larryville

Larry,
Ironically, I just finished a lecture on Russian Communism. The ideas of Marx and Ingles are great on the surface. Unfortunately, as we have witnessed with China and Russia, humans have a tendency to skew ideas the wrong way. It seems that whenever a society adopts a new system of government, things start out a little rough. In Russia for example, collectivism, Siberian work camps, and Stalin's purging of government officials and "seedy" characters made things a little difficult. It is not like Lenin was the ideal man to jump start the emerging world power either. It is a hard to promote the move from an agricultural society to an idustrial one. This is especially true when you have to kill a number of people and force labor. Russian Communism failed for one reason: human error. Regardless of the government system, an aristocracy will develop. This was more than evident in Russia. I am pretty confident that those in power were not surviving off of potatoes and vodka. One has to be crazy not to see the attractive qualities of Socialism. Bottom line: it would work if the world was a utopia, but it is not. As far as the poor people of Tibet go, "religion is the opiate of the people." I just find it ironic that most people that feel sympathy for those poor Tibetans are the same folks that oppose the war in Iraq. Are we ready to take on China? Bush doesn't care, he will take out the Commies and then convert the pagan monks. I sometimes fail to see the point of enlightenment. Does China give a fuck that the 18-30 year-old Patagonia clad demographic does not agree with the treatment of Tibet. As soon as all the concerned start having kids, building their 401K, and servicing their landcruisers, Tibet will no longer be their major concern.

larry, I was thinking about your fixation with Tibet. I am not frustrated. At least you are not squealing about circus elephants. My team has a game in Telluride this weekend. Hopefully, I will drink beers at house with Tibetan flags. Hanging with homeybros makes me feel sympathy towards the monks. I never feel bad for elephants. We have a terrible economy, and the circus provides tremendous employment opportunities for trainers and elephants alike.

Yeah, just like democracy and capitalism look great on the surface, but ultimately fail. It would work if the world was a utopia, but it's not.

I still believe socialism is an inherently better system than capitalism. Just because the Soviet model didn't work doesn't make the system doomed to failure. Capitalism has been attempted in a number of societies and has failed miserably on numerous occasions, but that doesn't mean it's a complete flop everywhere and in every situation.

If Trotsky would have replaced Lenin instead of Stalin, I think Russian communism would still be flourishing. But you know, he could have been worse than Stalin too. Who knows.

Scott,
You may be working on an advanced degree, but I am reading The Da Vinci Code. All the ladies in my book club tell me after a thorough read, I will feel like a scholar. We will finish this conversation upon completion of the book.

You guys, I'm shaking my head right now. All this talk is silly. No model is perfect but I do like living here and listening to people talk about how bad everything is when it could be dramaticaly worse.

Yeah, you're right. Debating issues is stupid. What's important is personal comfort.

Yes, we must appreciate the fine things in life: cheap whiskey and loose women.

Art is vision, not expression.