10 Ways the Communist Manifesto
has Infiltrated the USA"Socialists protesting in Portland are learning
that “The worst thing that can happen to a socialist
is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.” -Ludwig von Mises
Via The Daily Bell
If you can’t handle one little arbitrary political abduction at the hands of secret government police, socialism may not be for you.
Socialists protesting in Portland are learning that “The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.” -Ludwig von Mises
See, you might not realize it, but the USA is already heavily influenced by the socialist/ communist philosophy of Karl Marx.
Socialism is more of an umbrella term, meaning centralized control of the means of production– like factories and farming– in the hands of the state.
Communism is more extreme, with complete abolishment of private property, and a dictatorial government that allegedly attempts to distribute wealth “to each according to his need,” and extract labor “from each according to his ability.”
The two are related enough to use them interchangeably for our purposes.
Karl Marx was born over 200 years ago. And despite the utter failure of his communist philosophy in practice, the cult lives on. Still people want to try again… this time they will get it right.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels originally published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. It laid out the beliefs and action plan of the Communist Party. The goal was to get communists of every nationality to rise up and unite to overthrow their “capitalist oppressors.”
Little did they know their words would be used by the likes of Stalin and Mao as justification for over 100 million murders all in the name of a great leap forward for society.
In America, the goals of the communists have crept their way into society with little fanfare. Many people have no idea that public schools, the graduated income tax, and even a central state-controlled bank (like the Federal Reserve) were tenets of the Communist Manifesto.
In one section The Communist Manifesto boils down to a list of ten main goals.
Here are those goals, in Marx and Engels’ own words....
“1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.”
Also known as property taxes.
Can you really say you own land if you must pay the government every year in order to keep it? Fail to pay your rent, and they will eventually confiscate “your” land. This money is then used for “public purposes” like public schools (just wait for #10) and police, who will remove you from the government’s land if you fail to pay your rent.
And if the local government can fine you for keeping a front yard garden, or backyard chickens, do you really own the land anyway? The proletariat simply trades capitalist oppressors for government oppressors.
“2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.”
Even after the latest tax cuts, the federal income tax rates range from 10% to 37%. You pay more if you earn more. That’s what a graduated income tax means.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the top 20% of income earners in the U.S. paid 87% of all income taxes in 2018. These people who earn $150,000 or more account for 52% of the income earned in the USA, but will pay almost all of the income taxes.
“3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.”
They want to fleece the rich one more time when they die, even though all that wealth was taxed already as income or capital gains.
There is a hefty exemption to the estate tax (AKA death tax)–the first $11 million or so is not taxed. But every dollar over that is taxed at 40%. (State-level estate taxes add additional costs, often with lower exemptions.)
When you think about it, $11 million is not so much money when you are talking about a business that might be passed down through inheritance.
“4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.”
Let’s start with the Exit Tax.
Why don’t you just move out of America if you don’t like the taxes?
Well, America taxes its citizens worldwide, even if they do not live or work in the USA.
Why not renounce your citizenship then?
That is one option. But it’s actually not free. In fact, the U.S. confiscates a serious percentage of property from emigrants.
It is called the Exit Tax. It gets complicated, but basically, the government is going to tax you on your net worth, as if you just sold all your assets.
If you don’t have the liquid cash to cover that, you would actually have to start selling assets–property, stocks, etc.–in order to pay the Exit Tax. Of course, you would be taxed on the income or capital gains first, and then have to pay the exit tax with what is left over.
“5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.”
I wonder if today’s communists are aware of this one. They can’t possibly think the Federal Reserve helps the proletariat, yet that is exactly what the manifesto describes.
Some people might disagree that the Federal Reserve is state-owned. Technically it has a private board, although board members are appointed by politicians.
But the government granted the Federal Reserve dictatorial control over the economy. The government refuses to audit it, and the government protects its monopoly. It is without a doubt a feature of a centralized state.
The Fed sets the interest rates, prints money, and finances much of the debt of the United States government.
The Federal Reserve also makes it easier for the state to confiscate rebel property. With a government monopoly, it can simply freeze accounts at home, and bully banks abroad into accepting the will of the US government.
“6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.”
FCC, FTC, DOT, FAA, TSA, CBP–oh it’s an alphabet soup of communications and transport regulators.
They regulate the phone lines, the roadways, air traffic, rails, mail and package delivery.
This is nothing new.
Around the same time Karl Marx was writing The Communist Manifesto, Lysander Spooner was doing something productive with his time.
Spooner started the American Letter Mail Company to compete with the U.S. Postal Service. He undercut their prices and provided better customer service, but was fined and cited for breaking laws which protected the government monopoly. He was forced out of business in 1851.
“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.”
The state has certainly dabbled in factory ownership, like the GM bailout. They control utilities like water and power. And they have certainly subsidized their fair share of business from oil and solar panels to sugar and corn.
We can refer back to #1 to see how much land the government controls, often under the auspices of improving soil and protecting wastelands.
Then there are plenty of government contractors which are basically the same thing as a government-owned company. If 100% of their revenue comes from the government, they are not a private company. This is especially prominent in the defense industry, which is where the term military-industrial-complex comes from.
The government spends about 34% of the GDP every year— in 2020 it will be closer to 50%. That is a significant percentage of the economy which the government owns or controls.
“8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.”
Yes, the Communist Manifesto proposes enslaving all those unwilling to work.
Now, it might not seem like the U.S. government forces people to work. But you have to make money just to park your ass on a plot of land. Local governments want property taxes, which means you must make a certain amount of money just to have a place to live.
People bitch about landlords, but at least they are providing a place to live. Try building yourself a little cottage on government land and they’ll throw you in prison. (So in that sense, they will provide a home to anyone.)
Without the socialist government, you could settle an unused a piece of land, and make your own way in the world.
And the fact that the government claims the authority to tax you on everything you earn basically means you have a liability to labor for the government if you want to labor at all.
“9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.”
The government helped create factory farming by regulating all the small-scale producers out of business.
Reason reports that USDA regulations have forced small slaughterhouses to close in favor of large factory-style slaughterhouses. This might sound like a good idea at first. But consider that when one infected animal makes its way to a slaughterhouse, it can contaminate so much more meat.
“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.”
This may be tenth on the list, but it is number one in ensuring all the rest fall into place.
American communists got this goal in place just four years after the Communist Manifesto was published, with Massachusetts enacting the first compulsory public education law in 1852. After that, it was only a matter of time until the population was indoctrinated to believe whatever the government taught them.
The book Teen 2.0: Saving Our Children and Families from the Torment of Adolescence delves in depth into the history and injustice of compulsory schooling.
It was designed so that the state and corporations could work together to train an obedient workforce, with the public footing the bill.
The point was not open minds and a desire to learn. The aim of the education was setting students up for whatever mediocre to low paying jobs the industrialists wanted them to fill.
With childhood education infiltrated by the communists, it was only a matter of time until the US became a socialist country.
And I’d say we are basically there.
That’s why it is so absurd that people think “socialism” would be a radical change for the US. It would be more of the same, a doubling down on every failure you can think of from the last century.
What the socialists being arrested in Portland by other socialists might not realize is that Obama signed the NDAA which is now being used by Trump/ federal troops to kidnap protesters in Portland.
The Republicans and Democrats are different heads of the same beast, just like Socialists versus the National Socialists. The labels hardly matter.
They are authoritarians first, and then break down into factions of communist, socialist, fascist, etc. Each grows the power of the federal government, and hands that power off to the next faction when the tides turn.
A truly radical experiment would actually be trying a real free market for once.
The Views and Opinions of the Author are not necessarily the Views and opinions of Enigmose
This Has Been a Truncated Summary Full Article by Joe Jarvis @ The Daily Bell