On Thu, 6 May 2010 15:05:44 -0600 Levi Pearson <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> I figured that "right wing nut" and "Marxist" were mutually > >> exclusive. But, hmmm, these days, in a world of assault talk show > >> "hosts", etc., maybe they aren't. You are right, I should have > >> included it. > > > > Marxism is identified as total authoritarian state economic control. > > Economy controlled by the state is defined as left of center. So, > > Marxism would be left wing nuts. Right wing nuts would refer to > > liberal economics as controlled by the society (libertarians, > > neo-liberalism). > > Where do you get the idea the Marxism is defined as total > authoritarian state economic control? I would say that Marxism is > defined by a critique of capitalism that describes how it divides the > people into social classes based on who controls the means of I would say that Marxism is adherence to the ideas of Karl Marx, as set forth in various writings. Levi, you are right about Marx' vagueness and other folks running with it. During the 1848 uprisings in Paris, some of the Parisians claimed to be Marxists, to which Marx famously replied, I am not a Marxist. (Then again, would Jesus Christ, coming back today, say, I am not a Christian? But that's another email storm.) I think the total state control of everything came in with Lenin, or at least Lenin took it to its greatest influence within Marxist thinking. The Chinese Communists have shown that they are, at a minimum, not Marxist-Leninists, although they do apply a fair bit of Lenin to their control of the state and party. However, these days Marxism is confined to a few backward and isolated corners of the world, like North Korea and American college campuses. So can we get back to more important discussions like selecting a good beer? -- Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
