All People talk too much and don't listen

[Dan_Canadian]

OK NOW IM GOING TO TALK IN BOLD AND ALL CAPS BECAUSE WE SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM HERE Just kidding, but seriously...we do. I want to start this off by saying that too many people in here aren't listening to each other. In order to have a healthy debate everyone needs to realize that we should LISTEN to each other.
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to listen to someone when you are talking? Stop trying to think about proving the other person wrong and listen to their ideas, whether you like them or not. You may learn something, like that you agree with them, Or maybe that you hate them even more, lol. Whatever it is, listening, REALLY listening will be a lot more productive than focusing all your energy on proving that person wrong.

NOW, lets get something debatable going here:
I am not a strong supporter for either end of the political spectrum, but I have a few things to say against "communism" or leninism or marxism or whatever you believe is the correct ideology. For those of you talking about a communist revolution, and wanting to "free the oppressed" etc etc...you're forgetting one thing. Most people do not want this to happen. A communist revolution in North America, Europe, or most other capitalist nations would not be popular. While communist supporters would be gleeful and happy with this revolution, the majority wouldn't be. This directly relates to Che Guevara and his ultimate and unfortunate failure. He ignored the fact that conditions in Cuba were perfect for revolution, and thought that he could carry that everywhere. Well, he couldn't, most countries did not want communism (Congo, Bolivia, and many more). Che was a great man, but he didn't realize that in order for a revolution to work, IT NEEDS POPULAR SUPPORT. The fact of the matter IS: Communism = UNpopular, democracy = popular. Whether or not either of them works better is ENDLESSLY debatable...there is evidence to prove it right here ;)

[Nyder]

Communism only tends to occur in very poor countries where usually the people don't have a choice who their ruler is. And besides, the previous ruler may have been even worse.

Come to think of it, which country has ever voted for communism?

No western nation will ever vote in communism. Therefore communism could not work with democracy. You would need dictatorship, preceded by a violent uprising like the bolsheviks in Russia.

And no communist society has been successful either. Cuba and North Korea had to take on market reforms because their economies are crumbling. Centralisation is no where near the efficiency of the market.

[Dan_Canadian]

Exactly, it occurs in poor countries, they have no choice, usually communism is the lesser of two evils (Cuba is a great example). But unfortunatly, their gov't didn't exactly promote scientific, technological, and agricultrual/industrial advancement. One thing that is good about capitalism is that those things are promoted, and this usually leads to a more advanced, productive society.
Come to think of it, yea, the only way communism ever came about in any nation was through a lot of bloodshed, is this the message we want our children to think about when they want something to change? Personally I don't want my kids thinking that if they want something to change they should pick up a gun and shoot whoever disagrees with them.