Why Does Atheism and Left-Wing Politics Usually Go Together?

[TaraJo]

True story: My history professor impersonated Karl Marx to explain commumism to us and to debate its merits. He used the same argument that you are using to discredit Soviet Russia as a 'true' communist state. 'Marx' said that humans would work hard without additional monetary incentives because we were not homo sapien (thinking man), but homo faber (making man). He argued that it was human nature to make things and that people would be motivated by just that.

However, I would call into question the validity of that assumption. In socialism it is, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Communism is a more extreme version of this. The only thing that would motivate someone to work hard would be the nature of 'homo faber', or general goodwill. Hard work is not rewarded, and laziness is not punished. If the government has total control over the means of production, it has near-total control over the economy. In true communism, however, the government is supposed to just fade away. Not sure how that would work...

Yeah, that's kinda how it's supposed to go with Marx's communism. Faux News and the rest of the Republicans like to mix Marx with Stalin, but the USSR wasn't what Marx had in mind at all. Read Animal Farm if you want to get a better understanding of the differences between the noble (even if incorrect) ideas that inspired communism and the horribly corrupt monster it turned into.

Also, our current system doesn't work for the same reason communism doesn't work: people don't have any incentive to work hard. If you're born into money, you're set for life, even if you're lazy and stupid; look at Paris Hilton for the perfect example. And the people lower on the economic bracket feel the opposite happening: they know that no matter how hard they work, they won't be able to get ahead. Rich people don't have to work because their set anyway and poor or middle-class people don't want to work because they won't get ahead even if they do. Change the system so the rich people have to work to stay on top and the poor people can get ahead if they work hard and you'll see a huge change in our economy.

I think a lot of people at the very top, if not all the people at the top of their fields, they'll be more than willing to work without additional incentive. To a lot of them, they love their work and would do it for free. The problem with communism is that nobody would do the lower jobs. Nobody has a love for being a garbage collector or fast food worker or doing laundry. We need incentive for the menial grunt jobs or they won't get done.