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... Nordic nations like Finland are "intentionally designed to take into account the specific challenges of modern life and give citizens as much logistical and financial independence as possible." Through universal healthcare, affordable childcare that's capped at $300 per month, free college, and copious paid vacations, the authors have enjoyed the freedom to live their lives unencumbered by worries about a sudden large expense destroying their lives.
The only question that matters is this: Which kind of freedom is most important to you? The freedom for corporations to avoid taxes by lobbying to change the tax code, or the freedom for you to start a new career in your 40s? The freedom to deregulate pollution or the freedom to take a paid vacation? When you decide that the goal of your economy is to create more happiness for everyone rather than to optimize shareholder value, it's amazing to see how your definition of freedom can change for the better.
Last edited by ilovelondon; 02-19-2020 at 11:33 AM..
Yep, that is the right wing messaging in a nutshell...gotta watch out for that slippery slope. Universal health care today, Auschwitz or the gulag tomorrow.
We do indeed. We only need to look to Venezuela to see how that slippery slope can lead to starvation and misery.
Thankfully, we have the 2nd to protect us from going down that road.
I think that by now it's been going on for something like a hundred years. And it still works on some people, although Bernie has diminished the fear a bit.
Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of "socialism." When Medicare was first proposed, Ronald Reagan called it "socialized medicine," and he declared that it would destroy our freedom. These days, if you call for something like universal child care, conservatives accuse you of wanting to turn America into the Soviet Union. It's a smarmy, dishonest political strategy, but it's hard to deny that it has sometimes been effective.
Yep. Standard operating procedure for the last 100 years. And the gullible public falls for it every time. It’s one of the reasons that we Americans have a lower quality of life than most other first world countries. The fruit of our labor goes mostly to the top 0.1%.
I think that by now it's been going on for something like a hundred years. And it still works on some people, although Bernie has diminished the fear a bit.
Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of "socialism." When Medicare was first proposed, Ronald Reagan called it "socialized medicine," and he declared that it would destroy our freedom. These days, if you call for something like universal child care, conservatives accuse you of wanting to turn America into the Soviet Union. It's a smarmy, dishonest political strategy, but it's hard to deny that it has sometimes been effective.
Huh? If you choose to come out and stop lying, you'll find it's also DEMOCRATS that have been throwing those labels around and some even choose to wear it proudly... Lol, dumb liberals....
As I thought I made clear, the "tagging" began long before Sanders.
And, by the way, socialist leaning countries like Denmark and Finland aren't starving or miserable, as far as I know. In fact, I think Finland was considered that happiest of all countries.
And with many attempts at socialism around the world you would think you would be clear that socialism does cause misery for the many and riches for a very small few.
And you are allowing politicians and the media with an agenda to educate you (it's all roses right lol ). BIG MISTAKE. Google is your friend.
Nobody on the left...except some extremist loonies on the fringe...wants a system anything like the Soviet Union had. Nice straw man argument.
No system is perfect so gov't will try to fix it. Socialism becomes communism. It's a given. Put some serious thought into before buying the pie in the sky utopia.
Gov't always breaks it then promises to fix it and further down the rabbit hole to communism you go.
Nobody on the left...except some extremist loonies on the fringe...wants a system anything like the Soviet Union had. Nice straw man argument.
Sanders ventured to the land of America’s No. 1 enemy Russia in the midst of the Cold War, the idealism that fueled his journey. He refers to the trip sarcastically as "quiet and romantic. "After receiving a rundown of central planning, Soviet-style, from Yaroslavl’s mayor, Sanders notes how the quality of both housing and health care in America appeared to be ‘significantly better’ than in the communist state. ‘However,’ he added, ‘the cost of both services is much higher in the United States.’ "
You get what you pay for ^^^
Sanders, said Americans dismissed socialist and communist regimes because they didn’t understand the poverty faced by many in Third World countries. “The American people, many of us, are intellectually lazy.
Yep. Standard operating procedure for the last 100 years. And the gullible public falls for it every time. It’s one of the reasons that we Americans have a lower quality of life than most other first world countries. The fruit of our labor goes mostly to the top 0.1%.
Religion is the hand that rocks the cradle of this sort of thing. American religion has a deep seated bias towards economic conservativism as a consequence of its magical, anti-scientific worldview.
He advocates social democratic, FDR-style policies like stronger labor unions, a national health care system and higher SS benefits. The vast majority of conservative parties in the rest of the developed world support Sanders' policies. He calls it democratic socialism. Its a very far cry from actual socialism where workers own the means of production.
Does Sanders advocate all private property to be confiscated? No. Only the silly people are actually afraid of Sanders' "dangerous socialism" and believe starvation is next. Its totally nuts.
Yep. Views like the one you replied to are why I don't listen to my old favorite afternoon drive time news. They cut a rather moderate person and replaced him with a "Gah socialism." Type, Chad Benson. I wasn't the only one not listening.
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). BIG MISTAKE. Google is your friend.
