are fond lovers of the "one true Scotsman" fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
"When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim ("no Scotsman would do such a thing"
, rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original universal claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of the assertion to exclude the specific case or others like it by rhetoric, without reference to any specific objective rule ("no true Scotsman would do such a thing" ,[2] creating an implied tautology. It can also be used to create unnecessary requirements by adding "true" or "real" to the subject."
In other words, bith the Libertarian and the Communist will harp on about how the neither the Americans or the Russians really implented the ideas; they were always corrupt. The line goes "if they had actually established the TRUE system, it would have worked."
Of course, this is where economic philosophy reveals the hereditary traits it got from Religion. In religion, you have several dozen claimints to the "True Faith." Just ask any Shia or Sunni in Iraq, Catholic or Portoestant in Belfast, or, on a smaller scare, take a look at the Religion forum here on DU. Even Athiests are splintering into various factions of what "REAL" Atheism is, depending on whoever Richard Dawkins decides to offend this week. Religion of course, was the orginal "how do we relate to others and the world" scheme, so as economic tries to fill that gap, it takes on many of Relgion's old habits. Go to any forum dedicated to Communism, and you will see the Social Democrats take on the Maoists. The winers then dogpile on the anarchists. Go to "libertarian" sites, and you will fond everyone from the LGBT/Dopesmoking Libertarians who might be the leftward end (despite wanting to pay no taxes), versus the Jesus freak right wing who thinks Libertarianism is right because it will pave the way for America to be the true "Christian Nation" the founding fathers meant it to be. Of course, as along as the actual definition of what "true libertarianism/communism", that allows the goalposts to get moved with every successive failure of the basic policy. It becomes like the old cartoons where Wile E. Coyote keeps coming up with new inventions "That it, I know what I did wrong last time!" and keeps getting his ass kicked while trying to catch the roadrunner. The main difference is, unlike the Road Runner, the people that DIE when these experiments are tried will NOT be coming back next episode. Oh well, gotta break a few eggs to make an omlette, right?
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