Comments on: The failed wisdom of the founding fathers.

By: Playin' Possum

Playin' Possum — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:23:03 +0000

I’m not sure what true socialist is… Something like a christian state?

I think capitalist states supplant socialist ones by sheer cutthroat competitiveness… Then crash due to greed.

What a lovely cycle!

By: Aurelius

Aurelius — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:57:01 +0000

As to the point of "socialsim is democracy";
Surprise, surprise, I actually agree with you, up to a point. A true Socialist system must be democratic in order to function.
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, a true Socialist state is unlikely in the extreme to exist in nature for any length of time. It will implode upon itself, or become it’s antithesis.

By: Playin' Possum

Playin' Possum — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:34:02 +0000

And the 16th… Very sensible in the main. Of course socialism is democracy - and the more democratic we become, the more freedom we will lose.

And let’s not forget "we" weren’t supposed to have a standing army. Until the 16th amendment goes, there will be no check on the warmongers and Imperialists.

Unfortunately I think "we" are to entangled to go back. Every Federal gerrymander has resulted in huge unexpected downsides. Look at another example - health care. Cherry picking what is and isn’t taxable really started the mess rolling. Allowing business to provide untaxed benefits had the same effect as a subsidy, which is always infaltionary. The very existence of the nontaxed benefit created today’s mess where the only way out is probably universal, Federally backed health care. It created the mess by dividing the marketplace along "class" lines, giving some far more than they need and preventing others from getting anything. Today, even if you have money, you can’t buy the same care for the same price that these "entities" can buy it for. And the entities were built out of money that was discriminatorily non-taxed.

Go back? I don’t think so. Americans aren’t brave enough to be that free.