, but the point isn't smoking; the point is that tobacco is Capitalism. This point raises many questions, because there appear to be some contradictions. Big Pharma is Capitalism, right? I'll get to that.

In my view, this is the same mistake Reagan and most people made regarding Communism. Take a look again at the analogy I made earlier about sickle cell anemia and malaria and mutually assured nuclear annhilation.

My theory is that Communism is a force and what I call a "Pattern" of its own. What do I mean by a "Pattern"? It's best defined by example. You are a Pattern. Everyone on Earth is a Pattern. Nature itself is the all encompassing and most elaborate Pattern. Molecules are Patterns. DNA is a Pattern. Everything is really a Pattern.

I believe that, in the same way that tangible, physical things have Patterns, intangible things like thoughts, religions, and ideologies also have Patterns. As you read this, for example, I am communicating to you despite the fact that you've never seen me and never heard me speak. If you read other things I write, you may find a consistency; what you are recognizing is a Pattern; the Pattern of my mind and a bit of my personality.

Please don't confuse what I'm implying with some implication of mysticism or the supernatural. What I'm talking about with Patterns is perfectly natural and extremely practical. Recognizing Patterns is the way that we make sense of reality.

We believe that because we create societies, and political and religious ideologies that we are somehow their masters. We have a symbiotic, interwoven relationship with these ideologies, but, in reality, they are separate entities from us once we create them. Every parent knows, for example, that their child is not only a reflection of themselves, but a completely new and separate entity. Separate, though, does not mean independent and autonomous. At least while still a child, every parent knows that their child is dependent on them, but the child is something else from the parent altogether. Conversely, even after the parent is long gone, there is still a symbiotic connection between parent and child.

The way that we recognize that a child is a separate entity from the parent is the same way that we recognize that a political system is a separate entity from the people who reinforce it. We recognize the difference because of the way children and political systems behave. Over time, this behavior, for both children and political systems, forms a recognizable Pattern.

The "Communist Pattern" that emerged in the twentieth century was so powerful that we had to bring ourselves to the point of self-annhilation to keep it from manifesting itself. The Communist Pattern didn't end just because Communist Russia ended. That's kind of a ridiculous notion. That's kind of like nailing a guy to a cross and hoping that everyone will forget what he said.

What we're seeing taking place in our country is a new, tougher strain of Communism. Our nation has a very difficult time admitting this even though it spent half a century getting to know what Communism is from the outside. Now we have it on the inside, and we can't recognize it when it's right in front of our eyes. I've come to believe that there was a recognition of something by U.S. leaders in the 20th century that, though a bit intangible and difficult to articulate, they sensed very strongly. They knew that Communism has an extremely insidious and silent method of introducing itself into a society. Free societies aren't, and never have been, normal Patterns in this world, and the U.S. has had to keep an imperfect system of Freedom alive at the expense of millions of lives and an extremely elaborate Military/Industrial Pattern that may itself be a threat to the very Freedom it was built to protect. The Communist Pattern is very difficult to stop once it starts.

What about the inconsistencies? Big Pharma is Capitalism. People in Communist Russia smoked. How can anti-smoking be part of the emergence of anti-Capitalist, Communist Pattern?

When a powerful political Pattern, like this New Communist Pattern, or, as I'll call it, Neo-Communism, emerges, it takes a relentless path of least resistance. It was created by humans, but it doesn't use human rules. It's an ideological Frankenstein's Monster. It holds hostages as long as it needs to, even if it is a very long time, then shoots them when it's done with them.

Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, you'll notice, at least in perception, are flip sides of a coin. Big Pharma is a greedy, avaricious and extremely powerful force that is commonly perceived as doing good for the world. Big Tobacco is a greedy, avaricious and extremely powerful force that is commonly perceived as doing evil to the world. How ironic that they should find themselves so interwoven. The two are like a married couple that fights for days as a build-up to passionate, interlocking sex. They don't fight so often because they're so different. They fight so often because they're exactly alike and repel each other like two positive charges that cause an explosion when they slam together.

Neo-Communism uses this relationship to its advantage and, now, almost completely drives and defines Big Pharma and Big Tobaccos role in the world. Once Neo-Communism has what it wants, it will put the muzzle to both of their heads and pull the trigger; first on Big Tobacco and then Big Pharma. Neo-Communism doesn't care who its victims are. For Old Communism, the victims were probably mining and manufacturing. If this seems a bit difficult to recognize, it's because like a chess game, its a few moves ahead before it can become clear, and it will only be clear if someone takes note to look back.

People, despite creating the larger Patterns of Societies and Industry, are much smaller and usually, less powerful patterns as individuals.( There are only so many Churchills or Martin Luther Kings.) Most of our leaders, as we constantly realize, aren't much better, or even worse, than we are.

Preserving individuality and Individual Freedom was meaningless under Old Communism. It killed 40 or 50 million people to preserve its larger Pattern. That's about 1000 years of worth of today's annual U. S. SAMMEC deaths.

I wonder how many Neo-Communism will kill? We'll never know. No one's looking that far ahead.

None of what is currently going on in the world on the Neo-Communist front has anything to do with what it claims to care about. Environmentalism may consist of individuals concerned about the environment, but in reality, they're simply serving on a third tier down for the Neo-Communism Pattern and most are probably oblivious of their Master. Anti-smoking doesn't care at all about anyone's health. The stated intention of anti-smoking is to promote health and encourage people to quit smoking. The Pattern that anti-smoking serves is hate, oppression, social engineering and Totalitarianism. It serves a Pattern that is differerent from the stated intention that is continually used to justify the Pattern. Anti-smoking is an antagonsistic force to people who smoke, as is evidenced by your reading this. It's very clear at this point that the stated intention is somewhere in the dust of the past; the Pattern now rules and that pattern is Neo-Communism.

This is why anti-smoking doesn't make any sense, but is still popular. Anti-smoking is simply a pretense for Neo-Communism. When people do the fake cough when you smoke, they're only opposing your smoking because they are serving the larger, Neo-Communist pattern that they are completely oblivious of, despite its power over them.

It's a whole new (actually old) idea! be hated and oppressed right into the open arms of those who hated and oppressed you! As if all of your life and being can be reduced to the white stick in your hand while the real you is completely negated. Join our loving collective! (Or we'll f**king make you, you damn, dirty son of a bitch!) In the end, we'll all love Big Brother.

Our Nation used to willingly flirt with its own annhilation to prevent the spread of such ideas. That was only 20 years ago.

This generation does not have the gumption, the intestinal fortitude of previous generations. This generation is afraid of cellphones and cheeseburgers. If the current American generation had to fight World War II, they would certainly lose.

I don't know what mountaintop to scream from. This situation has become very desperate.

Freedom is some tough business.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WinstonSmith,

Now that is a good piece. Very well written. Very accurate. Looks like that old Russian got it right. They took over without ever firing a shot. Amazing isnt it? I just shake my head over the crap im witnessing on a daily basis.

Excellent post WinstonSmith.

When the wall was torn down I said,'well that's it, we are the new Communists - welcome to the USSA' It was evident we were going that way, even back in the 80's.

If anyone gets a chance to see this movie - please do. It called "The Moscow Skyscraper". I saw it on the Sundance channel last week.

I had a very ominous feeling when I watched the movie that I was looking at the United States and the 'free world' as tenents of that skyscraper.

There's a short video clip of the movie on the link below.
http://www.sundancechannel.com/film/?ixFilmID=6868&rname=The+Film+Finder

Super post. You hit quite a few nails on the head with it.

quote:

They took over without ever firing a shot.

Khruschev said that was exactly what they were going to do, too.

quote:

Originally posted by 383rr:

quote:

They took over without ever firing a shot.

Khruschev said that was exactly what they were going to do, too.

To quote today's "Non Sequitur" comic (and many others)

Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

Winston

Your vision is 20/20 Good reading



Archie

Hi arch, thanks for fighting the nazis on the times website. We appreciate it very much. I wish i could send them the anti-smoker questionaire.
http://speakeasyforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/518607732/m/2021086481

One of the best posts I've ever read on any website, great! And, ARCH! Nice to see yer still around, buddy! Been a while.

Glister,

That film does look quite interesting and I've made a note to check it out. Even the short clip exemplifies well what I'm speaking of. (The clip is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the webpage glister linked. I had a little difficulty finding it.)

Tonight, I was thinking that one might point out that Free Trade has been expanding in the world and that many of the people that I represent as serving the Neo-Communinst Pattern oppose free trade for fear of world homogenization, or, as they call it, "Globalization". The real fear is that Capitalism will spread throughout the world.

In a world that honors Property Rights, Globalization doesn't represent too much of a threat. This well illustrated in the PBS mini-series "The Commanding Heights". I'll provide a link in case you're interested, but I'm not going to get to deeply into Globalization and Free Trade, because it becomes very involved.

You can watch "The Commanding Heights" on-line. It is also available on NetFlix. It is a 3 part, 6 hour mini-series. If you're interested in Libertarian economic ideas, you'll find it fascinating.

www.pbs.org/commandingheights

What Neo-Communism does by opposing Free Trade is get a foot in the door so that Neo-Communism will be empowered to spread itself along with Free Trade. In a similar way that Big Pharma and Big Tobacco are being used to give Neo-Communism a piggy back ride, as Free Trade spreads throughout the world, Neo-Commmunism will leach of its host to spread itself throughout the world.

In the same way that anti-smoking uses tobacco to spread Neo-Communism by claiming to be anti-tobacco while being dependent upon tobacco to spread Neo-Communism, the Anti-Globalization activists claim to be Anti-Free Trade, when in reality they are simply using Free Trade as a host organism to further spread their ideology.

In reality, Anti-Globalization activists are actually Pro-Globalization in the same way that Anti-Tobacco activists are actually Pro-Tobacco. At least for now. Once they've been used to their desired end, both will be done away with.

Now, here's the tricky part. If you repeated what I just said to an anti-smoking activist or an anti-globalization activist, they would probably laugh their ass off, because that may not be at all what they, as individuals, believe. They may be unaware they are serving the Neo-Communist Pattern. People don't necessarily serve Larger Patterns because they have a global, macroscopic understanding of what they serve. Rather, they do so because they have a sense of engagement from interacting with The Pattern.

(An Important Note: The term I'm using, Neo-Communism, is one I made up to convey what I'm saying. "Neo-Communism" may actually be a pre-existing term with a well-defined meaning. If so, I'm not aware of it and it's not my intention to confuse my use of the term with any pre-existing, established term).

I google searched Neo-Communism and it appears that others using the term are recognizing precisely what I'm recognizing.

At this link, the author provides a more detailed analysis as opposed to my more macroscopic idea regarding "Patterns". He even cites anti-smoking as an example. Very interesting.

http://www.individualistvoice.com/vazsonyi.html

Thanks for that link WinstonSmith - I will keep an eye out for that book. The write-up you linked to is very telling and something I have believed for decades.

Neo-Communism is the word.

This fight we are all in is not just about smoking - it's about everything - smoking is but just one faction of what is going on globally.
I believe we need to embrace all groups who are being controlled from society - not just smokers. This is bigger than smoking bans.

I truly believe that everything shifted not only when the wall came down in Berlin but during the witch trials of the 80's - when day care owners and workers where accused of molesting children under their care. Not one case was true back then - it was all debunked. However that started the 'for the children' mindset.

Those lawsuits blossomed into parents losing their rights - teachers losing their rights and adults in general losing their rights to discipline and control children - now children's rights control society.

And by that shift, adults have become children of the state too- all rights are being dwindled and taken away for the 'protection' of children.

Of course there are evil and abusive people in society - that is of no dispute, however the complete society is being formed and molded as potentially evil and are being taken down the road of the watchful eye of gov't - it's for the children - Now how can you fault the gov't for controlling you through the guise of cute kids?

It must be the right thing -it's an innocent protection guise- the mindset has shifted. You are not an individual anymore - you are now part of the group think and if you sway from the protective group think - you are a molester. A molester to be regulated - banned, fined and controled out of your individual thinking and individual rights.

This isn't just about smoking - never was.

bttt

You make some good points Glister. The McMartin trial* does come to my mind every now and again because it is such a notorious example of how strong perceptions driven by emotion can completely destroy the truth.

One thing that I find revolting, is the public's complete willingness to accept the use of children in Public Service Announcements. These are especially prevalent on radio where you'll hear the voice of a four year old suddenly come over the air waves begging listeners, for example, to prevent Global Warming. Is there any more clear case of manipulation and indoctrination than using a small child to express a political opinion? Should I consult with a six year old before I go to the voting booth?

"Cute power" is meaningless when discussing important issues. If someone has a point to make about children, I wish they'd just make it and stop dragging children into adult conversations in an attempt to emotionally monopolize the conversation. People have gotten so carried away with their worship of "cute power" that it borders on the plain weird. Do a google image search on "Anne Geddes" if you want an example.

Another thing that we need to all be aware is that it can be dangerous to ask for government protection, or group rights, as people who choose to smoke. We need to ask that anti-smoking laws be repealed, not seek government protection with new laws. This plays right into Neo-Communism.

*(For those who are unfamiliar, the McMartins were a family who ran a daycare and were accused of abusing children. With the help of the press, the public condemned the McMartins before the evidence had even been looked at. The McMartins were eventually found to be innocent of all charges.HBO made a movie about the case starring James Woods. For a case like this where the circumstances were much less clear, I recommend the documentary "Capturing The Friedmans".)

Winston - what a post! - thanks for putting what I, and I am sure many others, have been thinking for several years now - that we are witnessing the second coming of communism. What has given it fertile ground to proliferate now is the "state of fear" the Michael Crichton titled a novel about. This has arisen thanks to the news media and an increasingly ignorant and apathetic populace, which you correctly attribute to the disintegration of our public education system. Even friends of mine who really should know better defer to the "experts" from the editorial pages of the New York Times - that we are on the verge of imminent disaster brought on by global warming, secondhand smoke, and McDonalds...They whine that everyhting is run by greedy corporations meanwhile, the lawyers and academics are really running the show through the media (perfect example: the press coverage of the climate change conference last week) - and the media has itslef spread plenty of fear - of child molesters living behind every tree - like you point out glister. The point of all of this seems to be to make people turn to the state for protection, especially when their children are concerned, rather than taking their own initiative. Such a society will have no chance against a real threat - whether it is H5N1 influenza, or al-quaeda.

quote:

the press coverage of the climate change conference last week

I bet smokers end up getting the blame for that too.

We have - Al Gore said that SHS is causing global warming a couple of months ago.

NickM,

Michael Crichton has done alot of research and writing relevant to what I'm speaking about, including his fantastic afterward in "State of Fear". (If anyone's ever poking around the library, drugstore, or bookstore, pick a copy of "State of Fear" up and just read the afterward if you don't have time for the novel).

Also, many of Crichton's speeches are available on the net. They're quite interesting, especially his speech called "Aliens Cause Global Warming".

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speeches/index.html

Also, regarding Al Gore. Al Gore doesn't share my politics, quite the opposite. Depite this, and even if I actually agreed with Gore, I get a visceral feeling simply from the way he carries himself that he is an A-1 phony and nutjob. Same thing for John Edwards. I get the feeling that they should be selling something on cable at 2AM. It chills me that Al Gore was so close to the Presidency. I don't get this vibe from Kerry so much, though I equally disagree with his politics. I get it from Obama a bit. All that toothy, fist pumping optimism; it's so fake.

Atleast Obama is a smoker. lol

Speaking of John Edwards I think he is on the MSA gravey train. He was one of the attorneys that is being paid off over the 20 years. I beleive it is in the area of the $100s of thousands a year.