Now many on this forum hold the the false truth, that
Liberalism is the same as communism… this is in fact not true…
they have similar goals, but they are not the same…
and writers and thinkers in the last century, like H.G. Wells
wrote books describing the differences between liberalism and
communism…to be liberal is not the same as being a communist…
whereas liberalism is an ideology, communism is not only an ideology
but is an action plan…a battle plan as it were…
Liberalism: is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty,
consent of the governed and equality before the law…
Communism: a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating
class war and leading to a society in which ALL property is publicly owned
and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs…
these definitions can tell us the difference between Liberalism and Communism…
Now it is true that Liberalism want to limit the amount of wealth that individuals have,
for example it is obscene that the 1% own more wealth then half the world’s population…
one of the greatest threats to the peace and prosperity of human beings is this
wealth inequality… if we are to be a just society, then we must
not allow such insane and very dangerous wealth inequality…
but notice, that at no point do the Liberals suggest as the Marxist do,
to eliminate private property or remove all the wealth from the wealthy…
we just want to equalize the wealth, not remove it…
that is a major difference between the Liberals and the Marxist…
this difference in understanding in the role of wealth and what
wealth is and the danger in having such income inequality…
not to remove wealth but to limit the ability to have great wealth…
the Liberals (and Marxists for that matter) focus on the group or the society,
the conservative focuses on the individual or a small social unit like
the family…this is one of the major differences between a liberal/marxist
and the conservative…where there focus lies on, the one or the many…
I for one am a Liberal because I too hold to the liberal focus on the group
or the society… but am not in favor of eliminating private property
or consolidate all businesses to the state…
I hold to having capitalism but not the detriment of the individual…
in other words, instead of using capitalism to build private wealth,
we use capitalism to build public wealth…the focus isn’t on building
vast private wealth as it exists today, but to focus on using the resources
of the corporation to aid in and build the society at large…
we should no longer have corporations used to build the wealth of individuals
in the way of the stock system which has the individual stockholder benefit
privately from the dividends of the corporation, but use that wealth to
aid and improve the public sector…wealth is used to aid the public,
not to aid the private individual…
The focus of government isn’t to privately benefit wealthy and
powerful individuals but to aid and benefit the public at large…
but at no point does this refocus make it communist as it doesn’t
take away from the ability of private companies to exist… they still
do exists and they can continue to do their thing… but two things
must happen, first of all, end the massive corporate and excessive
pays out to management… such as multi-million dollar pay out
to CEO’S… they get paid with the limits that they force upon everyone
else… with a reasonable amount of payment…there is no reason in
the universe why a CEO should get millions upon millions of dollars,
when the average annual wage in 2019 in America was $51,916.27 cents…
and the median annual wage was $34,248.45 cents… whereas the
average salary of a Chief Executive officer in America lies between
$410k-1.2k per year…with the average being $777,429 (according to
salary.com)
and there is no reason on earth why executive salaries are so much
higher then the average pay in America…and so we aren’t in favor of
ending CEO pay, just to limit to something similar to what the
average person gets paid…
and limit the ability of corporations to act independently of
the best interest of society at large… in other words, corporations
are not exempt from acting in the best interest of the society at large…
corporations need to be acting in the best interest of the society at large…
thus the corporation that dumps dangerous chemicals in the land, sea or air,
is severely punished because that damages the air, sea and land of the
public at large… it is quite clearly detrimental to the society at large…
and on that basis, the corporation must be severely punished… stockholders
included… and why them? because they own the company… that is the point
of stock ownership… you own part of the company… and you should be held
accountable to any actions the company makes that deemed to be
a hazard or dangerous to the society at large…to be a stockholder
doesn’t mean you get a free pass to make profits… you must be held
accountable to the actions of the company or you don’t need to own stocks,
which is owning the company…and that is another difference between
Liberals and communist… the Liberals still hold to stockholders and
dividends, but the stockholders must become accountable for the actions
of the company they own…ownership requires accountability…to own
something is to be accountable for that ownership…no more free ride for
stockholders… we still allow them, we just want them to be accountable
for the company actions…
the focus for the liberals is this, what can we do that will help or aid
individuals within the society/state…
we don’t say, we must own the state and all the activities within that state,
own the business within that state… we must hold those companies
to the point of being accountable for their actions and to punish, truly
punish those who violate the maxim that the state/the individuals within
that state come first, not the company or the individuals within the company
come first…that is the ideal we are aiming for, holding business and the
individuals within the business accountable for action taken, and not taken…
and to bring them to the ideal that the corporations mission statement isn’t
the seeking of profits at all costs, but the mission of the corporation
is to aid and benefit society and the individuals within that society…
it is a question of focus… we put the state/society first and the individuals
within that society/state first… the state is to serve the people, not
the people to serve the state… and that is a major focus change for
liberals that doesn’t exists within Marxism…the people come first in
Liberalism, whereas in communism, the state comes first…
Kropotkin