[ExI] Be nice to leftists

[spike]

>. On Behalf Of Omar Rahman
.

 

>.I can see the positive potential in well regulated capitalism, can you see
this negative potential in unregulated capitalism?

 

Ja.  The real problem is that the term regulation assumes government
intervention, and all governments are for sale.  Humans have never invented
a form of government that was anything other than Plutocracies in various
disguises, completely without exception.  Marx theorized a hypothetical
alternative.  Humanity experimented with his notions at enormous cost in
human suffering.  We should go ahead and rip away the masks; recognize that
all governments everywhere run on gold, at every level everywhere and
everywhen.  It's the most universal truth of human behavior.  All efforts to
defeat that observation have merely reinforced it.

 

>. A lot of 'western' thought is influenced by Calvinist/protestant thought
which basically states that financial or worldly success is a tangible sign
of 'God's blessing'. 

 

Hmmm, Calvinism.  From my own view, religions are equivalent in that they
are superstitions.  They seem to have vastly differing impacts on the
societies which embrace them.  For instance, animism is dominant in places
like Haiti, I forget what they call that religion that is popular in places
like Sudan, Afghanistan, Middle East in general, Buddhism in Japan,
Catholicism in most of South America, a loose-fitting form of Calvinism has
shaped North American and Europe in general, definitely the USA.  

 

Of those, assuming you don't embrace the superstition but must live in a
society shaped by those religions, which do you choose?  I would choose to
live among Calvin's mind-children.  The Mormons make good neighbors, as do
the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, etc.  They tend to
have small well-fed and well educated families, they keep their yards clean
and their houses neat, they keep their children home at night.  Buddhists
would be OK too, ending at mostly the same place from a different path.  If
societies are shaped by their superstitions, which do you choose?

 

>.Does money have any moral value in itself?...

 

 

Calvin's legacy is to have societies that value having money in the hands of
good guys rather than in the hands of bad guys.

 

>.Spike, to pretend that violence in Chicago is linked positively with
stricter gun registration is ludicrous. Ever heard of a guy named Al Capone?
That was significantly before Chicago's attempts to control gun ownership.
Also, at no point were all guns completely illegal in Chicago. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Illinois )

 

Al Capone is an example of what happens when governments are corrupt.  The
city government of Chicago and even the state of Illinois has been corrupt
since the days of Al Capone.  Of the last seven Illinois governors, four
have served time for corruption.  Capone was in bed with the politicians.
He is a perfect example of bad guys with money and bad guys with political
power.

 

>.For the record I am a 2nd amendment supporter as stated in the
constitution.

 

Me too.  More guns equals less gun crime.  Bad guys get shot.

 

>. This is not an unfettered right as many supreme court decisions have made
clear. The framers intention was to provide the population with the legal
framework to form militias capable of resisting the state if a tyranny
should form. Capitalism is fully able to form a tyranny, please refer to the
history of the East India Company for one (but not the only) example. Best
regards, Omar Rahman

 

Agreed with part of it.  The big difference is companies cannot force you to
buy its products.  The federal government can.  It is doing it now, with the
"affordable" heath care act.  It is compelling its citizens to buy a product
under threat of penalty from the IRS.  

 

We had a case where 2000 pages of legislation passed into law with very
little senate debate against the unanimous will of one of the political
parties, then enforcement of the will of the other major party was put in
the hands of the national tax collection agency, which has few or no
constitutional limits on its power.  This enforcement power was immediately
shown to be corrupt: an IRS chief suppressed a political party, then
testified before congress that she had done nothing illegal, then took the
fifth amendment right to not incriminate herself.  Those two positions are
contradictory; it was given in testimony before congress under oath, lying
under oath is a felony, so the USA now has a pre-conviction felon who was in
charge of enforcing the will of one of the two major political parties
against the will of the other.  How do you suppose this is going to end?

 

Conclusion: better to have corporations with the power of wealth; if they
are evil, you buy from their competitors.  If their competitors are evil,
you give up cola for coffee.

 

Capitalism is the way.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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