The Conservative pundits like to refer to anyone who doesn’t agree with them as socialist or communist but they have no real idea what those concepts mean. The time has come to educate them. The Occupy protests got close to proffering this solution, but they couldn’t quite bring themselves to suggest it and unify behind it, so dirty and evil has that word and that concept become. It’s time to proudly reclaim some terms as out own.
Liberal is a badge honor, not a swear word and not something to shy away from or to be ashamed of. Gandhi was a liberal. Jesus was a Liberal. Mother Teresa was a liberal. Martin Luther King was a liberal. Abraham Lincoln was a liberal. Thomas Jefferson was a liberal. Even George Washington was a liberal. You can be in no better company than in the company of a liberal.
These are people who fought for our freedom and the freedom of mankind. They fought the status quo, the establishment. They believed in the power of freedom and that so long as any of us are oppressed by tyranny and tyrants none of us can truly be free. Capitalism, in its current form, has become tyrannical an unyielding. Conservative is the curse word. Conservatives are the oppressors. Conservatives want to conserve freedom for themselves and enslavement for you. They don’t even see that by sponsoring legislation and actions that limit the freedoms of others, those same laws will be used against them when the tides change and pendulum swings back - as it always does.
Pure, unregulated capitalism is unhealthy to society. Without social constraints the wealthy and powerful become ever more so. The very nature of capitalism is to seek the maximum personal or corporate reward, regardless of the community, environmental or societal costs. This is not a fault of capitalism, but of those who tell you the answer to everything is to allow it to run amuck. Capitalism is a soulless economic construct. It cares not if you or your children live or die, if roads get built, if sewers get cleaned, if schools get built, if books get written, the hungry get fed, or the sick get cared for. In fact, a pure capitalist society, without any checks or balances, would actively seek to starve or slay anyone that doesn’t add one more penny to your bottom line.
Government and social welfare functions were never meant to be handled by the for profit sector as their missions are intrinsically incompatible. When you are looking to cut costs and maximize profit, the best way to do so is to deny services or eliminate those needing the services.
Whether you realize it or not, you life is filled with regulations that allow you to live and thrive. We all need water to live but we must also regulate the amount of water we take in and where we take it in. If we allow water to go wherever it wants and it enters our lungs we drown. If we drink too little water we die of thirst. If we drink too much we get water poisoning and can even explode.
The next time someone tells you all regulations need to be eliminated and you believe them, try a little experiment for me. Take a water hose and put it in your mouth. Turn it on and drink. Don’t stop. Ever. Trust me. It will be for the best.
Unregulated water. Drink up!
jamesroom964x
June 16, 2012
A very well written post, thanks. I think you’re right, that Socialism and god-forbid, communism, get thrown around as smear words by most conservative, when they see any type of leftist, or even centrist policy. It’s funny for me to see the Obama administration, which I would describe as left-of-center, denounced as socialist. I think you’re right too, that capitalism is essentially unconcerned with people’s welfare. I don’t think this necessarily makes it a completely “bad,” system, but it does what it’s meant to do, maximize profit. Expecting capitalism to contribute to the greater social good is like expecting your dog to serve you breakfast in bed. It simply was not designed to do it.
crazycrawfish
June 18, 2012
Capitalism is clearnly running amuck in the US and that, in turn, is infecting the entire world with our diseased and mutated brand of it. Additionally, and ironically, we taking on all the worst traits of all our “enemies.” We are going to have the lack of oversight over our capitalist structure that leads to lead in Chinese toys and posions in toothpaste and baby formula. We are going to have the military first, screw education and the welfare of our citizenry mindset of North Korea. Fox news is creating a fascist totalitarian propaganda driven political machine like that of Russia and we are topping this whole screwed set of systems off with some good ole’ fashioned the religious zealotry – although Christian rather than Muslim – not unlike Iran.
I guess we’re trying to beat them at their own games, all at once. Go USA!
fatherkane
June 19, 2012
Reblogged this on The Last Of The Millenniums and commented:
I love the ‘experiment’ at the end. (GRINS!)
crazycrawfish
June 20, 2012
Thanks! And I appreciate the reblogging. Though my followers are few they are very wise and thoughtful. Still. . . I can always use a little help to get the word out.
tomkatcal
July 4, 2012
This goes at it from a different angle than mine, but we’re definitely on the same page. I consider myself a centrist, but to hear the far right talk, I’m a blood-red Commie! LOL! Great Post.
crazycrawfish
July 4, 2012
Thanks! I used to consider myself a “centrist” out of shame for being labled one of those ignorant, unreasonble liberals. I think liberals got a bad rap over the years. Liberals, on the whole (not me perhaps
), are generally more educated and more reasonable and willing to compromise – which is why we’ve been screwed by the uncompromising jerks on the other side. Time to change the narrative! Thanks for stopping by.
tomkatcal
July 5, 2012
I do admit I have some liberal leanings on a number of issues, but voting-wise, I’m still an NPA, as we say in Fla. (No Party Affiliate). As to your comment about liberals being more willing to compromise….I just finished a fascinating book by Chris Mooney, called “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why they Deny Science — And Reality.” Amazon has it in both hard copy and as a Kindle download. I was rather skeptical when I started it, but the research and basis for the conclusion(s) is astounding. I learned so much, and had so much confirmed for me. I highly recommend it, if you have the time and are so inclined. Also very entertaining.
thatmrgguy
July 7, 2012
Hate to burst your bubble here but Capitalism is the reason you are able to put your thoughts out on the internet for everyone to read. Capitalism is the reason you’re still not driving a horse and buggy around or able to fly from New Orleans to Paris in a few hours instead of weeks. Capitalism and the profits derived from it are the reason we have so many things that make life so much easier than it once was. If not for the Capitalist reinvesting their profit back into their businesses, you and others like you probably wouldn’t have a job, unless of course, you’re one of those people who work for government and live off of the largess provided by the American taxpayer.
Your socialist utopia that y’all keep promoting is a bad dream and will only lead to everyone living just as miserably while a select few live in luxury as the leaders. One only has to look back at the failed communist experience to see how that worked out. And believe me, just because you think you can make it work better doesn’t make it so. Socialism in any of it’s many forms has always and will always fail.
crazycrawfish
July 7, 2012
I’m pretty sure the even North Korea, which is about as poor and un-capitalist as you can get, has the internet. The reason I can put my thoughts out in the public domain is a little thing called the First Amendment, which last time i checked, did not mention anything about capitalism in it. Most countries of all government types and economic structures have access to cars and planes, so not sure what you’ve been smoking, but it must be good.
What was also new information for me was that only unregulated Capitalism based economies have jobs. I guess I did learn something from your response!
Your Capitalist utopia that y’all keep promoting is a bad dream and will only lead to everyone living just as miserably while a select few live in luxury as the leaders. (I know i stole most of that from you, but your must have made a typo.)
By the way, I know you get all your facts from Rush and Fox news and all, but Communism and Socialism are not the same thing. I know those terms get overused a lot so who really knows what they mean in a practical sense, but I was not suggesting we do away with our Constitution, Bill of Rights or Amendments. Believe it or not, you can have those and Socialized medicine and maybe some decent regulations on political spending, and energy policy, not allow companies take unlimited toxic dumps in our public waterways, and still be a free society. I might even submit that some sensible controls on shared resources would make us freer, but you seem to be an anarchist so I probably won’t make much headway there.
I don’t have to just “believe” Socialism will work; it already has and continues to work. Socialist states are some of the most prosperous based on public health, education, employment, upward mobility, etc.
All governments have some aspect that could be called Socialism. At one end of the spectrum you have Anarchy, with unregulated capitalism a nearby relative, at another end you have a commune based society without money where people give what they can and take what they need. Close to that is Communism. However the economic and governmental systems have been getting all mixed and jumbled. I am not in favor of a completely planned and controlled economy and government designated roles for all citizens. What fun would that be to live in? I am in favor of basic human rights and services being provided like food, shelter, education and healthcare.
Right now the untra extranational capitalists are hollowing us out, keeping us unhealthy, uneducated and homeless. We have one of the highest poverty rates of developed countries as well as one of the lowest education levels and an obesity epidemic and lack of access to basic healthcare that is lowering our life expectancy and productivity. We are becoming like Mexico. We’ll have a few Carlos Slims, and everyone else will be trying to flee to Canada because of the extreme poverty and lack of employment opportunities.
thatmrgguy
July 7, 2012
Don’t be obtuse dude. You know exactly what I was talking about. Capitalists are the ones who took the risk of going into business, getting investors, inventing, innovating and putting the product out there for us to buy…or not. For risk, there should be a reward, right?
As far as Capitalists not wanting any regulation at all, well, that’s just absurd. We just have too much regulation that stifles growth and investment. We have an out of control, unelected bureaucracy that seems to enjoy making businesses and people’s lives miserable by writing asinine regulations that don’t make any sense and that people don’t even know exists until some self important government busybody slaps them with a fine and shuts their business down
And ObamaCare…it’s already projected to cost three times it’s original estimate and it hasn’t even taken effect yet. If ObamaCare is going to be so good, why aren’t the President, Congress and Senators in the plan? They have an exemption, as do the Unions and other favored constituencies.
The free market will work with healthcare, but people become so enamored with their insurance that they don’t consider or even ask how much their healthcare costs. If people asked more questions, they would realize that they were getting scammed. I ask questions…that’s why when I need a CT scan or X-Ray, I don’t use the hospital. They charge over Two Grand for a CT scan plus an extra $400 fee for the technician to read it. I can go across the street to an Imaging Center,( That’s a for profit enterprise.), and get the same treatment for $ 500 bucks inclusive* plus a ten percent discount for paying at time of service instead of making payments, which they will set up for you if you don’t have the money right then.
* that means the scan and interpretation are included in one price.
crazycrawfish
July 8, 2012
I’m not talking about traditional business owners and entrepreneurs. I’m all about awarding them silly. What we have is an entrenched rich class, our elite, our nobility, that doesn’t actually do anything but front money to real entrepreneurs and live off their hard work. They pay taxes at 15% or less (like prince Romney) while people that actually had to work for a living and didn’t inherit daddy’s wealth pay tax rates in the 40% or more range.
Does that seem fair to you?
I’m talking about bankers who get bailouts from us, lend our own money back to us and pay obscene bonuses to themselves while gambling our money and futures in an unregulated casino where a single investor at JP Morgan can lodge a 100 trillion dollars in bets backed by their investors’ money as collateral. Groups that are so intertwined we have to bail them out or face collapse of our entire financial system and yet still refuse to be regulated. MF Global lost billions of dollars in its investors’ money, but Corzine walks away scott free and laden with gold? If they win, we lose, if they lose we lose and they win? How is that fair or of a capitalist nature? Everyone can see their rewards, but their risk? Its republicans that are protecting banks from regulations that are necessary to keep the entire world economy from collapsing and republicans that killed Glass Stegal which was implemented after the Great Depression to stop the types of behavior that lead to our Great Recession and soon to be second Great Depression.
Regulations make the environment safer and sustainable, and actually create jobs. My stepfather is a chemical engineer working on all sorts of projects for plants to bring them up to code . . . plants that would otherwise never upgrade and cause great damage to their environments and deaths to the employees that work in them. These upgrades due to regulations actually usually save the plants money in the long run due to fewer lawsuits and improved process efficiency. Without regulators you have short sighted people running these places into the ground trying to get their next annual bonus, not considering environmental costs we have to bear, or loss of life and limb many of their employees have to bear. Your too much regulation mantra is an oversimplification. What i see is too little regulation causing much of the grief in our country and world, and regulations causing more jobs, and growth opportunities, not less. The only people who hate regulations are the Romneys and Bain capitals that want to take over operations, squeeze them for every bit of profit that can be had, and cast them off after ladening their balance sheets down with debt. They pocket the loans as management fees, and you and i eat the costs of those loans in higher interest rates and bank bailouts.
As for Obama Care please provide some references to your statements. I’m not wedded to Obama care, but every rumor I’ve heard to date I’ve found to be false upon researching which makes me suspicious of such claims. I tried to find refs to your statements but could find nothing that matched up. Maybe you are using some ConseraGoogle, or wackaGoogle? I found a Conservapedia, hilarious that BTW. Found plenty of omissions that immediately but still didn’t see those statements.
As for your healthcare anecdote its almost not worth even trying to address the absurdity of what you’re suggesting. But then that could probably be said for most of you comments which hasn’t stopped me yet. What would you have done if you had cancer? Or perhaps a serious accident where you couldn’t shop around for an x-ray discount super center? If you end up owing millions more for operations and procedures the rest of us have to pick up your tab, or maybe we just leave you and all the cancer patients and accident victims to die on the streets? Works for me, but I ain’t cleaning up those messes. A shame you don’t value public servants in your utopia, we probably don’t actually have streets anymore, or electricity, or plumbing, sewers, medicines, etc. But at least you have your freedom . . . to die in your thatched hut of a simple virus no one will ever treat you for . . . even if they could get to you.
thatmrgguy
July 8, 2012
Someone has to lend money to entrepreneurs and business owners. Don’t they deserve some reward for their risk? Interest rates right now are effectively at zero percent. In fact, in Denmark, the interest rate is at Zero and the rate at which banks pay interest on savings is at less than zero percent. That means if you were to be stupid enough to put money in one of their banks, you’d have to pay instead of being paid for allowing the bank to use your money. I should mention that Denmark is one of those Democratic Socialist utopias you’re so enamored with.
I was wrong…O-Care will create jobs…about 15,000 jobs in government service as they hire more IRS agents to implement and collect the new taxes and or penalties instituted by O-Care.
People should shop around for their healthcare if they are able. But most don’t, just go to the nearest doctor or hospital and use their insurance to pay the bill not caring how much it’s costing them because…hey, the insurance is paying for it.
I’ve never advocated for Utopia. That’s an invention of the Liberal mind as far back as Plato. In government, less is more as far as I’m concerned. The problem is more and more people are becoming dependent on government every month. We can thank a Liberal for that. Remember LBJ’s great society? That pogrom expanded people’s dependence on government and lessened their reliance on personal responsibility. You know…I dropped out of high school and don’t have an education so I’ll jus’ run down to the county office and apply for welfare, food stamps and section eight housing. Aint life grand? And that has been perpetuated through generation after generation. Grandma’s on welfare, Momma’s on welfare, I’m on welfare and jus’ soon as I kin git my 14 yr old lil girl preggers, she’ll be on welfare too. Liberals want to continue that cycle of dependence on government. Conservatives would like to break that cycle and give these people a hand up instead of a hand out. By the way, there are more White people on welfare than Black people, so don’t be calling me racist…unless that’s all you got.
crazycrawfish
July 8, 2012
Of course someone has to lend money to startups. That’s what banks should be doing instead of running an international casino with our checkbooks, and venture capitalists do, or vulture capitalists in the case of Bain capital. They are rewarded for their risk. Are you saying their sacrifice of daddy’s money is more valuable than your blood sweat and tears? They should be taxed at a 3rd or less of your rate? You do realize that they are not taxed until they realize a gain, right? If they invest 1 million dollars in Facebook and wait 15 years to cash it out, they don’t get taxed for 15 years on all those increases, and when they do it’s at 15% or less? If they change their citizenship to Singapore they may pay 5% or less. If the conservatives get their way they will eliminate the estate tax completely as they did for one year during the bush years. Then those estates will be passed down without any taxation on any of the gains while you and I get taxes rates in the 40% or more to pay for the things these guys use. They use their largesse to bribe our public officials though unlimited campaign contributions to ensure all the wealth in our society accrues to their benefit.
I assume, based on your failure to provide anything except more unsubstantiated allegations, that you got all your “facts” about the Patient Affordability Care Act from a watercooler or talking head on the radio? Just another death panel. lol. You guys cry wolf at daisies. How do you manage to stay so keyed up all the time?
I enclosed a legit link, you might want to bone up before you make a bonehead of yourself again.
I don’t really care what you’ve advocated for. If you don’t want to take care of the poor, sick and infirm and even just people who’ve made the wrong decisions in your life you’re not a true Christian. Most Conservatives are parodies of Christians. They have the going to church part down, but they missed out on the whole judge not lest ye be judged part, the forgiveness, the sacrifice, the kindness to strangers, the good samaratinism, the healing of the sick & the lepers, the loaves to fishes etc. They feel they should tell people how to live rather than simply leading by example. They think fetuses should be saved and everyone else, including the fetuses they save, should starve. Just as “their” Jesus would have intended.
No liberal wants people locked into generational welfare. We want and believe education and healthcare (mental as well as physical.) for all will go a great way to addressing those ills as they have in other countries that have addressed those needs. Most of our homeless are untreated mentally ill, including many veterans you’ve happily discarded in your Distopia. You don’t want to give a hand up, you want to give a boot to the head. If they rise. . .eh chain ‘em to cash register or mop, if they don’t you give them the second boot for good measure. Don’t fool yourself with false fancy slogans. No one’s buying what you’re selling. You’re just another social Darwinian that probably doesn’t believe in evolution. Own it. But discard the moral high ground please. . .you’re up to your chest in BS.