: : My take on Brecht's quote:: : The men who oppose Totalitarianism without opposing Communism are like those who want to eat tofu without killing the soybeans.
:
: Oh come on. Can we agree to stop using that outdated, propaganda term 'totalitarian'. Communism is not totalitarian, it has nothing to do with totalitarianism. Some communist states happened to be totalitarian, others were democratic.
:in terms of the range of politoical choice,
Don: This is absurd. We have wide "political choice" here in the US. The vast majority choose "mainstream" candidates from the Democratic or Republican parties. This is the choice of the majority, which is what democracy is all about.
:diversity within the media,
Don: This too is absurd. We have incredable diversity in the media. The "mainstream" media is strongly liberal democrat, which may in part explain popular dissatisfaction with the "media". However, when you bother to stray away from CBS, NBC, and ABC you can find amazing diversity. We have much more than a lone opposition newspaper.
:and access to the ballot,
Don: We have widespread access to the ballot.
:communist states like Nicaragua were far more democratic than the United States.
Don: Wrong.
:the existence of democratic communism would tend to invalidate the idea that communism is totalitarian.
Don: It is funny how fast "democratic communist" states vote themselves out of the iron curtain. Democracy does not mean freedom, but so far it has meant "NO" to communism.
:Remember that China and the Soviet Union were only two possible models of communism, among many, and some woudl argue they weren't even communist.
:Communism and socialism are about achieving brotherhood and human rights for everyone.
Don: Goals neither will ever achieve.
: : I'm not a fan of capitalism, but why would Brecht have sought refuge in East Germany, land of an equally cruel economical system? Were it me, I'd have escaped to Holland.
: East Germany's political system may have been 'cruel', but I hardly think their ECONOMIC system was cruel.
Don: Their economic system dictated their political system.
:I agree with David Dellinger hen he said, "The Soviet [bloc] is an experiment in economicdemocracy without political democracy, the United States an experiment in political democracy without economic democrcay, and the verdict of teh twentieth century is that both have failed at their objectives."
Don: "Economic democracy"? If that means we all vote on our economic policy, well that will fail. If we have experts decide our economic policy, it's not democracy and it will still fail. If we dedcide to let the market forces (the choices of all those individuals out there who we call consumers), well that will work and it will be more democratic than any democracy.
