Probably well before the flood but it is clear we have served one or the other and sometimes combinations of both since the days of Sumeria and Babylon with a few exceptions but as the music always returns to the chorus from time to time, so do these systems of oppression.

I heard this in a high school government class in the 50's. It has been a constant myth as long as I can remember.

Fascism vs communism is a distinction without a difference. Both are destructive of personal liberty and both can be easily recognized by the fact they can only be imposed by use of force. The only real difference between the two is who are the oppressors? True capitalism is a component of personal liberty. Only when men are able to exchange goods and services without government interference are they truly free. All other "freedoms" are illusory without freedom of exchange. The most insidious form of servitude is that where the slave is kept ignorant of the weight of his own chains.

it will end when nobody wants to start a business and all existing businesses simply shut down.

There is no antidote to human nature. There will always be a small but noisy group of people who want to control what you do and there will always be more people, who are much more polite, who just want to be left alone.

The cure, maybe, is teaching the ones who want to be left alone that you cannot be polite to people who wish to control you. You must defeat them. Peace through strength and all that.

Fascism and communism are both variants of socialism. The world is "stuck" on them because it is "stuck" on collectivist altruist ideology. It will end when bad philosophy is replaced by a philosophy of reason and individualism. Ayn Rand discussed this extensively. Read her nonfiction.

The German National Socialists were not "less totalitarian".

http://ohsorare.com/b5freedom.avi

Yeah, Constitutional Conservative. My futurist mind only see's ugly at this point. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm looking for the antidote to a painful future. If I can determine the beginning of this split and its common base of underlying assumptions, then I can dissolve the issue before it takes another breath.

I think in the end fascism will win out because it is seductive and less totalitarian than communism. Fascism will end when the state becomes so controlling that blood will have to be spilled to maintain its grip or, the other side, to loosen its grip.

People can only tolerate a tyrant for so long.

my 2 bits.