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Einstein's 1,427-Page F.B.I. File
meow meow cat chow writes: "Fred Jerome of the Gene Media Forum has recently written a book called "The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist." The book talks about how the FBI spied on Einstein and identifies some of the people who said he was a spy. Jerome sued the government to obtain access to the 1,427 page file which can be found at (http://foia.fbi.gov/einstein.htm)
The New York Times has an article about the book."
Are you implying that the governments should in general be suspicious of communists? Why not libertarians, conservatives or some other political party?
Communists? Who cares? Yes, communism ultimatly failed, but, in a perfect world without corruption and greed, it would make for a perfect system. [...] Communism was one answer (opinion: it was a step in the right direction, but the step was much to large).
I don't usually like responding to ACs, especially ones who are so very wrong, but what the heck.
I used to hold that same opinion. Then, over a span of a dozen years or so, my opinion changed. I started thinking about the moral case of communism versus capitalism, and that put things in an entirely different light.
The practical case for communism is clear: improve the quality of life for all through collective ownership of the means of production. If it worked without flaws, I think it probably would, in fact, reduce things like poverty and inequity. From this, it makes a sort of sense that communism should be tried.
But the moral case is very different. Put simply, and as I understand it, capitalism is based on the assumption that you own what you produce. Communism is based on the assumption that you do not own what you produce. In other words, in a capitalist world, if I plant a field and grow corn, it's mine to do with as I will: eat it, hoard it, sell it, or let it rot in the fields. In a communist world, that corn rightfully belongs to the state as a whole-- not in the sense of state as government, but in the sense of the group of all people who live in my community/county/world/whatever. Government is just a necessary evil to enact the will of the people as a whole.
The moral case for capitalism just makes more sense to me: the corn (or whatever) wouldn't exist without me, so I own it. If you want corn, grow your own. The fact that communism is based on an opposite idea means that, to me, it's tantamount to stealing my corn. That pretty much ruins the moral case in my eyes.
Yes, capitalism leads fairly directly to bad things, like poverty and such, but that's not the point. Are you familiar with the idea of fruit from a poisoned tree? It's a legal doctrine; you can probably learn more by googling "Felix Frankfurter." No, seriously. Stop laughing.
The doctrine of fruit from a poisoned tree simply says that anything you gain through improper means is itself improper. The legal use of this doctrine applies to rules of evidence, but it's also useful for considering moral issues. Basically, the idea is the opposite of the old saw, "The ends justify the means."
So, given that communism springs from a fundamentally wrong moral position (this is ultimately a judgment call, of course) that's our poisoned tree. The benefits we might reap from it-- like reducing poverty and inequity and all that-- are the fruit. When I thought of it in those terms, that pretty much decided it for me.
Like I said though, this is fundamentally a judgment call. It's just unfortunate that the ideals of communism enacted through a few powerful men have turned out to be so very dangerous. I'm almost to the point where I'm willing to say that the ideas themselves are dangerous, due to their potential for abuse and horror.