Innoculation Against Communism

Here is something that I have suspected for years.

The Cold War was a global ideological confrontation between Communism and free enterprise, or Capitalism. Free Enterprise is allowing people to run their own businesses, although vital sectors are operated by the government. Pure Communism is basically having everything run by the government, including stores, farms, factories and, medical services.

The western countries were based on free enterprise but, at the height of the Cold War about a third of the world war under Communist governments and there were significant Communist movements in the western countries. The west increased social spending on it's citizens, including more on unemployment insurance, welfare, minimum wage and work safety laws, retirement benefits and, medical coverage.

In America, during the 1960s, these social reforms were known as "The Great Society". The wealth gap in America, meaning the difference between rich and poor, was at it's least in 1973, at the height of the Cold War. This helped to refute some of the accusations of Communists against free enterprise, that it was really the rich oppressing the poor and the solution was for all the people to own the means of production, through the government, as is done in Communism.

It is true that, in America for example, the end of the Cold War might sound like a victory but since then, without the ideological competition from the Communists, the wealth gap has widened very significantly with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

What I suspect is that there was another plan that the western countries put into place to deter people from falling for Communism. This plan was undocumented and probably mostly unspoken. I am not claiming that any person or people thought of this plan. But yet, at some level, there was a plan, and the plan was for the "Innoculation Against Communism".

Remember the times that you have dealt with government offices. This includes such things as applying for unemployment benefits, dealing with the Department of Motor Vehicles, applying for social services, trying to get a permit for something, challenging a traffic ticket, and so on.

Most people agree that government offices are hardly a model of efficiency. There is almost always a lot of waiting, often in a long line of people. Waiting for some kind of decision usually seems to require excessive time. Challenging a traffic ticket almost always takes most of the day.

When was the last time someone smiled at you in a government office, and seemed glad to see you and eager to help you? Even if the people working there do their jobs well the process makes people feel like they are just a number, in fact the person might have to actually take a number and be called by the number instead of their name.

Government offices, at least in some places, might be technologically backward. There might be a computer interface that looks like Windows 3.0 or 3.1. There might even be a dot matrix printer like something out of an ancient history museum. If you make any comment about it the usual attitude is "So what do you want me to do? I just work here".

What a contrast with dealing with a private company. When you call a bright and cheerful voice asks "How can I help you today"? When you order something from a company like Amazon you can be sure that, if they tell you that you will get your package by a certain day then you will get it by that day. Have you ever noticed that, if your call goes to a voicemail or you get instructions by phone, a private company almost always has a pleasant and upbeat voice while the government office has an unenthusiastic monotone drone?

While dealing with private companies is not quite perfect most people would agree that, as far as pleasantry goes, it is much preferable to government offices. The question is whether this is being done, at least at some level, on purpose, although this doesn't mean that it was specifically planned or organized.

The purpose of this contrast between dealing with government offices and dealing with private companies is as an inoculation against Communism. In pure Communism there is no private enterprise, as everything is run by the government. After seeing the difference in dealing with government offices and dealing with private companies, who would want to be Communist?