re: America is a communist country

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While I think we are headed down a dangerous road you can still own your own home, business and guns. None of those are possible in communist countries. Don’t sling the word around like dems do “racists”.

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You are right that too many people throw around "communist" incorrectly. On this point I agree completely. It is frequently and incorrectly used as a synonym for any form of government which is totalitarian, authoritarian, or tyrannical. In practice there are a lot of commonalities but they aren't synonymous, and to combat them, people need to actually understand them.

On the other hand, I think in terms of the operation of the government in D.C., and the compliance or support of the state governments, the OP's assertion is more correct than to say that this is a country described by the principles of the Declaration of Independence or contemplated by any of the founders.

First, you don't really own your house. If you don't pay rent (aka property tax) the owner will use any force necessary to evict you from its property. Setting that aside, as KG5989 points out, people with mortgages don't actually own their house even legally so that probably eliminates most people in the country.

Second, if you could "own" a business, then no one could tell you you had to preform services for people you don't want to, (for example baking a cake), or tell you how much you have to pay (minimum wage) or force you to provide other types of payments (medical insurance), or tell you who you have to hire (What if I don't want to hire red-headed, white, pregnant women?) You also wouldn't need a license (permission) to conduct your business. So I dispute that you can actually "own" a business in this country as you could in say, 1800.

Third, in 1800, if you were wealthy enough, you could buy a cannon or any other "military-grade" weapon without a license (permission), "background check", etc., from anywhere in the world. Contrary to lying Joe, some people did own cannons. The policy under Jefferson was to encourage the general arming of the population. Presently you can't go to the store and by a single-shot rifle without de facto registration (background check) and good luck trying to get a fully automatic rifle, a machine gun, or a functioning cannon. I don't think anyone wants to argue that Iran under Hussein wasn't a dictatorship, but there were plenty of private individuals with fully-automatic rifles. Right now our government is giving fully automatic weapons and ammunition to foreigners and forcing us to pay for them while making it virtually impossible for most people here to even own one.

Next, consider the communist manifesto. Marx listed ten specific points. It can be argued that our government has imposed all ten to some degree. Lets consider three that most people in this country, and many if not most here, would defend.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

5. Centralization of credit to the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. ...

That number two is well in place is not reasonably disputable. In their demands of the communist party on the German government, (1848) Marx and Engels wrote this as, "15. The introduction of steeply graduated taxes, and the abolition of taxes on articles of consumption."

Number five is exactly what our Federal Reserve is. Again in their demands the German communist party said,

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10. A state bank, whose paper issues are legal tender, shall replace all private banks.

This measure will make it possible to regulate the credit system in the interest of the people as a whole, and will thus undermine the dominion of the big financial magnates. Further, by gradually substituting paper money for gold and silver coin, the universal means of exchange (that indispensable prerequisite of bourgeois trade and commerce) will be cheapened, and gold and silver will be set free for use in foreign trade. Finally, this measure is necessary in order to bind the interests of the conservative bourgeoisie to the Government.

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This is effectively what we have in place now, and the last two sentences exactly describe Hamilton's intention in creating the first national bank 60 years earlier. Marx and Engel didn't really have much of a clue how the world actually works but Hamilton did. He wanted to import the European mercantilist system which created what we now call "corporate welfare". Central banks undermine free-markets, corrupt governments and sustain a much larger financial aristocracy than would exist in a truly free system.

Regarding number ten of the manifesto, "Free" public "education", it can't be rationally disputed that most people are effectually forced to turn their children over to state run "education". It is true that a self-governing people require education, but we allowed indoctrination and training to replace education long ago demonstrating that public education devolves into exactly what the communists wanted.

Finally, in their 1848 demands the communist party of Germany also included,

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16. Inauguration of national workshops. The state guarantees a livelihood to all workers and provides for those who are incapacitated for work.

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Who can rationally dispute that most of the money taken and misspent by government in this country today is directed at this. Legitimate government has one function, and only one function, the prevention of individuals and other governments from infringing on the rights of the governed. Social security, medicaid, medicare, food-stamps, etc., are 100% pure socialism and yet most people in this country support them so long as they go to people who "deserve" it, or the misguided notion that social security would be okay if only congress wouldn't spend social security tax on other things.

Do I agree that people misuse the word communist? Yes, but I think regarding our government, the OP is much closer to the truth than he is wrong.


Edit: Hit the wrong reply but this was really just a general comment.

No it’s not

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You say that like you can't be a superpower if you're a communist country...

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Exactly.