I am against capitalism and communism 🚫🚫

if we look back to the teachings of the ancient Greeks, we find that even Socrates, revered for his wisdom, warned about the dangers of democracy. He argued that a system where all opinions are considered equal, regardless of wisdom or knowledge, can easily be manipulated by a demagogue—a charismatic leader who appeals to emotions rather than reason.

I believe Socrates was correct in many ways. How often have we seen this in the so-called democracies of today? A demagogue, with no regard for truth, can persuade the masses to follow him. And in such a system, the truth is drowned by the noise of ignorance.

1/ The Dangers of Democracy

In a democracy, the masses are easily swayed by rhetoric. When faced with complex decisions about governance, they lack the knowledge to choose wisely. Democracy gives equal weight to all votes, but not all opinions are equally informed. Imagine, a ship lost at sea. Would you ask the sailors, who know nothing of navigation, to guide the ship? Or would you entrust the journey to a skilled navigator who understands the stars, the tides, and the winds?

We cannot let the uninformed guide the ship. We should rely on judges , politicians , scholars of justice and wisdom, to make decisions. The system of noocracy, rule by the wise, ensures that those who have spent years in study and contemplation guide the nation . Unlike democracy, where the majority rules regardless of wisdom.

democracy is often a tyranny of the majority. The majority can easily oppress minorities if it serves their interests. They can strip away rights, ignore justice, and impose their will simply because they are greater in number.
justice should not be swayed by numbers. If nine people are wrong, and only one is right, we side with the truth, regardless of how many people oppose it.

2/ The Evils of Capitalism

It is a system that promises freedom, but in reality, enslaves the poor to the whims of the wealthy. Capitalism is a system where wealth becomes the ultimate goal, and in pursuit of this wealth, the rich grow richer while the poor are left to fight over crumbs. A small elite owns most of the wealth, and they wield power over the masses, who are trapped in cycles of debt and poverty.
Capitalism , thrives on inequality. It breeds resentment, anger, and division . In a capitalist society, the rich are worshipped, while the poor are discarded.

3/The Failures of Communism

If capitalism is a system of oppression by the wealthy, then communism is oppression by the state. Communism seeks to eradicate individual ownership, stripping people of their right to property. It reduces people to mere numbers in a vast, faceless bureaucracy, removing any sense of spiritual or individual identity. In communism, the state becomes the ultimate master, controlling every aspect of life. People are made dependent on the state for everything—housing, food, work. They become slaves to the system, losing their autonomy and their dignity, Communism, then, is not much different from capitalism. Both systems dehumanize the individual—one through wealth, the other through control.

In these systems, a person is not seen as a soul created but as a number in an endless machine. Their needs are ignored, their dignity is stripped away, and they are reduced to mere cogs in a system that values efficiency over humanity

RobinRightwild · 31-35, M

I agree. The supposed rivalry between Marxist-inspired movements and capitalism has always been an illusion. Marxism, Communism and liberalism have been and continue to be exploited by the forces of international capitalism to further their global agenda, despite their surface disagreements. The ultimate goal of capitalism is to create a worldwide collectivist society of consumers, and Marxism is merely one means of attaining this.

Also, Democracy is the worst form of government. What the majority wants, goes, is an abject philosophy. It is replacing the authority of the individual with that of mob rule; some momentary, ill-informed mob. Majority decisions yield nothing of importance; there should not be majority decisions, but rather responsible persons. The number one reason why this is bad is because the majority is ALWAYS wrong. Most people do not understand how our government should be run, they don’t understand what freedom is, what liberty is. Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner, and in a republic the sheep has a gun in his hand. In a democracy, 51 percent of the people can enslave 49 percent of the people, whereas in a constitutional republic, the minority has rights. Our founding fathers never intended to give us a democracy, (they deplored it) but instead a Republic. The word democracy is not written once in the constitution, the bill of rights, the declaration of independence. The way that our country is supposed to be set up is that we have inalienable rights and freedoms guaranteed to us by the constitution, by the bill of rights. So that if the majority of the people in America say, “well we want people to be searched without a warrant” it doesn’t matter what 99 percent of the people want. Our founding document protects us from warrantless searches. Democracy does not care about truth, but about what is popular, about what is in vogue and changing with the tides. The truth seekers are typically in the 1 percent, and they should be protected against the 99 percent. Democracy is synonymous with slavery and it is the worst form of government you can have because the majority rules and the government is successful in programming that majority to believe in whatever they want them to believe. So ultimately, democracy is a tool for their vicarious self-aggrandizement. Democracy is a magic and empty word that no one ever questions. We should never follow what’s popular and we should never follow what the majority believes, we should follow what is right and true.

Matthew 7:13-14 - Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

LeopoldBloom · M

Regarding democracy, a pure democracy, where the people decide on everything, doesn't work in a complex society. You need people who can devote themselves full-time to governance. That being said, I like the idea of initiatives where the people can vote on specific issues. This exists in some US states but not others. Legislators should handle the more esoteric issues like whether farm labor contractors have to pay overtime to workers who drive the other workers into town for groceries, while the people should decide if abortion should be legal or not. So I'm in favor of a representative federal republic with limited democracy.

Capitalism has to be regulated. The free market is fine for developing things like cars or televisions. It doesn't work if you're trying to decide which neurologist you should see. It's not reasonable to expect people to be experts in every field in order to make informed decisions. And then you have things like 23&Me going out of business and everyone's genetic information up for grabs. Plus what you mentioned, where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a handful of people who in many cases were just lucky. Capitalism is also responsible for a massive shift in wealth from the global south to the global north over the past 500 years, along with untold numbers of deaths.

I also agree that communism is oppression by the state. It was attempted in the Soviet Union with the results we're all aware of - a police state that didn't even deliver on the promise of prosperity. That being said, there are certain functions that government is simply better at delivering than private industry. Examples would include the military and law enforcement, which have been socialized in almost every society in history.

As the poet Antler said at the end of his poem Factory, which is about the dehumanization of people who find themselves as cogs in the machine, "May we live to see a time when it seems the world is not doomed, a time when each human enlightenment is worth more than all the money in the world!"

Motzu

I hate to break it to you, but it appears the secret political teachings of Socrates and Plato to their students was to assassinate heads of states. I spent a few weeks a couple years back looking up all the known philosophical descendents of socrates, and many of them went on a assassination spree, knocking out tyrants.

This lasted no mkre than 200 years and then they calmed down, likely because the Stoa and Peripatetics took dominance.

The early batch, bunch of stabby folk. When a philosopher shows up in town, be extra nuce to them.

Might of been Plato's evaluation of being sold into slavery by a tyrant had a role to play in this as well. Hard to say, I just know the results was.... mofos got stabbed all over the place.