Socialism has its known problems. One problem is giving people something for nothing. Capitalism also has its known problems. Greed being the main one. Communism and Monarchy should be stamped out. The only way to do that is to avoid revolution by treating the people fairly and giving them enough of the wealth to live on in exchange for an honest day's work. Another way to do that is to keep the wealthy from exploiting the non-wealthy through legal regulation. The U.S. is headed for revolution because it is failing to protect the worker and the wealthy have made what should be illegal into what is legal. They take our savings without our permission and gamble it away on the stock market. Then they take our taxes to cover their losses. Nobody goes to jail for it. They'll get the guns in a Communist takeover. They'll get the wealth and form their own Capitalist elite. Then they'll pass the guns and wealth to their sons in a Dynastic Monarchy. They'll then be too weak as a Monarchy because the idiot son can't keep it together. They'll be conquered by a more egalitarian nation. Yes. I love the U.S.A. and that is why I hate seeing it devolve into this. Republicans and Democrats don't defend the workers enough. Sure Unions are a bad way to protect working wages. Sure Unions protect people who should be fired or make too much money. But we can't depend on the government to protect workers when it is the corporate owners who control the government. And every worker should set aside a part of his or her paycheck for health insurance. We're already paying taxes for their uninsured hospital visits. It still accounts for 25% of all hospital expenses which drives up our own health care costs.
And Darby, that is why we always have argued in the past. You're a cold war true blue believer in Capitalism. I also believe in Capitalism but am quite aware of its evil side which must be regulated. And that regulation is by its very political nature Socialist. But calling myself a Socialist would lead to misunderstanding. I'm a Social Democrat. I believe in a real free market where the wealthy are kept from making illegal things legal. Corporate profits are at an all time high in 2012 yet the U.S. family is struggling at an average of $12.50 an hour. It was $14.00 in 2005. Is it any wonder the U.S. consumer and middle class has died.
Socialism
is the problem. Whether it is Soviet Marxist-Leninist Socialism, Hitler's NAZI National Socialism, Musollini's Facist Socialism, Progressive Socialism or Democratic Socialism. In the end each form of socialism comes down to a hard or a "soft" tyranny where the ruling oligarcy determines what is best for the collective
people and the individual
person be damned. In other words, regardless of the particular name one gives it socialism is just a form of collectivist repression of the individual. You're good just so long as you don't get out of line and make it known that you want to do for yourself and not the collective.
But there is an answer in America. Get the damned federal government out of our everyday lives and back where it is supposed to be - following the Constitution. The states can do just fine, under the 10th Amendment, taking care of their own citizens. Next, get rid of about 70% of all federal departments. There's not a single word in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to be doing what those departments are involved in. And that includes the Departments of Labor, Health, Education, EPA and the rest.
Struggling as $12.50/hr? Why? Why are people struggling at $12.50/hr while the Democrats chant their mantra abut more money for schools? I'll tell you why Californians struggle. Over half, 52%, of the entire California State budget goes to the State Department of Education. And they have the gall to plead, cry and faint dead away on the street begging for more money for the schools. Two decades ago, ten years after the voters decided that Cakifornia home owners should not be required to shoulder the lion's share of the school budget by having their homes suffer the school tax, the Democrats came up with the California Lottery to "save the schools". They got their wish. What did they do with the new-found billions in funds via the Lottery? Took the tax money from the school budget, added in the Lottery money to the school budget and then cried, "We need more money for the schools. The Lottery didn't fix the problem." They were right. The Lottery didn't fix the problem. It became a part of the problem. But the socialists knew that they'd had their way because Californians will fall for the next piece of bait while the state legislature continues to expand the state budget and social programs - right up to the door of the Bankruptcy Court because California, the Socialist Republic, is broke. Flat broke. And they still want more because the "fix" is just a matter of tossing a few more
quid at the problem. (The Constitution is the Constitution so we can't legally split California without the consent of the other states but boy, oh, boy would I love to split the Bay Area into it's own little state.)
Kids are screaming that they can't afford to pay back their college loans. To a large degree they should be, though they knew going in that when they took out the loan that they would not be able to pay it off on time. Why are their loans so big? Why is college so expensive? The US Department of Education, that's why. It's the good-old-boy socialist system. Today a college education costs X dollars. Kids get a US Dept of Education guaranteed loan. The college needs to build something thus needs more dollars. They raise the tuition and call the Dept of Education and "suggest" that the maximum amount for college loans be increased. Done. Now the kids get an even bigger loan. Re-cycle the above a few times and the California State University tuition ends up equalling the Harvard tuition. Oh, but kids are entitled to a college education. It's a human right, correct? Let's just forgive the loans because those evil bankers are gouging the students. Hotel Sierra. It's not a right, human or otherwise and the banks didn't gouge anyone. The US Dept of Education and the college and university administrations are the gougers. Banks are there to make money, not to be conduits for social democracy.
Thomas, I have been there and done that with the socialists. The philosophy sounds nice on paper but it is a scam. Western Europe is a living testiment to the scam. Anyone who voted for the current administration in Washington, DC is further testiment to how the scam works.
