To Americans, communism is the boogeyman. It's laughable how badly that word gets butchered in US politics.

The older I get the more I realize that, with capitalists holding so much power all over the world, it's extremely difficult for a socialist/communist state to exist without it being pushed to become an authoritarian state.

I can see how the absolute onslaught of pressure from those capitalist powers on all sides - propaganda, sanctions, trade wars, blockades, posturing, funding opposition parties, funding rebel groups, sabotage, proxy wars, etc. - could turn any well-intentioned leaders to paranoia and state violence.

That's not to say existing and/or historic communist/socialist states have/had pure, innocent leaders, or that I blindly give any of them a pass. It's just an extremely difficult environment in which to demonstrate the potential of such governments.

This is the fucking issue with people joking about how rich getting shit is communism.

We're playing a game of telephone.

We don't live in capitalism! I'm a capitalist so I know! We live in corporate socialism! - average demsoc supported candidate.

Al so soft and clean