Question ABout Socialism

[Guest Dean_JC78]

Perhaps a 1 shot 6 year term? That way they are not running for re-election while in office?

[clipslinger]

When you get hit by a mexican and your uninsured motorist insurance runs out, but your still crippled and cant work. Do you really believe that your church, or friends and neighbors are gonna keep you going out of benevolence? You get cancer and its treatable but your insurance caps whos there.Lets say you get well but now whos gonna insure you. I know there are deadbeats and a lot of what i pay in gets wasted. But for every deadbeat there is a vet, or older american or even a child that gets some sort of help. I dont have a problem with that. Id rather pay for Americans to recieve welfare than some third world **** whod kill me just because im american. Greed is a sin equal to murder(abortion), Idolatry, theft. Socialism is dangerous but euthanasia is far more dangerous.

[fury2neon]

The real problem with socialism is that it requires the individual to give up his/hers rights in favor of the collective solution. It started out small in this country with "protective" tariffs to keep less expensive goods out to favor national products, then went to subsidies to industries and farms, then to a national bank (see Federal Reserve), then to social causes that the Church used to handle, then to out right wealth redistribution in the New Deal and Great Society. Each of these things required that individuals, cities and states give up powers left them by the constitution. Socialism requires that the citizens belong to the country and the country can do with its citizens whatever it wants. We have been headed down this slippery slop since the 1800's and neither political party wants to give up the power socialism has given them.

On, the plus side capitalism is always there, it is the only rational means of trade. Capitalism requires free people to participate in free exchange. You ask how can capitalism exist inside a socialist nation? The black market is the last refugee of capitalism, and it is where everyone goes to when the country controls the legal economy. We still have partial capitalism in this country but the call for price controls and tariffs make me believe that we may not be too far from black markets for many goods and services.

[Guest SUNTZU]

Socialism is dangerous but euthanasia is far more dangerous.

Youth in Asia are Socialists, for the most part.

[Guest Abominable_Hillbilly]

Socialism is dangerous but euthanasia is far more dangerous.

You act like there are only two options.

[greenego]

Social Security is suppose to be a trust fund. You put money and draw it out when the time comes. The problem is there is no money in the trust fund! The money just goes into the general fund. There is an IOU somewhere for all the money put there. So in other words its just another tax. If any business ran a trust fund the way the government does, they would be in jail. And remember, when this was set up most people died before the reached 65 or 70. So the government never really believed the payouts would be what they are today.

[molonlabetn]

Social Security was a hasty solution put in place as part of FDR's 'New Deal'. It should have been temporary... repealed with most of the junk conservatives got rid of later from that mess.

Since they didn't, now we're paying for it. Just like our progeny will pay for the 'New Deals' which Obama will make in the shadow of this economic "crisis".

Damn socialists, rewarding personal irresponsibility at the cost of the truly productive.

[Tim Nunan]

Social Security was never designed to be one's sole retirement fund. SS was suppose to augment one's "good savings habit". It has morphed to its current form because elected officials knew it would get them more votes.

[Im Neero]

As I've stated before, I'm no expert in the arena of politics. I have a question.

I keep hearing how Socialism is such a horrible thing, but I can't figure out why everyone has tolerated programs like Social Security and Medicare for all these years. Are those not two great examples of forced Socialism?

It has to do with mis-use of the word socialism. The Socialism that is a bad thing is a form of political ideology in which private property is illegal, there is absolutely no free enterprise, the government decides what job you will do, and there are way, way too many parades.

Socialism is bad as a whole, that is not to say that any idea that is part of socialism is a bad idea. Public education was mentioned in the Communist Manifesto. So was the political equality of women. The fact that these ideas were held by people whose system as a whole was flawed does not mean that they are inherently without value.

If a politician raises taxes on the upper class or promotes government funding for any kind of social program, then they are automatically labeled as a socialist, with all of the negative connotations that word carries with it. It's a way of saying "Since politician x's view on topic y is the same as socialism's view on topic y, politician x is the same as socialism, which we know doesn't work."

FDR had many ideas about the common good and the role of government that were analogous to socialism. We needed that kind of thinking then. If FDR had accepted the entire socialist doctrine, then it would have been a completely different story.