When mainstream media outlets make statements like “capitalism is dead”, you would think people would wake up and take notice.

Great quote by the way!

A socialist government really intent upon socialism has to decide to carry out its socialization program at one stroke or to give it up altogether . . . Any hesitation, vacillation and indecision would provoke the inevitable economic catastrophe. Socialism is not an economic policy for the timid. (Market Socialism).

I have a few ideas as to why the Church no longer warns about communism. I do not have any first hand knowledge, only my thoughts, but they are food for thought nonetheless.

First, and most likely, is the fact that after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, the world was ready to put the whole communism threat behind them. When communism was “alive”, the presidency of the church had a hard time convincing the members that there was anything to be concerned about, despite repeated discussions over many years. Would this same tough crowd actually have taken them seriously once the wall fell, were they to attempt to discuss any remaining threat? Communism has never left China or Cuba, so there was still some possibility of a communist influence on the world, even without the USSR. Yet, the common sense of the time was that capitalism had won and communism had been roundly spanked and sent on its way. No one wanted to hear otherwise.

Second, the political landscape was much different before the wall fell. The 80’s introduced political correctness and it was much harder to be taken seriously when discussing politics as a church. In the late 90’s it became uncouth for churches to discuss political things, especially our church, now doing so can cost a religion it’s tax exempt status, or at least raise threats of doing so.

Third, as you aptly pointed out, the most important thing the Brethren have needed to discuss is indeed pornography and the entire “tidal wave” of wickedness we are engulfed in. Sadly, there is little time for discussion of politics, as there is so much work to be done on the morality front. This does not necessarily mean that communism is not a threat, it is just less of a threat than the immediate destruction of the souls of members being washed away by the wave of filth. You can’t fight communism if your brain is addled by muck.

Finally, I think we have already crossed a threshold in which the warned of events have taken place. We didn’t listen. We are now reaping the whirlwind. You say that the current financial crisis is evidence of the ineptitude of the bankers, just look at the mega profits of JP Morgan Chase Co these days. They always benefit from financial downturns. Look at Goldman Sachs, and how well they are doing. Greed has driven them to do this, and now we are hearing the discussion of a global currency (Special Drawing Rights) and global governance. In the G20 meeting the US gave away more sovereignty as we agreed to have more oversight by the IMF. There are definite benefits for the international bankers from the downturn, i.e. more power.

Our society has corrupted as we were warned it would be to weaken us for a communist takeover. Skousen’s 45 communist goals were right on track for the most part. Many of them have been achieved and many others have had significant steps taken toward their achievement. The only one that I can say an absolute no way to is number 35-the FBI is fine and well, although it did suffer pie in the face during the Bush/9-11 finger pointing era.

I can say for certain that our society has changed immensely since Skousen warned us about communism, and it is interesting how much of our current problems mirror the society anti-communists warned us that we were being manipulated to accept.

I thought for sure that the government actually taking over companies, disregarding long-held rules governing secured creditors in bankruptcy, and telling companies what they can pay their CEO’s would awaken people to the fact that in a blink of an eye, we became a socialist nation, inasmuch as we are embracing socialist policies.

We are not more free today than we have ever been. We may feel so because we are more free from social restraints, unless we want to use certain words that are, well, UN-pc. We have so many laws on the books that at any moment we just might be breaking a law we are not even aware of. Laws tend to focus more on intent than actual criminal behavior, these days, so it is much easier to be framed for a crime, especially in the internet age. We are not free to protest as we were in years past, without a permit (which will probably not be given if there is a high profile event we wish to protest). I will not list every way in which our freedoms are diminished, but I will say that there are many.

When we empower the government to free us from the consequences of our decisions, we inevitably give up some of our freedom so that they may do so. We have done so in a big way, and the US is not the same place it was fifty years ago for it.

While the references provided may seem vague and oblique, the patterns such groups exhibit are apparent in societies across the world (see Connor’s posts The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Prophetic Political Silence for examples). And as Nibley pointed out years ago, capitalism and socialism/communism are based on a common philosophy of materialism. They are like two magnets that repel each other. That is one aspect of the “collision” to which I refer above.

I wish you the best in finding answers to the many questions and issues you’ve raised.

Although you stated “Methinks they think communism is like dead”, that seems more like a supposition on your part versus what they actually “think.”

Well, as they are silent for the past 20 years, I can only make suggestions. The fact is that there is a noticeable difference between these 20 years and the previous 20 years. And what happened 20 years ago was the collapse of communism. You asked for a direct correlation, and I have given it to you. Before 1989, they spoke against communism passionately. After 1989, they spoke of it only in reference to when it was alive.

Perhaps there are other reasons for this silence which may not be readily apparent to the casual observer.

Please, share. I gave you my reasons with fairly sound backing. I dare you to do better.

While there may be many reasons for the apparent silence on this topic, as the many posts on Fascism, Socialism, Communism, Collectivism, Capitalism and recent events attest, the world’s societies are in collision as suggested in the post Polarization in the Book of Mormon.

What do you mean that the world’s societies are “in collision” as suggested in the Book of Mormon? I see your post, but it only is a link to a rather vague section of a Nibley quote. What I mean by that is that neither you nor Nibley offer any actual evidence that the “world’s societies are in collision.” This is a bit shoddy on both your part and on Nibley’s part. It is not scientific.

Finally,

As your research suggests, there are very few direct references from Church leaders to these groups from a given time period (based on my own research, it is much earlier than you suggest)

So… are you suggesting here that the brethren stopped talking about communism BEFORE communism actually died?