Florida GOP Congressman: There Are Communists In The Democratic Party

[klunderbunker]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...re-communists/2012/04/11/gIQApbZiAT_blog.html

There's a video of the statement in there. Basically a nutjob named Allen West has said that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is a group of Communists. This is the same man that said while in the military, he had a higher security clearance than the President.

What's in the water in the GOP? Seriously, what is wrong with these people?

 

[Harthan]

I mean, there probably are. But there's nothing wrong with communism, as an ideology.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

What the HELL is wrong with communism????

 

[klunderbunker]

I mean, there probably are. But there's nothing wrong with communism, as an ideology.

Except that it's not AMERICAN, and I'm right because I was the first person to say that I'm AMERICAN, which means no matter what I say I'm right, even if it means not letting you think a certain way even though letting people think whatever they want is what America (doesn't mean anything without the caps) is based on, because being a dirty Communist isn't AMERICAN.

 

[Harthan]

Except that it's not AMERICAN, and I'm right because I was the first person to say that I'm AMERICAN, which means no matter what I say I'm right, even if it means not letting you think a certain way even though letting people think whatever they want is what America (doesn't mean anything without the caps) is based on, because being a dirty Communist isn't AMERICAN.

I'm going to become a Senator one day just so I can say "Jesus was a communist" on the Senate floor. Probably right at the start of my term, so people have to deal with it for the next six years before I ride off into the sunset rich as a motherfucker thanks to all the insider trading.

 

[Moon Knight]

What the HELL is wrong with communism????

Common Ownership comes to mind.

 

[Moon Knight]

Except that it's not AMERICAN, and I'm right because I was the first person to say that I'm AMERICAN, which means no matter what I say I'm right, even if it means not letting you think a certain way even though letting people think whatever they want is what America (doesn't mean anything without the caps) is based on, because being a dirty Communist isn't AMERICAN.

Honest questions, what do you really feel about communism? Do you support it? Like it more than capitalism?

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

I'm going to become a Senator one day just so I can say "Jesus was a communist" on the Senate floor. Probably right at the start of my term, so people have to deal with it for the next six years before I ride off into the sunset rich as a motherfucker thanks to all the insider trading.

Sunset is the name of an oil or pharmaceutical company yes?

 

[Vega]

I always love it when people talk about communism like it is a completely defined ideology with no shades of grey. I don't think anyone wants a Soviet style dictatorship.

 

[Gelgarin]

I will red rep the first person to offer the enlightening contribution that 'communism works as a theory but not in practice' so goddamn hard.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

Communism works in practice, but not as a theory.

 

[klunderbunker]

Honest questions, what do you really feel about communism? Do you support it? Like it more than capitalism?

I disagree with the idea that it can work nationally as history has shown, but if someone in America wants to be a Communist and is a member of a party of it, that's totally fine. I don't support it though, no.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Common Ownership comes to mind.

Worked well in the Acts of the Apostles.

 

[Moon Knight]

Worked well in the Acts of the Apostles.

This isn't a fictional book.

 

[Moon Knight]

I will red rep the first person to offer the enlightening contribution that 'communism works as a theory but not in practice' so goddamn hard.

I don't think it works in theory or practice. History hasn't given me any reason to believe otherwise.

I disagree with the idea that it can work nationally as history has shown, but if someone in America wants to be a Communist and is a member of a party of it, that's totally fine. I don't support it though, no.

That's fine. I don't mind if somebody supports it, but I will mind if somebody tries to implement it as I don't support it either. But I don't thinl most Americans would buy it anyway. If China has shown us anything, that Communism on any level is fading away.

 

[Shocky]

I'd rather take our flawed system over a failed system. If someone wants to be a commie or a Nazi, that's their deal.

 

[Loveless]

I will red rep the first person to offer the enlightening contribution that 'communism works as a theory but not in practice' so goddamn hard.

Tough because I'm saying it anyway.
As far as communist systems go, I'd argue that the world has yet to see one. What Marx wrote about was a system of government that was essentially created to destroy itself piece by piece, devolving it's power to the people as it set up systems that were self-sustaining. Where Russia, China, Cuba etc have failed is that they forgot that bit about handing power back to the people, essentially just becoming 1-party dictatorships in every case.
The form of communism that Marx wrote about is, as idealogies go, actually a great idea but if fails because of human weakness & selfishness.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

This isn't a fictional book.

 

[One Punch Doug Crashin]

I take offense to that statement!

 

[Vega]

You say god exists, he says he/she/it doesn't. Isn't that on equal footing?

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

You say god exists, he says he/she/it doesn't. Isn't that on equal footing?

The image I posted of Richard Dawkins was a tongue in cheek cheap-shot at Moon Knight for the comment about the Acts of the Apostles being a fictional book. It came off as a black and white militantly atheistic comment suggesting that the Bible is fictional and because of this, has no benefit to present reality.

In no way would I say that the Acts of the Apostles is a historical account. It's a narrative using brilliant literary and rhetorical techniques that would have been clear to the readers of antiquity. Readers today do not pick up on these things at face value because we read, learn, and write in different ways. It's a book written to a particular audience that understood history to be ending very soon, and when it is read with that context in mind, it seems far less asinine. What happens is when we too strictly try to apply these specific principles to today's world, we lose touch of the author's primary message: that the present evil age was about to come to an end (VERY soon) when the returning Jesus would enact the apocalypse, ushering in the Realm of God on the earth.

The Gospels and Letters can be read mostly as stories and messages of hope to those early members of the Jesus movement (not yet known as "Christianity"...in fact, the word "Christian" might have been a derogatory word much like the "N" word is today) who were experiencing suffering and tribulation at the hands of the Romans. Letters from Paul proclaiming that the impending Realm of God on earth was not far from manifestation gave hope to those suffering to hold on. In the same way as this early community was given hope, so today many can be given hope that the suffering of the present will not endure. To be sure, it's 2000 years later and the apocalypse still has not occurred (at least I don't think it has), but that doesn't mean that ancient texts still cannot enlighten and inspire us in the present.

Point being. "Fiction" =/= void of meaning and importance.