Socialism, Communism, Social-democracy, whatever !

I'm generally not one who exagerates to make a point when discussing politics, actually I get offended when other people compare modern western leaders to Nazis, dictators and fascists. Usually you hear these kind of sentiments from the left side of politics, embodied by academics, student activists, union bosses, journalists and environmentalists.

When it comes to these people attacking others, they tend to avoid discussing in depth, the ideas they actually stand in favor of. In between their ruthless attacks on capitalism and religion, they occasionally let slip some small description of what they stand for, and they like to be called socialists, or social democrats, and not affiliate themselves with the murderous ideology of communism.

But as far as I can be bothered, socialist ideology should be tarred with the same brush as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Chiang and other mass-murdering communist dictators. Just as Lenin himself:

"The goal of socialism is communism. " -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation. " -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

He who now talks about the "freedom of the press" goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism. -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Very few people are aware of the monstrosity of communism. 100 million people died in the last century because the state took away freedoms and tried to steer the direction of all its people. This resulted in widespread famine, poverty, war, ethnic cleansing, assasinations, organised labour, mass imprisonment.

In my opinion, the biggest problem in the West is recognising these foul ideologies. When it comes to racism, sexism and bigotry, its very easy to identify. We largely reject these beliefs because on face value, they sound unfair and cruel. And most people in the west have a decent enough knowledge of history to understand that they have been destructive and harmful ideologies that violated the rights and freedoms of others.

But when you encounter some do-gooder leftist saying we should have a government that is responsible for words like equality, social justice, worker's rights, affirmitive action, funding of the arts and culture, corporate social responsibility, environmental awareness, multiculturalism, reconciliation, helping the poor and preserving our environment, people don't realise that all of these ideas fall under the category of communism.

Similarly, there are those on the right saying government should enforce things like family values, funding of the sports, national pride, national security, limited immigration, censorship and limits on freedom of speech.

In the end.. we elect parties that compromise between the left and the right and implement a vast array of policies that satisfy both left and right to some extent, but not those who cherish freedom and liberty. Libertarians call this the welfare-warfare state.

While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State. -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin