Common wisdom dictates that communism had its time in the spot light, we had the cold war, and communism lost...now the only communists you see are leftover who are on their way out, and present day communists are mostly naive fringe groups. But is this the right view? What if ...
09-20-2006, 03:46 PM
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| Common Sense Conservative  Realist 
| Did communism really end with the fall of the USSR? Common wisdom dictates that communism had its time in the spot light, we had the cold war, and communism lost...now the only communists you see are leftover who are on their way out, and present day communists are mostly naive fringe groups. But is this the right view? What if the 3rd world is still dissappointed with globalization and capitalism? What if Europe becomes more and more socialist and finds success? What if America, the bastion of capitalism, steadily loses power? Won't that set the stage for a resurgence of communism? What if the cold war was only round 1? | ||||
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09-20-2006, 03:48 PM
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| For those about to rock...  libertarian Atlanta, GA
| Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo Why be scared of communism? Does it hurt you in some way?
Or are you actually talking about imperialism... which most certainly is not dead. | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:09 PM
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| Common Sense Conservative Realist
| Originally Posted by Ardentfrost I'm not scared of communism at all. I didn't mean for my post to judge the merits of communism in any way, just its potential in the future.
Originally Posted by Ardentfrost No, I'm talking about communism, i.e., the state owning the means of production, central planning, etc. Bolivia nationalizing its oil industry comes to mind, although that's not soviet style communism.
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09-20-2006, 04:23 PM
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| For those about to rock... libertarian Atlanta, GA
| I'm still confused as to why we should be worried about countries chosing communism. Free trade doesn't care about what economic policies the other country is following... so, as long as we can have free trade, I don't see how any communist country can hurt us economically. That leads me to believe the fear of communism is from war-like tendancies. Since you're not worried about that, I'm confused as to what the problem is. Honestly, I'm not being coy or baiting, I just don't know why we should or would worry about them. | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:25 PM
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| Master Debator Election Moderator  Democrat Omaha, NE
|  Imperialism is the biggest problem. The war against communism was a war against imperialism from russia. A war against an economic policy seems silly to me. | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:28 PM
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| Banned  Conservative Government is another way to say Better Than You
| How can an idea end at all? | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:31 PM
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| For those about to rock... libertarian Atlanta, GA
| Originally Posted by DosEquis Yeah, Russia was most certainly imperialistic... looking back, I really don't think we were ever in some sort of danger because attacking us wouldn't be imperialistic since it'd be impossible to invade us (what, with the huge fucking ocean between us and all). They were far more likely to invade neighboring countries, and the tension was there because we wouldn't have let them.
I'm sure someone will point out how they had nuclear weapons that we were afraid of, but I still think the fear was unrealistic. They wouldn't gain anything from nuking us. | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:42 PM
| #8 | ||||
| Perpetual Noob Independent
| This past year has seen communistic groups grow strong in South America. Evo Morales is fairly communistic and a similar guy can extremely close to being elected in Peru. These aren't pure communists, since they are more indigenous politicians in favor redistribution of wealth, but they aren't far off. I would say communism is far from dead. | ||||
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09-20-2006, 04:44 PM
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| For those about to rock... libertarian Atlanta, GA
| There's a communist party in the US... ... they're called "Democrats" lol, naw, I'm j/k  | ||||
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09-20-2006, 05:12 PM
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| Yeah, that guy.  Progressive Oregon
| Originally Posted by ballz2wallz
...so we can't defeat terrorism?!?!?!? | ||||
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09-20-2006, 05:18 PM
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| Perpetual Noob Independent
| Originally Posted by garbagemanlb not any more than you can defeat crime
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09-20-2006, 05:20 PM
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| Administrator  libertarian Oklahoma
| Originally Posted by Ardentfrost A communist country can't really hurt us with reguard to trade. However, they'd soon find themselves "out of business" given centrally planned economic drawbacks.
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09-20-2006, 05:54 PM
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| Common Sense Conservative Realist
| Originally Posted by ballz2wallz An idea can't end, but it can lose popularity to the point where it's forgotten or practically irrelevant.
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09-20-2006, 06:28 PM
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| Banned Conservative Government is another way to say Better Than You
| Originally Posted by SpicyMcVoodoo For some reason, people continue to go back to communism. I wish it would die out.
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09-20-2006, 07:10 PM
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| For those about to rock... libertarian Atlanta, GA
| Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95 I still don't see how this hurts us and why we should care if another country is communist
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09-20-2006, 08:56 PM
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| helluo librorum The Lab Moderator  Humanist Chicago Suburbs
| Originally Posted by ballz2wallz What does it matter to you?
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09-21-2006, 09:37 AM
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| Banned Conservative Government is another way to say Better Than You
| Originally Posted by Scrumtralecent World politics always matter. What communist leaders do or try to do always influences us. And I care about us.
Do you not care? Do you not care what the USSR did to its people? Do you not care what Hitler did? | ||||
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09-21-2006, 12:36 PM
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| Master Debator Election Moderator Democrat Omaha, NE
| Originally Posted by ballz2wallz Hilter was not communist, he was an imperialist. At first, until he went crazy, he took germany from a war torn shit box and turned it into a world super power. He, until he went crazy, was one of the best leaders in the world. It is to bad that he did not use his leadership for good instead of imperialism.
The russians were also brutal imperialists. Being communist in itself has nothing to do with trying to take over the world. | ||||
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09-21-2006, 01:53 PM
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| Banned Conservative Government is another way to say Better Than You
| Originally Posted by DosEquis As if that makes all the difference.
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09-21-2006, 02:21 PM
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| Master Debator Election Moderator Democrat Omaha, NE
| Originally Posted by ballz2wallz It does. Communist country, Democratic country, Fascist country, it doesnt matter. The problem comes from imperialism.
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