It is remarkable ironic that in this Age of the Internet, where knowledge of almost anything known to man is just a few key-strokes away, that far too many people are far too ignorant about topics that they are far too avid about. Nothing exemplifies this fact more then politics. While this problem afflicts all sides of the political spectrum, it is far more prevalent and pronounced on the Conservative side. Of course this is not that surprising given that the average level of education decreases the further Right one goes politically. This may sound like an unnecessarily crass thing to say, but it is also a documented fact, and, besides, this type of ignorance is self-inflicted. There are plenty of ways for anyone to establish the facts about a subject before spouting off incoherent nonsense. For example, masks do help to prevent the spread of disease, climate change is real, and Democrats do not want open borders or have any intention of taking away all your guns. These are all provable facts if one wishes to know the truth. Republican propagandists have to lie about things because they simply can’t promote Conservatism with the truth.

There is just so much ignorance, stupidity, and outright insanity associated with today’s Republican Party that Conservatism has gone from a counter balance to Liberalism, to a hell-bent philosophy to destroy everything the United States was created to represent, and replace it with some sort of White supremacist Euro-state. Exactly what we fought the Revolutionary War, and wrote The Constitution to prevent. Which gives this blog enough subject matter to carry on for years. Today, however, we will deal with just one subject, Social Systems. A Social System is the ways and means that a society, be it a tribe or a nation, works together as a unit. A social system consists of two parts, government and economy. Think of it as selecting one from column A, government, and one from column B, economy. There is only one exception to this rule, but we will get to that later. It is all really quite simple, despite certain propagandists who try to confuse the matter.

GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEMS;

Governmental systems can be divided into two main categories, Totalitarian and Democratic. There are a vast number of Totalitarian sub-systems such as Monarchy, Fascist, Oligarch, Military Juntas, and Communist to name but a few. The common theme here is a nation controlled by one person or a small group, for life or till overthrown. On the rare occasion that any voting is conducted, it is primarily for show. Bottom line is, all Totalitarian governments are dictatorships that hold their citizens hostage and are therefore illegitimate. This includes any elected government that is controlled by non-elected entities, such as Corporations. Or as Thomas Jefferson stated in The Declaration on Independence “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,“.

Democracies are much simpler and the only legitimate form of government. A Democracy is where the citizens control the government. Basically this can be done be Direct Democracy, where everyone votes on everything, or a Republican form of Democracy where representatives are elected by the citizens to decide laws and regulations. For those who slept through Civics Class, the United States, and all current Democratic nations, are Republics. Direct Democracy is fine for small groups, but a bit cumbersome for large populations.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS;

The Economic Systems are the column B in this equation. The primary ones are Barter, Free Enterprise, Capitalism, Socialism, and, again Communism. Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, no, Free Enterprise and Capitalism are not the same, nor is Socialism and Communism. Those who think otherwise are victims of right-wing propaganda. So listen up, and we will set things straight. The Barter system is the oldest form of economics, and where the word “trade” enters the economic vocabulary. This was the only form of economics, besides theft, that existed prior to the advent of coinage. While still in use everywhere to some small degree, it is too unwieldy for today’s national and international trade. Once coinage, money, was invented, Free Enterprise, sometimes referred to as Free Trade, entered the picture. Under this system, all goods services, transportation, and distribution are carried out by the public sector, with minimum aid, or interference, from the government. It has enabled those with a talent, or new idea, to earn a comfortable living, or even become rich, while at the same time opening up work opportunities that improved the living conditions of large segments of the population. And then greed took over, and Capitalism reared its ugly head. The best description of Capitalism is that it is a bastardization of Free Enterprise. The difference between the two can be summed up in one word, power. Power over the economy and power over the government. Free Enterprise is what created the vast Middle Class. Capitalism is what is dead set on destroying it. Capitalism stifles competition and new ideas. It artificially forces up the cost of goods and services. Through a legal form of bribery, called Campaign Financing, Corporations can get laws passed that reduces, or eliminates, their tax burden, permits them to pollute our air and water with impunity, and manufacture, or process, goods and foods with minimal concerns for public health or safety. The greatest threat posed by Capitalism, however, is to our Democracy. Oddly enough, it is a mirror image of the threat posed by Communism.

Communism is the only exemption to the column A and B rule. Communism is both governmental and economic. It works as a single concept. This is thanks to its creator, Karl Marx. The utopian ideal he envisioned was one where society would function by each person contributing according to one’s abilities, and taking according to one’s needs. All of this would naturally occur with little, or no, government. Marx might as well have included Unicorn rides for all the children in the world. While he may have understood the inner workings of economics, he clearly knew squat about human nature. Minimal government is akin to anarchy, and anarchy is not freedom, but a prelude to subjugation. The nature of Man is such that he will either choose a government, or have one thrust upon him. Marx did not understand this. Conservative leaders, who also call for minimal government, know this all to well, and are prepared to fill that vacuum. In real life, Communism is a one-party totalitarian system that controls all aspects of the economy from manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation to distribution and sales. Any type of Free Enterprise that may exist is severely controlled and regulated by the state. Despite Marx’s desire to replace Capitalism with a more equitable system, he instead created the Capitalist’s greatest fantasy. For example, what was Communist Russia but a national corporation? Their Chairman of the Board, was the Premier (or as it was ironically known in Russia, The Chairman), who was selected by the Central Committee (kind of like the Board of Directors), and approved by the Supreme Soviet (kind of like the Company Shareholders). The citizens thus became the employees as well as the customers.

This would lead one to think that perhaps our current concept of politics, the straight line, LEFT____CENTER___RIGHT, is somewhat misleading. Maybe it should be more like a circle, or like a compass; North would be the Center, East the Right, West the Left (California is often referred to by Conservatives as the Left Coast anyway), and South would be where the extremists of the Left and Right merge. Whether its a government that controls all commerce, or a Corporation that controls all government, the result is the same, an illegitimate social system that controls the government, the economy, and the citizens. Capitalism and Communism are two roads that are headed for the same destination. In other words, everything goes South.

Finally, before everyone falls asleep, we arrive at our final destination, Socialism. Socialism is probably the most popular Economic System on the rest of the planet, but the most maligned in the United States. Socialism has been described in many ways. Most of them intentionally wrong. Communist like to call themselves Socialist to make themselves more respectable. They’re not. Capitalist also like to compare Socialism to Communism to make Capitalism seem more respectable. It’s not. It’s no different then when North Korea calls itself the Democratic Republic of Korea. Really! They actually call themselves that. Socialism is an Economic System that can be used in a totalitarian government, such as Argentina, or it can be used in a Democratic government such Norway. A more realistic description would be how it is actually used in today’s world. In that context Socialism is an economic system in which the government oversees and controls the “needs” of the citizen, and private enterprise sees to the “wants”. It is as simple as that. No one is going to come and take all your worldly possessions and give them to “others”. No virgins have to be sacrificed. No rich people will be dragged out into the street for their “walk of shame”, although we might want to rethink that one. Socialism gets a bad rap in the U.S.A. because the Capitalist think that they should be allowed to make a buck off the “needs”, as well as the “wants”. Hell, they would send all of us a bill for the oxygen we breathe if they thought they could get away with it. Despite their propaganda, even the United States utilizes Socialism. The Armed Forces, Law Enforcement, Fire Department, Post Office, Public Schools, Prison System, and, yes, Welfare, and Social Security, are all Socialist programs.