Rendering unto Caesar: Liberal anti-Communism and rabid anti-communism

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

During a sojourn behind the Iron Curtain before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I was surprised to see how similar East Germany was to the US. Why was this the case? Was it because the US was under Communist domination, or was it because the USSR was just another Capitalist overlord? An ignorant American would favor the former conclusion, while a scholar might tend to support the latter notion. In any case it is clear that Communism was a far cry from communism, just as Republicanism is anything but republicanism.

A Mormon John Bircher who has recently been brought forward as the intellectual puppet master behind the moronic Glenn Beck, W. Cleon Skousen, gives us a key to the capitalist lurking behind the facade of human progress. In his fascinating analysis of Communism, The Naked Communist, Skousen lists some of the agenda items to destroy America. Number 38 on the list is interesting:

Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.

Thomas Szasz remarked that American psychiatrists criticized Soviet psychiatrists for hospitalizing political dissidents while doing the same thing themselves. Szasz has thoroughly debunked the psychiatric profession as a pseudo-science just as left intellectuals have debunked the priestly aspects of Marxism-Leninism. This agenda item in favor of psychiatry also explains why a Leninist I met defended the profession.

Skousen makes some very good arguments for how Soviet Communism betrayed the original goal of human progress. It quickly degenerated into Czarism by another name. What he failed to see was how American Republicanism is British Imperialism by another name. Skousen belongs to Caesar because he sees himself as free despite the bondage of his deliberate ignorance. As he appears to promote popular sovereignty, his students favor despotism of the most vicious breed. Skousen was a liberal anti-Communist, but he was fodder for rabid anti-communism. The latter can be held responsible for much of what is wrong with America today because of its tendency to turn America into a thug nation.

How do you distinguish between ideas such as communism and republicanism vs. their supposed manifestations in the forms of Communism and Republicanism?

Comments

Re: In all seriousness.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

My observations had nothing to do with living in houses and using electricity. I compared the developmental level of East Germany with that of West Germany. East Germany lagged about as far behind as did the US. There some areas of exception that fascinated me such as the continued use of steam locomotives and the use of manual labor in some jobs that have been mechanized in the US. The quality of public housing appeared to be roughly the same, except that the East German tenements appeared to be a bit better maintained.

Re: In all seriousness.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

You should know better than most that technical developement does not a civilization make.

As stated above, there's a reason the Berlin wall was built, and to ignore the vast social inequities and violence inherent in the Soviet system shows either blindness or stupidity on your part.

Re: In all seriousness.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

There were a variety of reasons for the construction of the Berlin Wall, some of which I am sure you have not considered. The social inequities and violence in the Soviet system is reflected in my original observations on the fraudulent nature of Communism as a proponent of human progress. What you seem to have missed is the damage done to America by rabid anti-communism.

Re: In all seriousness.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

There were a variety of reasons for the construction of the Berlin Wall, some of which I am sure you have not considered.

Be all means enlighten me, but i suspect that the primary reason was to keep people from crossing it.

The social inequities and violence in the Soviet system is reflected in my original observations on the fraudulent nature of Communism as a proponent of human progress. What you seem to have missed is the damage done to America by rabid anti-communism.

And what specifically would that damage be?

Re: In all seriousness.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

WRT the Wall, I don't suppose you know anything about running agents.

WRT damage done by anti-communism: There is damage to the reputation of the government by deception of allies. There is damage to the social fabric by marginalizing intellectuals and favoring criminal elements. There is economic damage resulting from operating secret wars.

Re: In all seriousness.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you know anything about running agents.

A little, but those with resources will be able to cross regardless. The real purpose of such an edifice is to discourage the rank-and-file which of course raises the question of "If the soviet states are in fact a workerer's paradise why are so many people so eager to leave?"

There is damage to the reputation of the government by deception of allies. There is damage to the social fabric by marginalizing intellectuals and favoring criminal elements. There is economic damage resulting from operating secret wars.

The wars and reputation I will concede, but you assume that the marginalization was un justified which I would argue to the contrary.