-isms

No "ism" can succeed on it's own. No lone "ist" is ever truly right.

The USSR collapsed under the weight of Communism, Socialism, Marxism and Leninism. All variations on the same "ism."

Communist China thrives because it has embraced Capitalism and blended it with their Communism.

Cuba, like Soviet Russia, pretends to be Communist, but that "ism" is buffered with a generous helping of actual Socialism and a healthy dollop of Capitalism.

It is high time that the U.S. understands that, and lifts cold war era sanctions to open free tourism and cigars.

"Socialist" countries like France, Sweden and Iceland balance it out with a good chunk of Capitalism. And they boast the highest "quality of life" standards.

England and all the other countries under the U.K. banner even more so.

The United States is, theoretically, a Capitalist nation.

Also too, a Democracy.

Or, of you prefer, a Democratic Republic.

But, going all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, who may or may not have flown a kite and discovered electricity, definitely introduced the idea of the "public commons." Public services like the fire department, the Postal Service and public libraries...

Through FDR and LBJ and who championed "social safety nets," like Public Works, Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare...

Pres. Dwight David Eisenhower saw federal highways, between the states, built. And warned us about the "Military Industrial Complex."

And that pinko, lefty Richard Nixon, put Food Stamps on the plates of the poors.

Democrats and Republicans, alike, all understood that a Capitalist America could not survive without a balancing dose of Socialism.

Most "isms" look pretty good in theory.

The PC remembers the time, when he was a teen, announcing to a small group of mostly liberal adults, (which included his parents,) that Marxism looked good on paper. The horrified expressions on their faces was priceless.

But, (the teen PC, continued,) Marxism alone goes against the grain of human nature. It cannot work, by itself.

In hindsight, the teen PC was smarter than he knew he was.

Or, maybe, as smart as he thought he was.

So, flying in the face of today's right-wing, Tea-bagging, Libertarian, Ayn Rand Conservatives...

And don't get me wrong...

Your Blog is a Capitalist who loves his personal profit generating Capitalism.

But, your Blog also understands that without a healthy dose of Socialism to balance that Capitalism out...

The Socialist vein that today's GOP and Tea Party would like to twist a tournequet on...

The economy of the United States is doomed to go the way of the Roman Empire.

Communist Marxism cannot work by itself.

But, on a theoretically, academic level...

Marx got more of it right than wrong.