RE: A comment on socialism

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

> IMO, the vampire like behavior has nothing to do with socialism but is
> simply a manifestation of the corruption of unchecked power.

Charu, the critical line in my comment was: "People are first of all
sucked into these offices by the 'honey' of a variety of 'laws and
regulations' **designed** to interfere in every activity of every person."

Only, and I repeat, only in the case of socialism are laws designed with
this goal in mind. The concept of individual privacy and liberty is least
important to socialists all over the world. In China the government even
keeps track of the menstrual period of each woman (this was told to me by
a Chinese Ph.D. student at USC who is doing a Ph.D. on population issues).
Can you imagine the US government trying to do that? 

In capitalistic societies, the resentment of "Big Brother" - the
Government - is so high that government cannot dare enter a person's house
without very good reasons. 

Capitalistic societies fear to give power to anyone. Therefore they have
democracy and markets. They ensure that no-one retains power for long. In
the USA two terms is all that a President can do. Socialistic socities
love to give power to "self-appointed" well-wishers of people like Stalin,
Mao, Indira Gandhi, Castro, etc. Each of these "led" their people to ruin
over many decades. They were more like dictators than democrats. Most of
these folk even try to establish dynasties by bullying other people in the
country and using all kinds of tricks and roguery, as well as unearned
money.

Have you heard of the George Washington or Abraham Lincoln dynasty
anywhere? Or even George Bush? 

All I am saying here (and "Animal Farm" said it a long time ago; as did
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn in his Gulag Archipelago) is that socialism
leads to untrammeled misuse of power. Primarily because in socialistic
societies the people are pummelled into becoming fearful sheep (KGB, for
example) and they cannot dare oppose their leaders. 

Sanjeev