Those are words I never thought I would say. So let me backtrack a little bit. I do not believe in the abolition of private property. I do not believe in the abolition of inheritance. I do not believe in confiscating all property of emigrants and rebels. I DO believe in a society where everyone can rise, people are judged by the content of their character, and gone are the days of class distinctions.

However, I differ from the great Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels about the means to get there. A violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat is not a hidden desire at the bottom of my heart. The best way to reach this society is by implementing free markets, eliminating wanton government barriers, and a competitive electorate.

The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is often heralded as a life changing book for its readers. I did not feel that “ A Specter is haunting Europe (or the rest of the world)– the specter of communism (p. 1).” It helps that I live in the 21st century whereas Marx and Engels wrote this book in the 19th century. Don’t get me wrong the book is well written, was ahead of its time, and has arguably set the world on fire in ways that only demagogues and religions have historically been capable of. Yet, the word has come back on Communism and found it to be wanting.

So why am I a right-wing Marxist? I personally see a country “divided” into two political parties that claim to represent the people. I am afraid that these parties have become nothing more than a figurehead that divides the people in a time where “national differences and antagonisms between peoples are daily vanishing, owing to the development of the bourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions of life corresponding thereto (p. 90.)”

These parties have become “just a symbol” (As Mary McCarthy once described the Eucharist.) I see education systems in disrepair. I see a struggling immigration service that needs to champion not only the capable but the poor and wanting.  I see law and order falling out of fashion. I see a regulatory state that limits the abilities of the common man and woman to succeed in the Land of the Free.  I denounce crony capitalism, along with most Republicans. (Unlike most elected Republicans though, when I say I am against corruption and cronyism I am not flanked by special interest groups.)

I don’t understand “right wingers” who believe that billionaires are the only people worth helping in a desperate grasp to remember the heyday and specter of Ronald Reagan. I don’t understand the flagrant disregard these fiscal conservatives treat the national public debt, nor do I understand their inability to work with anyone on the other side of the political divide.  

I find that having law and order to be an important for society. Yet as Tacitus says “In a state where corruption abounds, the laws must be numerous.” We as a country have a lot of laws. Most Americans are not capable of understanding the law of the land. This makes following the law or protecting oneself from digressions increasingly difficult. This only helps the lawyers, lawmakers, law enforcement officers and bureaucrats charged with keeping law and order. This level of oppression is at fault for most of the societal issues that rage across the news right now.

For these reasons I might be the revolutionary that Marx desperately hoped would arrive. I disagree with the strategy and the tactics of the man. Yet I cannot help but think a world that judges men and women on their character and their efforts is a world worth fighting for. I do not believe that all social safety nets in this country have failed, but many of them have and cost way too much. Yet I refuse to “Rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic” (I’m quoting Sarah Palin, another thing I thought I would never do) with regards to entitlement reform.  I don’t trust either party to do so in a way that actually affects change rather than line the pockets of bureaucrats, special interest groups and regulators, while ultimately harming the people they are designed to protect.

The Communist Manifesto is a book worth reading. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were incredibly ahead of their time and changed the course of history merely by writing this book. Go out today and buy this book. Read it immediately. It can be done in a lazy Saturday afternoon, and you will be able to join the conversation honestly when communism comes up. (I know I have lied about reading the Communist Manifesto before, and I can’t be the only one.)
Thank you for reading,

R. Bailey Rogg

P.S. My father once described me a “three steps right of the Kaiser,” so if you think I have totally lost my marbles please tell me in the comment section below.

P.P.S. I owe a great debt to Frank Buckley for enlightening me on the idea of Right Wing Marxism, his article in Imprimis, Restoring America’s Economic Mobility opened me up to liking the Communist Manifesto. I highly recommend it.