"From Each According to His Means, To Each According to His Needs"...
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
March 28, 2008 3:03pm CST
I get into a lot of political discussions, and I admit, I throw the terms "Marxist", "Stalinist", "Socialist", "Communist" and other terms all together, even though I know they aren't really the same things.
I'm not trying to be sematically correct, I'm just trying to participate in discussion.
When I do use the terms, I'm usually referring to the "from each according to his means, to each according to his needs" mentality.
There are few things more destructive and freedom robbing than this idea. It literally gives the government the authority and power to take as much as they want. That is dangerous, and flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution.
To me, another saying comes to mind anytime a politician uses this concept as the basis for legislation. "Your being really generous with other people's money".
It is my responsibility to evaluate my own means and needs, not the government. It is up to me to decide how much of my means I choose to donate for charitible purposes.
Whether you favorite means of forced participation is "Marxist", "Stalinist", "Socialist", "Communist" or whatever... if your idea of "welfare" is based on the government robbing Peter to pay Paul, you have no respect or love for freedom... in fact, you resent it.
2 people like this
4 responses
@smwilliams (647)
• United States
28 Mar 08
Okay so welfare is now defined as robbing Peter to pay Paul? I can agree that we get taxed for some major BS..and many people dont deserve the money the government gives them. My question to you is where else do you expect them to get the money for these things? Grants? Loans with interest? A portion of each comes from us.
2 people like this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
29 Mar 08
Reread the article. This thread isn't about government welfare programs specifically, it is about economic and governmentmental systems that are based on "from each according to his means, to each according to his need".
If you have anything to comment about that, I'd love to hear them.
2 people like this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
28 Mar 08
I call people "Pinko" all the time. When they are they are. There is nothing good that can come from the minds of the Pinko, Commie, Socialistic, Libbies. If they all would just get on a gaint boat, and yes I understand that it would have to be a big boat, our country would be great again. Know after saying that yes the Constitution protect the rights of those that would destory the Constitution. It amazes me that those that believe that the Constitution should be interperted in todays time, are the first to claim Constitutional protection. One way or the other folks. It is amazing how generous people can be with other peoples money.
2 people like this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
29 Mar 08
True, we defend the rights of everyone to speak their minds. It's amazing how many people use that right to take other rights from us.
2 people like this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
29 Mar 08
Did you know that this most famous communist quote, "From each according to his means, to each according to his needs" was thrown down the memory hole by the communists themselves shortly before the USSR dissolved?
Yes, it is true.
Reading the handwriting on the wall, the communist leaders modified this cleverly deceptive, yet stupidly destructive slogan to a form more likely to help the USSR survive. The new slogan? "From each according to his means, to each according to his work!". I heard this with my own ears on Radio Moscow back in the late 1980's.
So it is that even the premier leading communist country of the world finally recognized that it is universal for people's perception of 'fairness' to always minimize their 'means' of production or amount of work, while maximizing their 'needs'.
This always leads to a badly performing economy. Any communist country will always under perform a free country over time. This should be taught in all classes on government, politics, and economics.
The lesson here is that people as a whole are just incapable of objectively deciding fairness.
Therefore, the only fair way to decide who gets what has to be based on how productive each person has been, not what they need.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
13 Oct 11
OH Catt, I appreciate you resurrecting this thread, but your response was mindless an inane. Can you at least wake up before you spew stupidity?
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
29 Mar 08
Those terms you mentioned are merely different flavors of the same things. In addition to the ones you used you can add progressive, liberal, statist, and a few others that escape me at the moment.
They all mean the same basic thing, and they all believe that the government is better equipped to take care of you than you are.
Yes it is dangerous, and it goes against everything that America once stood for.
The liberals are all for the forced redistribution of wealth, and that is an old defining points of socialism.
Even with it saying to each according to their work is still socialist in nature, because it denotes redistribution of wealth according to the perceived value of work as dictated by the government.
This still goes against Capitalism and Free Enterprise, and prevents a person from doing his best.
Freedom is much more than mere welfare, freedom is independence from government interference in our lives and the way we do business.
Without independence you can never be free.
