Hi everyone, I thought this might be aplicable to the topic: What can a cartoon, produced in 1948, teach us today, that's of any value? You might be very surprised. I believe it is a wake up call to all, and it doesn't matter what "Party" you belong to. Keep in mind as you watch this that it was made in '1948'.
PLEASE DON'T SAY YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO WATCH. SOMEDAY YOU MIGHT HAVE TOO MUCH TIME. This cartoon is just as true today as it was in 1948!
I read the first chapter of the Communist Manifesto, but only skimmed the remaining chapters—if that. I thought about the communistic views towards work, markets, laborers, and classes of people and how they differ to my views. Oh, and by the way, I don’t intend this to sound too ‘preachy’ for you—just expressing the thoughts I had in response to this week’s reading.
It appears that the communists view the world and it methods to abundance as this uncontrollable disease that has ‘overpowered its creator’ and needs managing. Made me think about the I Pencil essay and how it is the Invisible Hand, the natural forces of free markets, which facilitates the creation of goods and services. And it is this Invisible Hand that keeps things in check, really.
I was surprised at their aggressive approach on classes. I originally thought, “Well sure, free markets—a capitalistic environment—creates classes in a way. You reap what you sew! People progress as they work, save, invest, and live within their means.” But then I thought about accounts in the Scriptures. During the times of Enoch “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). Another account, following Christ’s visit to the Americas “the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free” (4 Nephi 1:2-3). So, in times of peace and goodness there wasn’t really distinct classes of people—there was no rich and no poor. You don’t have to eliminate freedom from people in order to have a one-classed society! (btw, it never eventually becomes a one-classed state anyway because there’s the citizens, and then there’s the rulers of the state—a gap which is noticeable in the USA today, unfortunately)
The other problem I have with the communistic view is that they do not see people as individuals; they see them as manageable masses. What lessens the gap between poor and rich people is voluntary giving. Seems to me that the communists interpret capitalisms as a system where everyone selfishly, greedily works for themselves. There is a difference in selfishness and acting according to your self-interests. People do have interests in giving to the poor. It appears to me that communists don’t believe that the Invisible Hand provides a way for that to work—the spreading of wealth to all people by means of free markets.
What made and makes this country great is the freedom to act and follow one’s pursuits of happiness. With July 4th coming up soon, I’m reminded of how it was prophesied that this land would be different than the other nations of the world. It is the USA and its freedom that has caused the world to obtain higher levels of abundance and spiritual richness.
Lastly, I find it interesting that just as God’s Church was being restored back to the earth in its fullness, deceitful men were in the works of creating this Communist Manifesto.
Sweet cartoon. The thing that is scary is these communists are very skilled at infiltrating organizations. They have done a good job of getting power and influence in both major parties. here are 10 communist beliefs: 10 point program of Communism
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. ' How many of these things do we have in our country?
Marx puts the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat into a historical context of class struggle. What purpose does this serve?
Are property rights relative?
Historically, have some institutional or property right frameworks served to enrich some classes through the exploitation of others? Can we classify all property right frameworks within this context of class warfare?
How is it that Marx is able to justify the abolition of bourgeoisie property?
How is it that Marx is able to justify the abolition of the family?
It is apparent that we have gone well down the road towards implementing the 10 planks of the communist manifesto. Does this imply that we have adopted, to a large degree, communism? As of late we have seen massive expansions in government power at the expense of individual liberty and private property rights. Have all the expansions in government power pushed us towards communism? If so how? In what ways have our loss of liberty been different from that advocated by Marx?
Marx makes a big deal out of the class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat. Is it possible to clearly classify individuals as either bourgeoisie or proletariat? Is this class struggle what is behind the social and political conflict of the day? When government power advances, is it for the benefit of the proletariat at the expense of the bourgeoisie?
Obama is often called a communist or socialist. Have his actions and policies clearly hurt the bourgeoisie and helped the proletariat?
Why is public education so important to the communists? To what extent do our educational institutions promote the specific ideals of Marx?
Marx argues at the end of chapter 2 that once bourgeoisie property and production is destroyed then class antagonism will also be destroyed. The problems of society will vanish. Ah, I hear John Lennon singing “Imagine.” This begs the question: Is society good because people are good or are people good because society is good?
Hi everyone, I thought this might be aplicable to the topic:
ReplyDeleteWhat can a cartoon, produced in 1948, teach us today, that's of any value? You might be very surprised. I believe it is a wake up call to all, and it doesn't matter what "Party" you belong to. Keep in mind as you watch this that it was made in '1948'.
PLEASE DON'T SAY YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO WATCH. SOMEDAY YOU MIGHT HAVE TOO MUCH TIME.
This cartoon is just as true today as it was in 1948!
http://nationaljuggernaut.blogspot.com/2009/09/this-cartoon-seemed-far-fetched-in-1948.html
by the way if you watch this on youtube.com comments were disabled!!! Ask yourself why?
ReplyDeleteWhy are free flows of capital and private ownership of capital so important?
ReplyDeleteI read the first chapter of the Communist Manifesto, but only skimmed the remaining chapters—if that. I thought about the communistic views towards work, markets, laborers, and classes of people and how they differ to my views. Oh, and by the way, I don’t intend this to sound too ‘preachy’ for you—just expressing the thoughts I had in response to this week’s reading.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that the communists view the world and it methods to abundance as this uncontrollable disease that has ‘overpowered its creator’ and needs managing. Made me think about the I Pencil essay and how it is the Invisible Hand, the natural forces of free markets, which facilitates the creation of goods and services. And it is this Invisible Hand that keeps things in check, really.
I was surprised at their aggressive approach on classes. I originally thought, “Well sure, free markets—a capitalistic environment—creates classes in a way. You reap what you sew! People progress as they work, save, invest, and live within their means.” But then I thought about accounts in the Scriptures. During the times of Enoch “the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). Another account, following Christ’s visit to the Americas “the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free” (4 Nephi 1:2-3). So, in times of peace and goodness there wasn’t really distinct classes of people—there was no rich and no poor. You don’t have to eliminate freedom from people in order to have a one-classed society! (btw, it never eventually becomes a one-classed state anyway because there’s the citizens, and then there’s the rulers of the state—a gap which is noticeable in the USA today, unfortunately)
The other problem I have with the communistic view is that they do not see people as individuals; they see them as manageable masses. What lessens the gap between poor and rich people is voluntary giving. Seems to me that the communists interpret capitalisms as a system where everyone selfishly, greedily works for themselves. There is a difference in selfishness and acting according to your self-interests. People do have interests in giving to the poor. It appears to me that communists don’t believe that the Invisible Hand provides a way for that to work—the spreading of wealth to all people by means of free markets.
What made and makes this country great is the freedom to act and follow one’s pursuits of happiness. With July 4th coming up soon, I’m reminded of how it was prophesied that this land would be different than the other nations of the world. It is the USA and its freedom that has caused the world to obtain higher levels of abundance and spiritual richness.
Lastly, I find it interesting that just as God’s Church was being restored back to the earth in its fullness, deceitful men were in the works of creating this Communist Manifesto.
Sweet cartoon. The thing that is scary is these communists are very skilled at infiltrating organizations. They have done a good job of getting power and influence in both major parties. here are 10 communist beliefs:
ReplyDelete10 point program of Communism
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. '
How many of these things do we have in our country?
Marx puts the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat into a historical context of class struggle. What purpose does this serve?
ReplyDeleteAre property rights relative?
Historically, have some institutional or property right frameworks served to enrich some classes through the exploitation of others? Can we classify all property right frameworks within this context of class warfare?
How is it that Marx is able to justify the abolition of bourgeoisie property?
How is it that Marx is able to justify the abolition of the family?
It is apparent that we have gone well down the road towards implementing the 10 planks of the communist manifesto. Does this imply that we have adopted, to a large degree, communism? As of late we have seen massive expansions in government power at the expense of individual liberty and private property rights. Have all the expansions in government power pushed us towards communism? If so how? In what ways have our loss of liberty been different from that advocated by Marx?
Marx makes a big deal out of the class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat. Is it possible to clearly classify individuals as either bourgeoisie or proletariat? Is this class struggle what is behind the social and political conflict of the day? When government power advances, is it for the benefit of the proletariat at the expense of the bourgeoisie?
Obama is often called a communist or socialist. Have his actions and policies clearly hurt the bourgeoisie and helped the proletariat?
Why is public education so important to the communists? To what extent do our educational institutions promote the specific ideals of Marx?
Marx argues at the end of chapter 2 that once bourgeoisie property and production is destroyed then class antagonism will also be destroyed. The problems of society will vanish. Ah, I hear John Lennon singing “Imagine.” This begs the question: Is society good because people are good or are people good because society is good?