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Why do so many posters romance totalitarian or brutal methods of spurring development, when freedom, neutral courts, and clear demarcation of property rights would accomplish a better result with no concomitant slaughter?
Thanks for this thread. It's been fascinating watching people defending this sort of horror in a contemporary ideological context.
…. Without the USSR, the European theater would have played out differently during WW2.
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The Russian winter beat the Germans, not the USSR. Without the USSR, WWII would have ended 6 weeks earlier. Patton wouldn't have been ordered to slow down to wait for the Russians to take Berlin.
Socialism/communism can only exist under totalitarianism. Central planning requires that everyone follow the same set of directives. Pluralism would allow a constant bickering and change of plans as each election would potentially change the govt. plan.
Keep in mind that MotherNature favors pluralism & capitalism-- constant new start-ups, so to speak, guarantee that someone will always be successful.
I conclude that the Russian Revolution, along with Hitler's accession to his role as Chancellor and Fuehrer were among the world's great tragedies.
Nazism was a tragedy as it was inherently flawed. However the Russian revolution was not, it was just badly manged with those running it unable to understand what they were doing and how to achieve what they wanted. The USSR ended up with state capitalism, which was far from the teachings of Karl Marx, who was an economist not a politician. The Soviets were unable to give a fair distribution of the nations productivity.
The Russian winter beat the Germans, not the USSR. Without the USSR, WWII would have ended 6 weeks earlier. Patton wouldn't have been ordered to slow down to wait for the Russians to take Berlin.
I think you have been watching too many B movies from Hollywood.
clear demarcation of property rights would accomplish a better result
Property (land) has been the problem with the version of capitalism we used. Its Achilles heel. A large part of a communities economy soaks into land (hence where the land values come from), which is collectively created. This is appropriated by the landowners, who did not create that value, not reclaimed to pay for common services. This creates a trickle up economy.
As I suspected, as a Princeton professor, solidly of the academic establishment.
Wait... So going to an Ivy league school lends your favorite journalist credibility but discredits the actual historian who happens to disagree with you?
Wait... So going to an Ivy league school lends your favorite journalist credibility but discredits the actual historian who happens to disagree with you?
Interesting.
Not trying to be obtuse by who is my "favorite Journalist" If you are thinking of Ben Shapiro he is not and this is off-topic. As far as the Princeton professor I am attacking the "group-think" and romanticizing of Utopian ideals. What they don't teach in the schools is as beautiful as they are they don't work. Would you sanely trust policy to day-campers and their counselors turning "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" into policy?
I wouldn't say 25 vs. 20 is "lopsided." There are good arguments for both; Hitler was responsible for more deaths over a shorter period and Stalin was responsible indirectly for a greater number of deaths over a longer period. Think the Korean and Vietnam wars, in which Russia was not directly involved.
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