LogFAQs > #899508738

What if you had the GALL to buy and own your own land? A status symbol that would place you well above the pleb who spends his days squatting in a motel? How would you feel if the government stripped you of it in the name of 'progress'?

Then throw censorship and the like into the mix. Do you feel race relations are bad in the U.S.? Imagine if the government could just swoop in and send anyone who voiced dissent to a lifetime in the salt mines because their local official police chief is a racist and that makes the government look bad? Or if you suddenly found out that the kindly old police officer whom dedicated his life to helping the elderly and children and has thirty 'cop of the year' awards and whatever is suddenly a member of a terrorist group that bribed him with promises of immense wealth just a few days after he implied that the government might not be entirely on the up and up? Any info you tried to find would quickly reassert that the government was in the right and the person who questioned it was a horrible monster. Who else can you turn to? The government owns all the media after all.

Then we have actual corruption. Do I even need to explain how easy it is to censor and cover up how wealthy someone is when the government basically controls everything? How many loopholes conveniently appear for those who support the current in-power people? Yet you can't even raise your own voice without being sent to prison.

Communism. Doesn't. Work. What I described above isn't just some terror tale about what 'could' happen, it's an effective recount of what HAS happened in places like Russia and China. In order for it to even function as a government it needs an obscene amount of power and trust in its government and an obscene LACK of power for 'the worker'. If the worker can hold on to luxuries and wealth the whole thing breaks apart because they then become the wealthy, the people whom they wanted the wealth taken away from in the first place. Plus it lets those people in power retain that power and render the 'common man' worthless since the only people they need to care about are the ones who hold power as well. The common masses? Even the weakest local official holds more political sway than the entire district he presides over. The party can cover his ass if he gets in trouble. You decide to not be part of that party? Well, you aren't in trouble. You don't exist any more and non-existent people can't get into trouble.

It's easy to make it SOUND awesome. Every worker getting their fair share while the rich jerks who buy ferrari's on whims pay for it and you can finally get a car that has working air conditioning! Yet, in reality, it falls apart swiftly.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage