Huh. I see what you're getting at here, and it's a good point, but I still think that in the current context, most people will think of communism as morally inferior when they think it inevitably leads to totalitarianism, which is the way they mostly think of it. That is, I think we live in a time where utopianism is generally considered immoral precisely because it's impractical. We are mostly vulgar utilitarians, in still other words. Thus Kudlow's remarks last week about the earthquake. So I still remain surprised that it's as high as 11%. The "don't knows," however, might include a lot of people thinking the way you're describing it, and so they feel that conflict? Speculation, of course, since the poll is horrible in this respect if no other: it didn't get at just this question. Which would have been helpful.
On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 10:51 AM, Shane Mage <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry to pour cold water on any optimism from this sort of polling, but the > question as put > is designed to evoke the most hoary of anticommunist clichés: "communism" > (as was once > supposedly practiced by Jesus and his disciples) is of course morally > superior to capitalism. > Unfortunately, in reality it is totally impractical--workable for angels > but not for us selfish sinners. > The surprise, if any, is that only eleven percent of a Rasmussen sample > responded in those terms. >
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