During the long march of Marxism through U.S. institutions, advocates have conducted a propaganda campaign to befuddle Americans about the dangers of communism. Their agitprop claims that communism is caring and admirable while the U.S. form of government is dogmatic and outmoded. As a result of this disinformation, many Americans are confused about U.S. democracy. Some do not have a clear understanding of how it differs from Marxist rule.
This newsletter focuses on the distinctions between U.S. democracy and Marxism.
Key features of U.S. democracy
Our founding documents acknowledge human nature and the reality that people are fallible and governments are corruptible. The documents focus on protecting the people from the excesses of government.1
In the U.S. form of government, which is a constitutional republic, the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed. The people vote for their government representatives.
We are born with rights that come from God, not from man or governments. “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”2
Individual rights are of the highest importance. The U.S. Constitution guarantees individual liberties in the first 10 amendments known as the “Bill of Rights.”3
The U.S. Bill of Rights
First Amendment: The government may not sanction religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion. The government may not infringe on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or the right of people to peaceably assemble.
Second Amendment: The government must not infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, which is necessary for the security of a free nation.
Fourth Amendment: People have the right to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers and effects. All warrants must be based on probable cause and must provide the particulars.
Fifth Amendment: No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without the due process of law. No one shall be held to answer for a capital crime (one punishable with a death sentence) except after indictment of a grand jury.
Ninth Amendment: Enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution shall not be construed to deny other rights retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment: The powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved for the states, or to the people. This is commonly referred to as limited government or federalism.
Key features of Marxist rule
Marxism denies there is a human nature. It insists that the government and ruling elite are infallible. No limits are placed on the government. As a result, big government and central planning dictate every aspect of life. The real focus is on protecting the ruling elite, their power and their system of rule.4
Marxists claim that individuals are incapable of managing their own rights and, therefore, they have none. Rights can only be granted by the government.5
No religions are allowed to exist except the state-sanctioned religion of Marxism, the ideology of communism.6
Marxists seek the destruction of all aspects of the current society by violence and revolution to establish a new ruling system. This will be implemented, according to The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, with the following 10 measures.7
The 10 Directives of Karl Marx
Abolition of private property. All rents go to the government.
Immediate confiscation of the property of dissenters.
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax
Abolition of all rights of inheritance
Centralization of credit in the hand of the state by means of a national bank with government capital and an exclusive monopoly
Centralization of the means of communication and transportation by the government
All businesses, factories and means of production are owned by the government
Equal liability of all to work. The establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture, and the combination of agriculture with the manufacturing industries.
Redistribution of people around the nation as dictated by the government. Gradual abolition of all distinctions between town and country.
Free government-sanctioned education for all children in public schools. Public education is to be combined with industrial production.
The bottom line
As you can see, U.S. democracy and Marxist rule are opposite forms of government. The first defines a free nation while the other is unfree. The U.S. form of government aims to strengthen our constitutional republic, which safeguards individual liberty. Marxism’s goal is to destroy U.S. democracy and replace it with totalitarianism.
All Americans need to bone up on these differences before the 2024 elections. We’re being asked to choose between the two. Share or discuss the distinctions with your family and friends. The more people who see the contrasts the better. Frankly, our freedom may depend on it.
Pope, Ken. U.S. Form of Government versus Marxist and Communist System of Rule (slide presentation). U.S. Founding Documents: Declaration of Independence and Constitution (slide). Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, 1/2023.
See footnote 1. See also the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
See footnote 1.
Pope, Ken. U.S. Form of Government versus Marxist and Communist System of Rule (slide presentation). Marx’s Goal: Socialism to Communism (slide). Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, 1/2023.
See footnote 4.
See footnote 4.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto.
Dr. Smoots, I think the key to your analysis lies in the founders belief that our rights come from God, NOT the government. The government is supposed to secure those rights. Alas the government has not only not secured them but is now routinely violating them. They are now in full blown attack mode against our right to free speech AND free exercise of religion. This has been going on for 50+ years but rapidly accelerating under the current administration. These secularists in government do not want people living out their faith in the public square. They despise moral truth because it holds them accountable. This is why they are going after Christians with a vengeance. To them there is no objective truth and EVERYTHING is permitted resulting in what we have now, which is a neopagan society. John Adams had it pegged when he said that "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other," We are no longer that moral and religious people. We instead worship at the altar of the material and our passions. That is why "we" revere all manner of sexual perversion, child murder and the coming wave of euthanasia.
A very timely article!