Hi everyone,
I'm a college student. I come from a liberal perspective. I grew up with a supportive, liberal family. My father runs a small business. We're relatively well off.
I am currently in a class analyzing Marx's Capital Vol I (his theory on capitalism).
In questioning some of the perspectives of Marx, I'm trying to understand the perspective outside of my institutionalized ideology. I am not interested in any emotionally-driven quarrel with anybody here and just aim to gain new perspectives.
All I ask is you give me some common decency, and I can promise I will not go out of my way to provoke ideological fights. Feel free to shoot me a private message if you want to talk with me one on one.
Here is my working "communist manifesto," as
EagleKeeper recommended I post. It's still changing.
First and foremost, I have faith in humanity. I believe there can be more than one reality — liberals and conservatives are just one example of this — and more than one reality can be understood and respected.
I think corporations and the accumulation of money-power are the biggest threats to individual and collective liberty. I believe market fundamentalism is naive. I am still working out my own understanding of the economy.
People and corporations with obnoxious accumulations of wealth have the social power and monetary power to manipulate the political system, which is not the way it was intended to work.
I believe in voluntary community organization, not involuntary collectivism, and I think there is power in community and crowds that must be embraced to overcome the destructive forces of corporate and money power.
Government is too big to be effective and is so wasteful. Smaller government is good.
Individual creativity, passion, empathy, and responsibility are important. Cooperation and collaboration are just as important.
Ethically, I believe every human being has a right to real food, clean water, a decent home, and connection with their community. I think the solution to that is not cheaper McDonalds food, not government welfare, but community's coming together, working together to help support one another. This doesn't mean special places for poor people. I mean respectable places where poor people are no longer suffocated by poverty, but able to connect with their community and have a better opportunity to have a decent life.
Tell me what you think. If you're interested in starting an in-depth conversation, let's start a new thread.
Thanks to EagleKeeper for recommending I start this thread.