Interesting. Although this is getting completely off-topic (and my apologies to PB for hijacking his thread), I find the issues of government and/or governing philosophies, and what people think of them, fascinating.

I understand what you say about not wanting to lump groups together. However, I think that you can have a balance of both. I'm proud of my country, but I'm not blind about its faults. I have faith, but I despise many things about organized religion. I am proud of my heritage, but that doesn't mean that I look down on others.

I loathe the elimination of social classes. People are NOT equal. There are doers and there are those that would prefer to suck the life out of the doers. There are the thinkers and creators, and those incapable of an original idea if it plopped onto the tops over their heads. There are achievers, and there are those that would prefer to leech off of the achievements of others. I think that the basic fault of communism is that by declaring that all should be shared and equal denies the best its right to the top. Do that often enough, and you will have no best left.

Look at any job where the employees can't be fired, perhaps civil servants or teachers with tenure. Since they're not judged by merit, many of them don't care about success (I said many, not all). They just show up, put in their time, and go home. How does that contribute to society?