I've written about this before, and sometimes it stirs up quite a few people. But with all the class warfare being stirred up over spending, taxation, and Hurricane Katrina, I think it's time to take another look at the Pillars of Communism, and see how far (if at all) we've treaded down that road.

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose. - Drive drunk and they can take your car. Get caught with drugs and they can take your house. With the Kelo decision, they can now take your land and give it to someone else just to get more property tax revenue.


2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. - We have progressive income tax brackets and progressive estate taxes to soak the rich. On the other end, we have ever-increasing progressive income tax credits that give breaks to "the poor". Currently about 50% of American workers have been systematically removed from the tax rolls, and the top 50% of wage earners pay 96% of all taxes.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. - People who face estate taxes currently face seizure of nearly 50% of their inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. - Stop paying your taxes or befoul the law, and watch the government wade in and seize your property. Guns can be seized from anyone who has been involuntarily committed, faces a restraining order, or has been convicted of any crime where the punishment could have been more than one year in jail (regardless of the actual punishment). There have been cases where the government involuntarily committed people, then when they were released, seized their property because they were involuntarily committed.



5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. - The Fed prints all the money and controls all the interest rates. What's more currency is no longer backed by tangible assets like gold and silver. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, is constantly tinkering with the nation's interest rate to control economic growth and inflation.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State. - The FCC heavily regulates communication. They regulate telephone service, internet service, and even what you watch on TV. Then there's the FEC, who regulates what you can say about politicians leading up to a national election. Throw the postal system in there too. The Federal Highway System, cars, and gasoline are all heavily regulated at the federal level. When the Fed needs the states to pass regulation (ie: DUI, seatbelts, etc), they simply resort to extortion by threatening to withhold highway funding to get their way.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. - Corporations are heavily regulated and coerced into doing things they would not ordinarily do under a free-market. The Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce, and IRS are all complicit.
8. Equal liablity of all to labor. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture. - We are headed down this road via Social Security, labor unions, minimum wages, and affirmative action quotas.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. - This is called zoning and planned communities. People who already own their own homes and live in certain communities willfully create a barrier of entry for others to drive up their own housing prices.
10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production. - This is called the Public School System.