Is it though? The only arguments I’ve ever heard from Republican family members against communism werr that people don’t get the freedom to choose where they work, and that they all end in dictatorships rather quickly.

Both a debatable, but I’ve never heard someone say, the government starves the people of food in communism. Oh the other one is usually, “it demotivates people from progress.”. Which once again, debatable.

Well, when millions die from starvation then you can argue the economy here is worse. Until then I think this comparison is a bit silly. Stupid as this whole debacle is, it’s nowhere near as stupid as the Holodomor or Great Leap Forward.

Severe famines require more than just incompetence. They require active, violent repression of the people’s ability to solve their own problems—which they usually have. This is what makes these kinds of famines so horrific. Yes, they are partially natural, but they could have easily been solved if aid or freedom of movement had been permitted by the ruling tyrants.

But when I do it, it’s cute!