They Did It Because They Were Communists

Such is the provocative title of Claire Berlinski's latest posting on Ricochet.com.  An interesting discussion about what she wrote has sprung up on her Facebook page.  Here's what I wrote about Communism:


My major problem with Communism has to do "incentive", specifically killing it - excuse the unintended pun.  But seriously, whenever people tell me that they're fed up with our capitalist system and want something different, my response is always the same: "I am VERY open to hearing about any other system you can devise but when doing so, please ensure that there's a built-in incentive system to make people work harder, work smarter, & strive for more.  Because without it, your system is doomed to failure."

I just turned 46 years old this past month and have not yet heard of such an alternate system.

The inherent failure of communism is that ultimately, and very quickly, the only incentive comes from the end of a gun.  Why anyone would support this I do not know.  Yet we consistently hear of the likes of Thomas Friedman, Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, & others raving about the "benefits" of communism or its not too all dissimilar cousins.