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"hands off" - leaving man. as he
decided he wanted. CUT OFF from
God. going IIIS OWN WAY. taking
lO
himself the knowledge of what is the
oooo way and what is thc EVJL - or
what
ÍS
RIGHT and what is WRONG.
In effect. God said to man. "Go
your own ways. Organize your own
society. Create your own GOVER -
MENTS. Formulate your own RELI–
GIONS. Organize your own
industrial. commercial. economic
and business system ."
God has determined to TEACH
MAN - by HIS OWN 6,000-year expe–
rience - that Satan's WAY, rebelling
against the GOVERNMENT OF GOD,
has brought only cvils - suffering,
anguish, unhappiness. frustration,
violence. war, starvation and
OEATH!
Witness the results TODAY!
What ARE sorne of these human–
devised forms of government, all
under the sway of Salan? Here is a
brief analysis of MAN'S IDEAS OF
GOVERNMENT - CUt off completely
from Goo - but swayed by Satan.
GOVER ME TS in the world today
can generaUy be cla sified broadly
as either OEMOCRATIC or TOTAL–
ITARIAN. These term are basically
politica/
designations.
SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, CAPITAL-
15M
are primarily
economic
terms.
Both capitalism and socialism may
opera te in a democracy.
DEMOCRACY: From the Greek
demos,
"people," and
kratos,
"power," meaning
govemment
by
the
people.
Democracy may be either direct
or indirect. In a direct democracy.
each individual votes
persona/~¡·
on
every issue. as in ancient Greece.
(An example: the old ew England
town meeting.) In an indirect de–
mocracy (called a REPUBLIC), the
people elect representatives to vote
for
them. Those representatives
make up the national congress. par–
liament, diet. or whatever called. ln–
direct democracy is better suited to
modern na tions with large popu–
lations whe re d irect democracy
wouJd be impractical. Jndirect de–
mocracy was developed in England
in the 17th century. and became the
method of government in North
America and France, as a result of
revolution, in the 18th century. By
1850 the majority of civilized na–
tions had adopted democratic in–
stitutions.
TOTALITARIANISM: A single party.
dictatorial system of government.
The totalitarian state extends its in–
ftuence over the whole of life, prí–
vate as well as public. and exact
full submission of the individual to
HAlLE SELASS/E
of Ethiopia greets Mr. Armstrong at their meeting in 1973.
The king and emperor
was
overthrown in a military coup in 1974.
12
its demands. There is sorne sort of
system of police control. total party
control of mass communications.
widespread doctrinaire education.
and so on.
The term has been used to de–
scribe the NAZI ( ational Socialist)
and FASC"JST governments of Hitler
and
Mussoli~i
in Germany and
ltaly. lt also is applied today to the
governments of the Soviet Union.
China. and other communist states.
Totalitarianism díd not exist before
the 20th century (in the MODERN
world).
SOCJALJSM: An economíc system
and theory according to which the
masses of production, distribution
and exchange are owned and con–
trolled by the people (i.e.. by the
government).
Its goal (in human the–
ory) is a fairer and more equitable
dist ribution of the wealth of a coun–
try.
Sociaüsm is found today in Brit–
ain. Western Europe. Scandinavia.
Australia, and elsewhere. Features
of socialism in these nations include
the nationalization of cenain indus–
tries, publicly owned housing, com–
prehensive welfare systems, etc.
Socialism may come 1) through
revolution. or 2) people may
choose
to give their government more con–
trol over the means of production
and distribution of wealth through
democratic means. Socialísm devel–
oped as a reaction against the
abuses of capitalism, triggered by
the inhuman working conditions
during the Jndust rial Revolution.
Communists use the term "social–
ism" to descr ibe the way of life in
present Soviet society (see "Com–
munism").
CAPITALISM: An economic system
characterized by prívate or corpora–
tion ownership of the means of
production. l nvestments are deter–
mined by prívate decision rather
than by state control. Prices. pro–
duction and distribution of goods
are determined mainly in a free
market. i.e., by competition. Fea–
tures of both capitalism and social–
ism may coexist in the same nation.
COMMUNJSM: A term used to de–
note the theory advocaJing the elim–
ination of prívate property. with
goods owned in common and avail–
able to all as needed.
The term carne to promínence in
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1977