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juliusaugustus
03-08-2013, 07:05 PM
I wrote an article on why suburbia is communistic.

Often when one criticizes something that is normal to people you are often called a communist or a central planner without realizing what those things really are. A critic of Surburbia or automobile dependency might be seen as a communist or a "central planner" granted certain proponents urbanism and mass transit might indeed be trying to re-engineer society, however suburbia is the real communism and we live with it almost everyday without noticing. Does this mean that all people living in suburbia are communists? Of course not comrade it just means that you live in something with many communistic aspects I consider a form of corporate communism being as it as it isn't completely accomplished through government.

Lets examine some of the goals of communism. Suburbia doesn't quite satisfy all the planks of the communist manifesto but in my view it satisfies enough requirements to be communist.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=837244

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8376015914752485063&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr

Euclidean zoning meets the requirement of abolishing private property rights where land is restricted to certain uses. For example you might not be allowed to use your own land that is zoned residential for commercial purposes. Before village of Euclid vs. Amber Realty zoning laws were viewed as unconstitutional. In many suburbs there exists home owners associations that keep you from doing things like paint your house a different color or growing certain types of plants which are clear intrusions on property rights. Eminent domain has been used for the purpose of building super highways to serve the suburbs as well as being used for the building of things like Walmarts.

5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Housing_Administration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_mae

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_mac

The FHA ensures home loans made by banks for the purpose of buying homes. The FHA has been instrumental in bring about suburbanization. The US government also securitizes mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The nation's central bank a partially private and partially public entity has an effective monopoly on currency as well as the ability to control interest rates. The ability to control interest rates allows it to be used to encourage loans for things like cars and houses.

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System

The automobile is a large user of government monopolized radio waves through the FCC. The radio industry heavily depends upon automobile users for listeners. The most common ads found on government regulated tv stations are ones for mortgages and car commercials. Suburbia itself depends heavily on government roads. Before the interstates transportation was largely private and private streetcar companies were commonplace in many cities. In many suburban areas the only viable mode of transportation is the automobile. These roads rely largely on government subsidies.

http://www.lightrailnow.org/myths/m_000010.htm

http://subsidyscope.org/transportation/direct-expenditures/highways/funding/analysis/
http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Do-Roads-Pay-for-Themselves.pdf

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

The closest thing I can think of is government owned production would be government owned automobile companies such as gm which is often referred to as "government motors".

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

This one really interested me being as it described suburbia ever so well. Fast food which is made popular by drive-throughs these places serve fast food made by factory farming which serves the purpose of merging industry and agriculture. Sprawl also causes deurbanization and loss of country side which fulfill ending the distinction between the country and city. James Howard Kuntsler described the suburbs as a "cartoon of country living" and a place with the disadvantages of both of the city and country. With never ending houses and developments that look exactly the same as each other and have similar size the requirement of more equitable population distribution is met.

In short those who advocate an alternative to automobiles and urban sprawl are actually in favor of an alternative to a communistic paradigm even if they don't realize it. What I advocate myself is getting rid of restrictive zoning, ending eminent domain, transportation that pays for itself, where architecture isn't just a sea of sameness, getting rid of a situation where only automobiles are viable and getting rid of a situation where you are subservient to your automobile. All of which enhance the rights people.
I welcome your thoughts.

BAllen
03-08-2013, 09:25 PM
Good points! I think marx himself would be happy with what he'd see here in the states.

AGRP
03-08-2013, 09:35 PM
Big box stores, cars, and huge parking lots are a bi-product of planners. If you have huge swaths of homes with no businesses or selling allowed within them then big box stores and huge parking lots are going to spring up in another area.

juliusaugustus
03-09-2013, 10:07 AM
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
Walmart's workforce is so big that you could call it an army at this point.

juliusaugustus
03-09-2013, 10:15 AM
Nikita Khrushchev once said

http://www.ourrepubliconline.com/Author/13

"You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.”