Thoughts on how to improve the current system

[Taem]

You cannot keep this system intact WITHOUT having a large and powerful centralized state.

Right, you need to have the same currency over an entire area (such as the USA) to allow for free trade, else tariffs and bartering get in the way. I fail to recognize the point on this one. Are you suggesting we use a one-world currency, or perhaps no currency at all?

To keep the interests of the ruling class intact, a elected set of delegates is needed to make sure the rules and laws of society carry this out. A large and powerful government is necessary for Capitalism, or any other system of rulers and ruled, to keep it intact.

In a completely non-Capitalist society, there is no private sector; instead the Government controls all aspects of production, services, and private ownership. You’re making Capitalism out to sound negative, when what you’re actually promoting is slavery by giving everything up to the government for complete control. Capitalism.

For us, the Base must be changed so that ALL of society controls and shares the means to production rather than a select few.

Case and point. No one owns anything, yet everyone is forced to work a supposed equal amount, when in reality some pigs will do virtually nothing and reap all the benefits while the workers live in poverty. What a dream…

You are overstating my "perfect" society though. Marxists do not promise a perfect society. Only a better one than what we currently have, albeit much better.

You should have stopped while I had a “perfect” idea about what you wanted for our society. The more you explain to me your utopia, the more I realize how backwards it really is. On that note before I continue, I’d like to stress that I really hope you don’t take any offense to my reactions or what I’m saying, this is merely my opinion. I greatly enjoy hearing about other people points of view, and yours is exceptional and it's been a real pleasure to read your responses, however its one I don’t agree with.

The transformation from Socialism into full-blown Communism itself would be lengthy and complex, and there is great debate on how this process would be carried out....some Marxists think this transformation would be as long and difficult as the transformation from Capitalism into Socialism although I don't necessarily agree.

An interesting thought and I can see how the conclusions where drawn on the transformation from Barbarism to Feudalism to Democracy to Socialism. I think there could be a new evolution in our society that supersedes Socialism, however I don’t think it’s Communism, and I honestly don’t believe Socialism is the correct answer either. I think there needs to be more independence of the states, of the cities, of the individual. Equal rights, of course, but forced equality through conformity in the sense that everyone does equal work and has the same stuff in their home as everyone else, no. It is the natural tendency of the individual to do better than your neighbor and coworkers, hence competition, hence why Communism failed the first couple times around. People are inherently greedy and will always be, unless you somehow find a way to rewire our DNA. This alone is the main reason Communism could never work. Star Trek TNG has a pretty similar thread of logic for its vision of the future, but that will never happen.

As for people wanting to be led, I am not so sure this is completely true. But even if so, this is because they are CONDITIONED to think that way, as your post mentions. Our society implies and indoctrinates us (falsely) that Capitalism and Democracy go hand in hand, or that religion needs to be the foundation for our morals and guiding us in how we treat our fellow citizens.

Not true. I myself am the victim of my own crime! My wife got pregnant early when we were both young, I started working right away, moved up to management, and when I had the opportunity to go back to school and get a higher paying job, found I was making just what I needed and was complacent. I “could” improve, do more for myself and family, but I’m content. And I’m not the only one. I’d say I represent the vast majority. Having said that, the reality is, once people get used to their current conditions, they DON’T WANT TO CHANGE! It’s not that they are conditioned to think otherwise or that they don’t even know the truth, it’s because they are comfortable with where they are in life. Here’s a great example: I’ve tried to show my mother the truth of my biblical research over and over, and no matter how many ways I try and show her, she blocks it out because – in all honesty, she doesn’t want to know the true. She’s happy believing what she believes and even though she’s now aware its not be everything she thought it was, she doesn’t care and why? Because she’s content; she will never change. You could make the argument that she was conditioned to believe what she believes over a lifetime of indoctrination, but after showing her the pudding, I digress this is not the case.

As material conditions in society change, so do the behavior, actions, and nature of the people in that society. If people are indoctrinated, they can be un-indontrinated as well (is that a word?). All the revolutions in the fabric of history are proof of this.

That is an absurd statement. Many revolutions took place to overthrow a tyrant or dictator whom many times cared little about brainwashing their citizens and more about collecting goods/money (think Africa for example).

Right now, most of society is in a state of "false consciousness", and needs to reach "class consciousness".

It’s of our own design, an evolution of society, and one we choose. Throughout, I’ve gotten the idea that you want to de-evolutionize us to a state more akin to the Native American Indians, more tribal and more family centered. It’s a beautiful thought, but not the wave of the future, and certainly not the way society is set to evolve. A system like this may work for tribes on a small scale, but on a large scale, it could never work, and I highly doubt would foster much societal improvements such as scientific and scholastic advancements, hence its [government] benefits over our current system would be questionable at best. Liberate our minds? I’d say shackle our interests.

But on the other hand, to think Capitalism is universal and is thus eternal, is not only deterministic, but incorrect as well if we go by history since every previous system has reached an apex, then replaced with a new system where the previous ruled class became the new ruling class. The class antagonisms though have become much more simplified under Capitalism, compared to prior modes of production.

All forms of society use Capitalism to a degree. You’re stating it as if the USA is not a Democracy, but a purely Capitalistic society hell-bent on controlling everyone’s lives, which is itself ironic in that a truly Capitalistic society would have government own very little, and the private sector own much of everything.

A Socialist society, being the next stage in history after Capitalism, will end this trend by not merely simplifying class distinctions, but by eliminating them entirely....and thus leading to the highest (note: not perfect) form of society possible - Communism.

I could not disagree more, on many aspects of this sentence. True socialism across the board is true slavery, plain and simple. Most societies today have evolved to include a healthy mix of Democracy and Socialism. To conclude that the next phase of society, just because we’ve adopted a few hints from the Socialists handbook, is to convert to Communism is irrational fallacy. I’m not even sure there is a next step. We might have already reached the crux of government as we know it. From this point on, it’s more about reaching and enlightening the people, but a full on conversion to Socialism or Communism is not required for this to happen.

We use "utopian" principles not to achieve a utopian society, but as a MEANS to creating the best POSSIBLE society. Under Capitalism, we have absolutely no reason to believe this is the best we have or can get. Other then the fact that those who have the game rigged in their favor tell us this is the best we can do, which leads me to...

Again, total disagreement; I believe the exact opposite of what you are stating here, that only under Capitalism can we do better. I see no incentive to do better in a system where everyone has total equality without room to be better than your fellow man.

[propaganda…]The elites WANT you to think this way - because this hinders progress and prolongs their stay in power.

Again, we have choice. If we so choose in this country, we could revolt (like the Occupy camp) and make a change in this country – but guess what, not enough people really care or over half of Americans would have been out protesting and change would have occurred. Now think about this – had we [Americans] attempted a gathering like that in Egypt, Iran, Syria, etc. we’d be shot and killed. No, we have choice in this country. We can make a difference. We can make a change. But again, as I’ve been trying to explain to you all along: nobody cares enough! The price of living is not big enough yet for the majority to make a stink, only a small minority. Believe me, if there were something worth fighting over, Americans would be first in the fray. You give your own country too little credit.

I don’t really have anything to add to the rest of what you said in your post. Thank you for sharing. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s points of view.