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Clinton pounded the unions with Nafta. *crickets*
LMAO "demonizing unions" oh please and the democrats voted in favor of most of Bush's actions so thanks for nothing.
Turning a blind eye to the ones that helped cause all of the harm for political reasons is just slapping the shackles on your wrists while whistling and smiling. There is very little difference between the two political parties.
That's what the video is all about. Did you somehow miss that part?
Historically, people were not considered to be equal. There were the elite and the peasants. When this country was created that view of humanity was rejected and the country was founded on the principal the all men are created equal, that concept requires economic justice. In America it is not inevitable that the middle class will disappear, it is inevitable that the policies that have endangered the middle class will. Remember what happened in France when the elite class became too greedy. It was them who became expendable.
Even more recent and extreme examples would include the "Cultural Revolution" in China and the "Killing Fields" in Cambodia. I think people these days are becoming less accepting of these kinds of wealth disparities and elite abuses of power, particularly if they see the system as being "rigged" and unfair...
Yeah, but.... peasants didn't have it all bad. In a lot of ways they were the middle class, because there were people that were well and truly poor -- and they were beggars. And their feudal overlords had to take care of them, too -- they all worked together for the good of everyone.
Especially look to the times after the Black Death (1350).... that killed off so many people that a great numnber of the craftsmen and farmers that were left managed to amass small fortunes, and became landed gentry.
So I think there will always be a middle class. It might not be the middle class of the 1950's and 60's, but it will be there...
As I look at things from a broad historical perspective it seems to me that for the vast majority of history (since the birth of civilization, anyway), human social dynamics have almost always given us dramatic disparity of wealth between the few super-rich and the vast unwashed masses barely scraping by beneath them.
Yes, but the environment we evolved in was rather egalitarian.
Anyhow, although wealth was a bit better distributed between WW2 and today I think its inaccurate to suggest that social climate was much different. The top 1% or so have always owned a disproportionate share of the wealth, it has not changed that much over the last 100 years or so:
The cries about the "end of the middle-class" are largely an illusion, the people that cry the loudest are often displaced workers that failed to adapt to a changing economy.
Once again, you're morally adjudicating the very inequality you are pointing out to be a mere happenstance of life. Inequity can't be a happenstance of life AND a moral character flaw on the part of the losers at the same time. You can't have the cake and eat it too. You're simply advocating for the moral absolution of the "aggressives" in capitalizing over the dispossessed and then subjecting the losers to the moral condemnation that their lot in life is righteous not because of happenstance but because they "didn't work hard enough". Enough already. You're anti-egalitarian, noted. I won't weep when the disparity in income and opportunity becomes so great in this country that it turns into present day Colombia. Watch the movie "Man on Fire" (2004 rendition, though the 1987 rendition does have its parallels) for the logical mathematical limit to your advocacy of "it is what it is" will bring to your own cul-de-sac. Man is not an island. You have to feed your neighbor, or he becomes your enemy. A law of words written on a piece of paper won't save your life.
So this is how communism has come to have killed 100 million people; adopting a mentality of theft vs. death. I'm glad I live in a society where those aren't the only two choices.
So this is how communism has come to have killed 100 million people; adopting a mentality of theft vs. death. I'm glad I live in a society where those aren't the only two choices.
Communism didnt kill anyone, nor does it advocate the deaths of anyone or the suppression of free will.
By the way, you do live in a society like that, you just havent realized it because the US has an extensive social safety net pulling along people who otherwise would have cut your throat to eat.
Communism didnt kill anyone, nor does it advocate the deaths of anyone or the suppression of free will.
oh right, not communism itself, just the dictators that forced the idea on their people
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By the way, you do live in a society like that, you just havent realized it because the US has an extensive social safety net pulling along people who otherwise would have cut your throat to eat.
I like to think that the justice system also has a little bit to do with more people not resorting to muggings to get by.
oh right, not communism itself, just the dictators that forced the idea on their people
First thing, communism cannot be forced top down, second thing, "communism" is not what was historically forced.
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Originally Posted by Vinsanity
I like to think that the justice system also has a little bit to do with more people not resorting to muggings to get by.
If a person is starving, they are not afraid of being arrested, I can promise you that.
31.5 million people on food stamps.....800k law enforcement personel, with about 3/4 of those uniformed officers. Think about that. They needed the national guard to control the looting in 1992 in LA and after Katrina in New Orleans.
First thing, communism cannot be forced top down, second thing, "communism" is not what was historically forced.
So what were Stalin, Castro, Mao, and Kim Jong Il missing that would have otherwise made communism a utopia?
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If a person is starving, they are not afraid of being arrested, I can promise you that.
because they can just get caught on camera holding up a liquor store, and get hauled off to jail where they can get free food and shelter, that's why they're not afraid of being arrested.
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31.5 million people on food stamps.....800k law enforcement personel, with about 3/4 of those uniformed officers. Think about that. They needed the national guard to control the looting in 1992 in LA and after Katrina in New Orleans.
do you really want to speculate how many of the 31.5 million people would actually turn into violent criminals if they don't get any more handouts?
surrendering our economic freedom to become a welfare state out of fear that the bad man is going to rob us is no way to live. It just sends the message to all the would-be criminals out there that they can just bully their way through life, because people are too afraid to stand up for themselves. Giving them harsh consequences to face if they rob an innocent person sends out a message that that type of behavior isn't tolerated.
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