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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 11, 2023

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i have never actually seen communists advocate for everyone to have the exact same standards of living, that always felt to me like a strawman from capitalists pretending to explain what communists believe to other capitalists

A) Men are not born with equal talent and ability. Therefore

B) The choices they make with their capital are not equally wise. Over time...>

C) Men are not born into equal prosperity and circumstance, compounding with the effects of A.

This statement seems trivially true. Everyone knows someone in their lives who makes smart decisions with their money and someone who makes dumb decisions with them. But the very notion that this over time will lead to a hierarchal and oligarchic character of their society is viscerally offensive to many. The reaction to this dilemma is the underlying problem of all modern political ideologies.

you gloss over C, but that is the only problem communists see with capitalism, because "make your money work for you" is a thing in capitalism, where if you inherit enough money it takes no talent to then hire an advisor and let him invest your money, giving you free capital for 0 work or talent

in communism, people have different standards of living as well as authority depending on their credentials, track record etc., it is a real attempt at meritocracy, the only thing they get rid of is the feedback loop of rich getting richer for no reason than that they were already rich to begin with