{"id":86,"date":"2017-02-03T00:02:37","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/uncategorized\/confused-about-communism\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T00:02:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T00:02:37","slug":"confused-about-communism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/ask-the-old-hippie\/confused-about-communism\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused about Communism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tHey My Old Hipster!
\nI think it’s such a great thing your doing ’cause there’s so many
\nconfused young hippies out there like me! I’m quite interested in communism but I
\ncan’t quite make my mind up.I think I know the very basics ( equal rights,
\npower to the people etc) but I can’t figure much more out. You only get 2
\ntypes of info about it that which is too small (ie. encyclopedia) and
\nthat which is too long (I read a book about Marx and just got so confused I
\nhad to go for a smoke to clear my head!) I think it could be quite a good
\nidea. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you could explain to me what the basics are so I can make my mind up
\nI’d be well chuffed! Also do you know anything about the Young Communists if
\nI like the idea I may join.<\/p>\n

Cheers bro,
\nPeace, Love and Happiness
\nThe Stinkin’ Hippy.<\/p>\n

P.S. Why is it every one I know who smokes pot is a dick a bout it ( the
\nmost get high must get absolutely wrecked on any manky shit in any manky
\nway in the same way as people drink to excess as appose to me who does it to
\nchill out listen to tunes and OPEN MY MIND, why can’t there be anyone cool
\naround?<\/p>\n


\nDear Stinkin’ Hippy
\nOnce upon a time, many hippies embraced communism. It’s a great theory
\nproposing that everyone should have equal power and wealth. But that’s the
\nproblem. It’s just an economic theory that lacks respect for individuality,
\ncreativity, spirituality. By forcing people to conform, yield to the power
\nof the state, which then determines what’s best for you and everyone else,
\nyou end up with the worse totalitarian systems. Don’t think so? Look at
\nthe former Soviet Union, Red China, North Korea, even Milosovich’s Serbia. <\/span><\/p>\n

The problems inherent in communism become apparent when power becomes
\nconsolidated in the hands of a few. Power corrupts, absolute power
\ncorrupts absolutely! That statement pretty much sums it up. In practice
\ncommunism concentrates all the power, thus corrupting those on top and the
\nwhole system. The other failing is that humans aren’t just needy, they’re
\nGREEDY. The failure of the communist regimes was that those with the power
\nwere the only ones able to satisfy their greed, while the rest could barely
\nmeet their needs. So far from creating a worker’s paradise, communism in
\npractice was nothing more than a huge slave camp, with the workers toiling
\naway for the benefit of a few powerful comrades (party members).<\/p>\n

Capitalism succeeds because it rewards any individual who contributes to the
\nsystem, regardless of their political status. It is caters to human greed
\nrather than ignoring it. So the more you work the more you prosper. Of
\ncourse those who refuse to contribute still expect to be rewarded, and can
\nget awfully upset when they don’t. But the real problem that inspired
\ncommunism is the exploitation of workers. And this persists under
\ncapitalism, because the prevailing business model is one where executives
\nsee maximizing profits as the holy grail. Thus workers are often paid a
\npoor wage, especially in third world countries, given as few benefits as
\npossible, and can be abused in many ways. This is a major failing of the
\ncapitalist system and could be cured very easily.<\/p>\n

Another big flaw is the exploitation of resources, and pollution of the
\nenvironment (the communists were REALLY good at this!). This problem is due
\nto the fact that the economics of diminishing resources, and the destruction
\nof ecosystems do not get factored into every Nike or Ford Expedition that
\ngets made. Instead the world is left absorbing that cost while reckless,
\nirresponsible businesses profit from it. This is because governments are
\nnow beholden to the multi-national business interests that help the leaders
\nget elected. Politicians get pressured by lobbyists to allow them to
\ncontinue their exploitive ways. Again it’s individuals receiving bribes (oh
\nexcuuuuuse meeeeeee…. campaign contributions) that make these decisions
\nthat benefit corporate interests at the expense of their constituients (the
\nvoters).<\/p>\n

But your question was about communism, no? Forget it! And though
\ncapitalism may be more successful, in the long run, it’s almost as bad.<\/p>\n

And as far as smoking pot is concerned, the problem you mention is the
\ndifference between use and abuse, respect for a sacred herb and disrespect
\nfor one’s own body. There’s lots of cool people around, you just need to
\nfind some new friends (perhaps some older ones).<\/p>\n

-The Old Hippy<\/p>\n

Posted by: skip
\nViews: 23949
\nTopic:14\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey My Old Hipster! I think it’s such a great thing your doing ’cause there’s so many confused young hippies out there like me! I’m quite interested in communism but I can’t quite make my mind up.I think I know the very basics ( equal rights, power to the people etc) but I can’t figure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35,103],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-old-hippie","tag-communism","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}