Marx, Lenin, Castro, the Rosenberg’s, and many, many more. You’ve heard their names repeatedly over your lifetime. Commies! All of them. What makes a person a Communist? The popular answer: Anyone who questions the worth of, or rejects Capitalism and Democracy (and that special relationship between the two). The popular answer requires you to see Capitalism and Democracy as one and the same. Nonsense.
Democracies and Capitalism are quite capable of flourishing without each other. Look at the Social-Democratic states found around the Baltic. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark. Or, Canada with its historically mixed economy. And look, also, at the newly discovered Capitalists in Russia and China. Dictatorships, both. But let’s not forget the past. Dictatorships also ran roughshod over socialized states such as the Soviet Union, and Mao-ist China. My point is, for better or for worse, Capitalism or Communism can align with any kind of political entity.
Including Oligarchies. Oligarchy…what is an Oligarchy? (from Merriam Webster, “government by the few”, or “a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes”). Can you imagine a country, where Democracy and Oligarchy are united? How about the United States of America? Hold on, you say, “the USA is a red, white and blue Democracy”. I’m going to tell you that it is not now a Democracy and has been devolving from a Democracy to an Oligarchy for a very long time. Even before Ronald Reagan, but significantly more so since Ronald Reagan. And the takeover of the country both politically and economically, is by a commune of the very rich and monied elite (ME). In fact, almost half of the worlds wealth is owned by only eight men1. So, with a world total economic wealth of 250 trillion dollars2, the eight men own half of that. Doesn’t leave much left for the other 7.5 billion residents of the planet.
So, how is it that the ME, including the above eight men, are Communists? Aren’t they Capitalists? They made their money within the Capitalist economies of the world. And, they promote Capitalism, at every opportunity. While communism’s idealistic and propogandist expressions traditionally stress triumph of the downtrodden at least economically, communes of people are at the core, working to an end. Oligarchs establish their own tiny, taut core of dominant interests, that makes them a commune, with the goal to triumph in the marketplace, by any means, without regard for the other 7.5 billion residents of the planet. In the push and pull of national interests and political influence the Oligarchs control of Government is both an advantage and a challenge. It’s telling that they never feel that they have enough control of Governments that matters. When the Oligarchs publicly discuss politics, governance, or economics publicly their mantra, is always that Government “gets in the way of doing business”. Privately they manipulate Governments to the advantage of their commune, without transparency, or accountability. In a recent interview a former colleague of billionaire ME, Robert Mercer said, “If the world knew what he was trying to do, they wouldn’t stand for it.”3
If you see the Oligarchy for what it is, with half the worlds’ wealth and more, you’ll discover that whatever it does affects everyone as though it was the government itself. But decisions made by the ME to influence government, and to enhance their wealth, or reduce costs, affects every single person on the planet, in a way that suborns governments and makes them ineffective to curb the ME’s narrow agenda. The democratic process of citizens voting for their governments is further diminished or invalidated by the commune’s lobbying, financing of political candidates, and control of the governments elected members. Those members who are corrupted by the money, that pays for their election, become disposed to the dictates of the ME’s. Effectively relegating the role of the elected government to that of a rubber stamp for the ME’s. The Commune wins.
Today’s Communists are just a bunch of rich ME’s with a common cause. MAKE MORE MONEY. Working blindly (and maybe not so blindly) in harmony to make more money, but in common cause with their new Communist ideal, oblivious to, and without concern for the damage that they are doing to the economy and lives of those who are not ME’s. The other seven and a half billion. As ME Kevin O’leary says, “it’s just business”.
It’s not a conspiracy. Really…it’s not a conspiracy. It’s just that the ME’s toil away with one purpose only. Make money and lower all costs to make that happen quicker. (If you don’t believe that check out the curriculum at any University or College for an MBA or for a CMA certification). They’re graduating them by the thousands each year. Each, and every, one desperate to cash in on the bonus driven economy by lowering their employers costs.
- Oxfam, January, 2017
- Credit Suisse, Research Institute – Global Wealth Report 2015
- http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/sh/wex94ODaUs/trump-robert-mercer-billionaire/
/Revised: 01/19/18
Fresh Blather 
Can’t agree with your definition of “New Communism”. It’s Oligarchy through and through. In fact the combination of Oligarchy and Democracy actually sounds benevolent as in, “We’re a DEMOCRATIC Oligarchy”. Very dangerous concept.
In any case, Democracy appears to be nothing more than a “sleight of hand” parlor trick. Your “ME’s” finance the political parties (one to win and one to “place”), the candidates – investing heavily in Primary candidates and in the rules of the Primary (candidate selection) as well.
The question then becomes: Which of the candidates that you had no hand in selecting, and will not in fact champion policies that benefit you, do you support?
The solution to the problem is simple, but difficult to achieve.
Firstly we need to embrace political reforms. In fact the specific type of reform isn’t important. What’s important is that your “ME’s” won’t initially control the reform.
Secondly, the number of political parties needs to be increased exponentially. There should be HUNDREDS of parties represented in every parliament/congress/senate because there are HUNDREDS of ideologies and political viewpoints in every country. There should be mainstream parties that have well thought out policies on every issue and there should be single issue parties and whackjob parties from the right and from the left. Your “ME’s” will squander billions of dollars ineffectively trying to infiltrate and integrate into this many parties. Think Whack-A-Mole!
As I said above this is not easy to achieve.
British Columbia is currently preparing for a referendum on political reforms. Regardless if one supports the specific reform, in this case proportional representation, if one opposes the unholy Corporate control of our political systems, then one is obliged to do everything in one’s power to push for a successful implementation of this reform. BTW, I bet you haven’t heard a word of the upcoming referendum in any Lamestream Media – because it will weaken their position.
If you are looking for other alternative sources of news and political commentary that aren’t controlled by the big 6 media monopolies try these:
The Young Turks
The Majority Report-Sam Seder
David Pakman
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