Terry's Russia Blogosphere

Happy Independece Day

Its counter-culture shock all over again

Well, that's not exactly the way that Yogi Berra's famous phrase goes but its appropriate in our case. 

We live outside the United States for the majority of the year and each year when we return to our homeland it is like coming back to an almost foreign country.  It doesn't take that long to readjust of course, but it is an interesting experience to say the least.

It often grabs us at the most unexpected times as well.  I once remember being overwhelmed while I was standing in the grocery store.  It was nothing out of the ordinary and that is what is so profound.  Once, Terri stopped off at the local Wal-Mart and wandered around for literally four hours.  Her sister had to come back after doing her own shopping and coax her out of the store. 

I think it is a combination of things, not necessarily that we don't see goods and products where we are but it is nice to be back to the familiar things we know here.  This year, I was going along about life when we checked into going to the YMCA.  What a nice facility at such a reasonable price!  You can't touch that at the fitness clubs in Moscow...yow!  It was nice to finally exercise again....

One of the funny things I notice comes from our friends who start relating to us the funniest commercials they like and ask us if we've seen them.  We are pretty clueless when it comes to the pop culture issues now. 

We're very glad to be here in the U.S. but our home is not only here now.  We literally are accustomed to living among many cultures and it is all a learning experience.  Though there are cultural differences between the nations we are enriched in our lives to be part of many cultures.  It is a little taste of what heaven will be like before we get there!

Socialism - Is That What We Really Need?

"...from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" (Karl Marx).

The philosophy of Marx, Engles and Lenin has always been popular with the left-leaning politicians and the media. 

Marxism seems to promise a better life to those who have very little.  However, the method of that better life is the problem. 

The above quotation from Karl Marx, the real founder of communism, starts with the phrase,"...from each according to his ability...", which in essence means that those who have will be forced to give most or all of it to those who do not. 

I have noticed, especially in recent years, that when financial times get tough it once again becomes popular to say that those who have worked and earned will be forced to give more than their fair share in order for those who have not earned will have their fair share. 

It always seems rosier to look to the past as well and say how great the good ol' days were, as you can see in this picture of many older people wishing for the return of the Soviet system.  From those whom I have talked with over the years the Soviet system was marked by lack and low quality goods.  One simple reason for that was socialism.

I think that it is time we learn from the past and not strive to repeat a failure!  Socialism takes.  Liberty is smothered by it and personal freedoms are lost for the "greater good" and "fairness".  The only way for Marxism to function is by empowering the state to take everything and redistribute it as the state sees fit.

Is that what we really, really want?