patrick.net

OK - I'm ready to get skewered for even posting this one...

A long long time ago (I think i was in High School, perhaps even middle school) I wrote a paper on communism. I've always felt that the system has certain merits when applied to small groupings, but begins to break down when applied to larger society. Further - said breakdown is partially due to the fact that there is nothing to keep those tasked with distributing the goods amongst the people from taking a disproportionate share for themselves, particularly in the absence or a strong moral framework or religious underpinning to keep everyone on the same plane. Lets face it - human nature is to horde - to consume more, more more. There is no natural inclination to help others unless there is a perceived benefit (be it current or future) in doing so.

In short some form of "moral communism" can work on small scales - but it breaks down when applied to larger society. Why? and could some tweaks allow one to come up with a "better" system, perhaps one that can be a viable alternative to the representative democracy we have in place now?