It’s time to remind ourselves of the evils of socialism

[Adam]

An Excellent Article supporting the premise of this thread. 

[Spirit]

Excellent article! 

[Angelsjunky]

Those are the only two options?  

 

Interesting. 

 

Wow, you're such a politician. You conveniently cut out my "third option": Of course things get really interesting when we try to do both: individualism and communalism.

[Spirit]

So there's only 3?

[Spirit]

An Excellent Article supporting the premise of this thread. 

 

"Socialism is the Big Lie. While it promised prosperity, equality, and security, it delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery."

 

 

 

Powerful!

[Jay]

"Equality was achieved only in the sense that everyone was equal in his or her misery."

 

At least everyone is equal.  It wouldn't be fair to have some people happy and some unhappy.

[Make Angels Great Again]

You guys are actually comical sometimes, you would get upset at someone for using Nordic countries as examples because of the stark difference between them and us, but then go on to point at freaking Venezuela for why it wouldn't work.

[Spirit]

You guys are actually comical sometimes, you would get upset at someone for using Nordic countries as examples because of the stark difference between them and us, but then go on to point at freaking Venezuela for why it wouldn't work.

 

 

So you're saying both the Venezuela and the Nordic examples are bulls**t?

[Make Angels Great Again]

I'm saying you're the pot calling the kettle black.

[Spirit]

So are they both bulls**t or just the Venezuela example?

[Make Angels Great Again]

You can find examples of almost anything working in some situations and not working in others.

 

Both examples aren't the same as it would be for us.

[Make Angels Great Again]

There are things to be learned from both, is my answer to your question.

 

But to point at Venezuela and to practically say that's what we would become is stupid.

[Angelsjunky]

This is a country founded on freedom.  I think people should be free to give as much or as little as they like.  I definitely don't think the government should ever be in charge of it.  Giving the government more power is definitely the worst possible outcome and it is what Bernie covets.

 

LOL.

 

Well we are half way there AJ, we are already a "highly taxed" nation. I'm not an unreasonable man, once they show they can actually live within the budget of the money they already get, then I would consider giving more, but until then, absolutely not.

 

LOL.

Just a hunch, it is people that are succesful, the ones that are already paying more than their fair share, are the ones that are having issues with communalism. I sometimes wonder, actually I probably know the answer, do I pay more in taxes each year, than the socialists on here make in a year. I'm sure it would be very close, especially since "very few people that post on here will be affected by Bernie's tax increase".

 

LOL.

[Spirit]

There are things to be learned from both, is my answer to your question.

 

But to point at Venezuela and to practically say that's what we would become is stupid.

 

 

It's an Excellent article! 

[Guest]

LOL.

 

 

LOL.

 

LOL.

I now understand why nobody likes you.

[Stradling]

LOL.

LOL.

LOL.

Yea because it is unreasonable for them to live within a budget. Sorry for being unreasonable. AJ, Eric is right, you are incredibly blind in this area. Please go back to baseball so I can respect you again. Thanks in advance.

[Angelsjunky]

LOL.

[Angelsjunky]

Yea because it is unreasonable for them to live within a budget. Sorry for being unreasonable. AJ, Eric is right, you are incredibly blind in this area. Please go back to baseball so I can respect you again. Thanks in advance.

 

To actually be serious for a moment, I never said that the government shouldn't live within a budget - so I'm not sure how that is a blind spot on my part. I do think they should live within budget.

 

And Strad, no offense, but I'm not going to dictate my own actions based upon what will earn respect from you.

[Stradling]

So when you quote me twice and say LOL I should respect you? Enjoy your attention.

[Make Angels Great Again]

I respect you AJ!

[Angelsjunky]

So when you quote me twice and say LOL I should respect you? Enjoy your attention.

 

Strad, I'm not trying to earn your respect. Get that idea out of your noggin. Secondly, relax. I'm just ****ing around. Don't take everything so seriously.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Angelsjunky

[Angelsjunky]

I respect you AJ!

 

There's one!

[UndertheHalo]

to stradlings point, I definitely agree that we should look at how we're spending the money we already have before we start looking at increasing taxes.  Thats not an unreasonable position at all.  In my mind, we need to fix our horrific tax code and figure out how properly calibrate the nations budget in order to fund things that we need.  In addition, I personally don't think its unfair to ask more successful people to pay a reasonably increased tax.  Success is a product of hard work and ingenuity and people should be rewarded for their efforts, but nobody succeeds in a complete vacuum.  The opportunities are there to be exploited, some are better at it then others.  I'm not sure how to really articulate this idea well, and I do think that more successful people can be abusively taxed. They should not be.  There is a balance here. 

 

That said,I personally tend to be sympathetic to "social programs" because my outlook is that we're all on the same ship and we should contribute together in order to make our community/state/country however you want to frame it better.  I think that large infrastructure benefits all and should be organized and looked after by those appointed to represent us (the government) if there is a failure of any sort thats a problem that needs to be addressed with how government operates.  Not a failure of the idea IMO.  The same can be said for our military, public schools, the justice systems, various regulatory agencies, social security, etc, and IMO healthcare (i believe a wealthy industrialized nation in the 21st century should be able to provide healthcare to its citizenry) obviously we can disagree on what is appropriate to be under the umbrella and what is not.  I guess thats why we have elections.  The bottom line though IMO is that all these functions of the government are a type of socialism in action already !! So the idea that socialized ideas lead definitively to the most extreme examples of authoritarian government is somewhat paranoid in my view.  I think that free market capitalism is fully compatible with socialized concepts.  There needs to be restraints on both in order to make them work best for everyone.

Edited March 24, 2016 by UndertheHalo

[Spirit]

I respect you AJ!

 

 

There's the kiss of death. 

[Make Angels Great Again]

I respect you too, Geoff.