Die Linke aka the German Communist Party

So I went to this communist party rally, well, they call it socialism but we all know that in Germany socialism = communism but whatever, you say tomato I say tomahto. Michael thought I wasn't really paying attention and gave me a hard time, but I even took notes. You have to understand why someone's wrong in order to argue against them. Let me first say that I am not a socialist and while I am liberal for a an American, I just don't get how Socialism is really supposed to work. If going to a super conservative school has taught me nothing else, I have learned that Communism while on paper the perfect ideology doesn't work in real life because people are super greedy and suck. I went to a school full of republicans. They taught me that through their explainations of their ideology and through their actions... It was however, very interesting to hear what the commis had to say...

I mean I understand what they want to do, and I even agree with somethings. For example, I think children should be provided with a good education. I also think that the way this works is through government. I think that if you let small communities take care of education we'll have a group of kids who believe that white people were created by God to reign over black people and those kids will leave in the hills of East Ky... And I don't care if that pisses you off because its true. But I'm realistic about it, you have to tax people, there will be a greater emphasis on a general education and things like prayer in school will not exist, but I think all children deserve a good education.

So here's what they talked about... I'll give you a list, its easier than writing out every argument.
First this lady in an ugly gray suit came up and talked about environmentalism. Her big quote was "energy is a basic need." She talked about how pollution is an issue that the poor face more than anyone else because rich people live where clean air is and poor people work in dangerous places and live in dirty pollution filled places... She was the best speaker of the three that spoke. Her speech, albeit short, was well structured, interesting, easy to follow and her language was clear.
The second Candidate was this really butch looking red head in a bright green jacket. A big point that she made was privatization = evil. She talked about privatizing the public transportation system would lead to its demise and hurts the system. She also talked about nuclear proliferation and how its important for the safety of Germany... She talked alot about retirement and the amount of money that is in the west vs. in the east. She talked about citizens rights in terms of the economy and that there should be a living wage.
The last guy, Gysi, a portly short balding man who I'm sure has a small man complex then came up and sounded the call to arms. His main talking points were the East West money issue, Retirement, getting out of Afghanistan, jobs, and nuclear energy. He talked alot about the differences in wages for the East Germans when compared to the West Germans. By the way he spoke you would have still though the wall was up. He talked about getting out of the war and how war cannot bring peace. He talked alot about retirement and unemplyment and how much money a person who has retired or is unemployed should make. He used alot of class talk, saying that we needed to step out of the class society and into one that provides "equal opportunity" which really translated throughout his speech to be equal outcome. He talked about how they need to sponsor jobs for Germans such as teaching jobs. He mentioned that Nuclear energy should be gotten rid of and then after discussing this went into a talk about war and peace. He is calling the German govt. to bring troops home today. He was long winded, seemed angry, and looked like his blood pressure was going up... There was a lack of structure and he was redundant. He also wants to lower taxes while increasing social programs.

Here are some Q's that I wrote down:
How is Germany going to fund going green? How much money does Germany need to fund the normal costs along with their programs? Also, What is the difference in the cost of living between East and West Germany? How do social programs help the poor rise out of poverty? How is the socialist program that they want to run Democratic? What were your sources? How can you lower taxes while increasing programs? What programs will suffer because of lowering taxes?


Over all, I wasn't convinced. I don't see how people are going to have increased social support without raising taxes... I mean, I'm all for wellfare and certain social programs. I think that America should have universal health care, but I also realize that other programs will have to be cut in order to pay for the others. I also know that taxes will rise. That's the way it works.
As for the war in Afghanistan, I don't think jumping out will help either Germany or America. I hate war, my bleeding liberal heart loves peace. I don't like how much we spend on the military nor do I think the money goes to where it should (which is to the troops) however, I don't think it will be easy to just pull troops out regardless of what country they are from. Also, what is the cost if they do? Could it be greater than if they stay? It all comes down to what happens in the long run. Oh another point that I wanted to make is that they want to increase taxes for rich people... Now I do think they should pay more taxes than poor people, but they way these people were talking they want to tax the hell out of them. Like they wanna punnish rich people for being rich. I'm all for proportional taxation but not taxation as a punishment.

Needless to say, I am not nor will I ever be a communist, or a true socialist for that matter. I like some of the things Marx said. I wanna help the poor, and I love peace, but I'm not sure this is the way to do it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not turning into a neocon... But I'm not as liberal as they are... Not by any means. Ok I'm done. I love yall!


R