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We are always debating whether liberalism, socialism, communism, conservatism, etc., are, for lack of a better term, "the way to go". We all have opinions, and our reasons for having them, and aren't easily swayed. I've always wondered what made one person liberal and the next conservative... for me, it is a simple exercise in study of history....
We have some major ongoing problems, no doubt. Ask nearly anybody walking down the street what the "#1 issue in America is" right now and it stands to reason the answer would more often than not be "the economy". Ok, great. So, how did the "economy" become so bad? Was it liberalism? Conservatism? Communism? None of the above? Resist the urge to point fingers at Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton. That's the easy way out. The problem started long before the two of them. And even if it didn't, you'd be hard pressed to convince me the root cause of a near-collapse of an entire economy was one of two people. But not only that--let's look at the root causes of other major government failures like Social Security, "The War on Poverty", "The War on Drugs", Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, and even the US tax code. What "ideal" brought about all those disasters? How about entire nations that failed or currently fail socially? The USSR with its widespread poverty, inability of citizens to access education and resources, low standard of living, and general repression comes to mind as a fairly recent example. How about Iraq, Iran, North Korea? Are those nations that the world over would generally consider successes? No? What political viewpoints, ideals, and convention wisdom do those nations employ? What ideals do their leaders hold?
I can't help but notice any way you slice it, the common thread through all these failures is that they began under a "liberal", "progressive", "socialist", "communist", "restricted", "whatever the buzz word of the day for the movement is", regime or movement. I'd be interested to see arguments from this community on why then, our current "regime", for lack of a better word, and their "progressive" ideals are going to work this time around when it seems to me it never has in the past. Examples of socialism working in some nation, state, government program, etc. are welcome. I say my views are shaped by my historical perspective, and so I want the proof that bigger goverment, higher taxes, wealth redistribution, social engineering, etc. have worked somewhere at some time in history. Or is it that it has never worked, but current "progressives" don't see themselves has holding the same views of past failures? Maybe "progressives" don't think they are championing bigger government, higher taxes, wealth redistribution, and social engineering at all? What do progressives hold as their ideals? What do you champion if not the failures of past progressives? And if current progressive ideals aren't the same as all the progressive ideals of the failed programs and nations discussed above, how do they differ today? What ideals are fundamental to "new progressives" that will allow you to avoid all the errors of "old progressives" that lead to these epic failures?
Captain O, you present a very tough question. It seems to me that policies that are in place don't always work. Someone comes along and "tweaks" them. A small, minor change that doesn't really make it any better. Sometimes we need a radical change to a policy or completely do away with it. My favorite is the war on drugs. The budget for 2010 has increased the funding for this to over 15 billion dollars. Does anybody think it's got a chance in hell of making a difference? A new bill in Congress will have us paying other countries to not cut down trees. Do we always have to be the one to save the world? We send way too much of our tax dollars to foreign countries and governments. Bottom line, we need a new way of thinking and putting the people of these great United States first. Everyone is afraid to make a radical change. Is it simply for re-election purposes? If a policy is radically wrong then radically change it.
Captain O, you present a very tough question. It seems to me that policies that are in place don't always work. Someone comes along and "tweaks" them. A small, minor change that doesn't really make it any better. Sometimes we need a radical change to a policy or completely do away with it. My favorite is the war on drugs. The budget for 2010 has increased the funding for this to over 15 billion dollars. Does anybody think it's got a chance in hell of making a difference? A new bill in Congress will have us paying other countries to not cut down trees. Do we always have to be the one to save the world? We send way too much of our tax dollars to foreign countries and governments. Bottom line, we need a new way of thinking and putting the people of these great United States first. Everyone is afraid to make a radical change. Is it simply for re-election purposes? If a policy is radically wrong then radically change it.
I could not agree more. What has caused this logjam is the 2 party system, and career politicians in my opinion. Every politician craves power, and money. The way to achieve this and maintain it is not through serving the people but through serving the system. It matter little which party you belong to. Most people say things like if you don't like it run for office, get involved. This is a really ignorant because both parties are set up to not allow an outsider to succeed. With this type of system in place any radical change outside the framework of both parties is not allowed. That is why we just have a move from right to left every so often with little is not results that actually benefit the people rather than the 2 party system.
I could not agree more. What has caused this logjam is the 2 party system, and career politicians in my opinion. Every politician craves power, and money. The way to achieve this and maintain it is not through serving the people but through serving the system. It matter little which party you belong to. Most people say things like if you don't like it run for office, get involved. This is a really ignorant because both parties are set up to not allow an outsider to succeed. With this type of system in place any radical change outside the framework of both parties is not allowed. That is why we just have a move from right to left every so often with little is not results that actually benefit the people rather than the 2 party system.
You don't have to look any further than Europe to see that multiple-party systems have giant failures, also.
I would love to see a new third party rise from the ashes and gain momentum to shake and give a wake up call to both Dems and Repubs that American citizens own the system and not them and their corporate buddies.
Good and thoughtful thread. But not so tough to understand really. It merely takes a supreme egotist and narcissist, with an agenda, someone with a gift for gab, charismatic personality, glib, etc. to pull it off. Someone exactly like Obama. In this one's warped mind, he is going to be The One to make "progressivism" (code for marxism, socialism, communism?) work once and for all. And what a hero he will be, all hail Our Comrade! And evidently there are enough idiots to believe in him. Slick Willy had a measure of hubrus, but not nearly to the extent of this Huckster in Chief, so he did not do as much damage. Unless we wake up and stop this Sheister, he will do irreparable harm to us and the country. Simple to understand but not so easy to do, given the enormous parade of kool-aid kids on board with him. So, history keeps repeating because we keep ignoring her. Here is a poignant article describing the tragedy which has befallen a nation unawares:
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