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Originally Posted by roachboy
crompsin:
back in the day when communist parties were actually mass political movements in the west, they participated in parliamentary politics and benefitted from extensive voter support--so you're wrong about that too. sorry.
americans are often so strange about the word "communist"....it's kinda funny.
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Hmmm... I wasn't thinking cute 'n useless parliamentary politics in the west... I was thinking of cold war era Russia or China, where the reality of communism is something much older than most of us at the board.
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Originally Posted by belezabaub
I'm sorry I keep quoting only your replies Crompsin, I meant to quote other people but don't know how to do more than one quote in a reply. Good thread though.
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I'm talking about the realities of fascist and communist governments, not the ideals. Ideals are for people who don't work for a living, right? Everybody knows the ideals of communists and most kids remember Mussolini and Hitler from their history books... but it turns out that democracy doesn't work in these governments because "communism" is just a fun little facade for dictatorship. Fascism isn't as fun a title, but I get the idea.
They all start out "for the people" but end up being one giant gangster's paradise with the boss and his henchmen on top and everybody else on their knees.
I'm not a political sciences major nor a genius... but the endstate of fascist and communist governments appears to deviate rather heavily from their ideals.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
I'm not sure I get this whole vote or die mentality. While I see benefit in supporting your party even if you don't like a candidate if that party supports your philosophy best, I don't see voting as anything that special of an activity. It is the RIGHT to vote that is important, not if you choose to exercise that right.
For example I have the right to bare arms, something many of you find offensive, but none the less I am allowed to arm myself with deadly firearms. I plan on doing so in the near future, but for now I do not have one. This is a right I have, which I strongly support, which I think is important, but I do not feel needs to be exercised.
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It isn't vote or die, it's vote because it makes the system better and more accurate. Think of it as helping row the boat of government. You only have to put in one stroke every four years, for Christ's sake. Democracy works because the government reflects the desires of the people... if only certain people vote... we're not getting the whole picture.
Honestly, I don't give a fuck if anybody here votes... but voting is important somehow, somewhere. Voting reminds the good old boys that run the country we're still here.
Wow. Guns and voting. Nice. I don't know how to tackle the concept of firearm ownership and voting in this thread. You have the right to vote and the right to buy and own a firearm. You don't have to vote or own a firearm, but doing the first one benefits society while the second one might be useful should somebody decide your family would go well with some fava beans.