Big+Marxist+Mistake+Theory

Throughout history, powerful people have used force to control weaker people using institutions like slavery, serfdom, unfair laws, and taxation. In this way, they have been able to achieve great riches by encouraging people to work hard and taking the all of the fruit of these people's production except what was needed for them to achieve a very low standard of living. This led to a very unfair and unequal distribution of wealth--nobles and warlords were rich, while peasants, serfs, and laborers were poor. This situation extended back past the dawn of human history and was clearly understood by everyone.

Starting with the [|"enlightenment"] in parts of Europe and then in America (1700-1850), laws were gradually enacted that applied to all people equally. People began to realize that liberty could only be protected through laws, with "constitutions" being the highest of these laws. With these laws came freedom of speech and mechanisms that guaranteed peaceful transitions of power from one group to the next (democracy). Also, these laws clarified property rights and "free" markets, allowing people to create wealth and protect the wealth that they created. For the first time in human history, the average person in Europe and in the United States began to rise above absolute poverty. As these laws and ideas spread to other parts of the world, so did the creation of wealth.

This was a new paradigm. Wherever there was the rule of law guaranteeing economic freedom, great wealth was created and poor people flowed into these rich areas to become wealthy. Populous cities formed around the wealth-creators, and the combination of new ideas, many cultures coming together, and a ready supply of labor produced even more wealth. For the first time, wealth began to flow backwards, from the cities into surrounding suburbs, and through trade, even into rural areas. Eventually the great accumulation of wealth even flowed into faraway countries like Nicaragua, Argentina, Indonesia, and Morocco. No matter where people lived, the laws of "[|comparative advantage]" and "[|gains from trade]" resulted in new revenues and rising incomes.

However, a small group of people failed to understand this mechanism. They see that there are poor people in Mexico and rich people in Los Angeles, and they assume that the money in Los Angeles was accumulated due to the the labor of the poor Mexicans. They don't realize that these Mexicans, or Hondurans, or Bolivians, or Venezuelans, have been poor for thousands of years, and that they are //__not becoming__// poorer. The truth is that through American tourism and trade, California is a great source of wealth that raises Mexico's standard of living; it helps to live next to a rich neighbor! Los Angeles did not become wealthy by exploiting Mexico--it became wealthy by creating movies and television shows that are purchased all over the world. Seattle did not become wealthy be **//exploiting//** //**anyone**//, but by selling Boeing airplanes, IBM computers, Microsoft operating systems and Starbucks coffee. The basis of ALL Marxist revolutions is the idea that any accumulation of riches is unjust because it was accumulated by stealing from the poor. This idea sets up a system of class warfare between rich and poor and between North and South. These misguided "revolutions" result in destruction of communities, machinery, wealth, and human lives. Even in countries where the Marxist rebels have won victories, the people in these countries have suffered because the revolutions were based on bad economics. In fact, when the Marxists took over a country and destroyed the system of laws and freedom that was generating the wealth, they ended up neither "freeing" the people, nor making them wealthier. In fact, the countries that have suffered Marxist revolutions are always the poorest countries in the world, with the most suffering.