Explaining the Serious Stupidity

There's a meme going around the left side of Cliches R Us: “Capitalism without socialism is fascism” (discussed at BookwormRoom). There's a very simple explanation for it. It is a consequence of the premise “‘Government’ is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.” In a system of capitalism without socialism, there are organizations that are able to get people to do things together but are not under democratic control. In other words, such a system is based on undemocratic governments, i.e., it is fascism.

On the other hand, there is little reason to to believe that organizations that are governments in the sense of being able to get people to do things together are the same as the organizations that are governments in the sense of being able to jail or kill people.

On the gripping hand, in Major Barbara, George Bernard Shaw had Andrew Undershaft say:

Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.

Some people, e.g., Vladimir Putin, still believe that:

President Vladimir Putin said he wants to identify an official who can be hanged if a road leading to a new bridge that will link Crimea to Russia isn't built, as he complained that nobody wants to take charge of the project.

“There should be a specific person who can be hanged if it's not done,” Putin said during a visit to Crimea to view construction work on Friday, the second anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine. Officials keep passing responsibility for the work to colleagues in different ministries, he said.

He can't understand why nobody wants the job.