Hello Dachshynddawg,
I am enjoying our conversation. Thanks for talking about the subject of the conversation, instead of talking about me, calling me names, making things up, pretending I said things I didn't say, as is all too common. It is refreshing to have a discussion based on the merit of the differing philosophies. Sometimes, when I find someone who wishes to get into the reasoning behind differing philosophies, it goes to a certain point, and then out of frustration, the conversation melts down and respect is lost. That is a sad loss. I'm glad we are able to talk about this stuff on a higher level than that. I will never disparage you or call you names because you believe differently than I do. I hope we can both continue to respect that precious rare commodity, and never spoil it. Once that happens, it is lost forever. My goal is to make sure that never happens. I hope we share that goal. After all, we both want a vibrant and prosperous America. We simply have different ideas about how to make that happen. And now, we are bonded simply by both being humans on the same side, looking out for one another in a war not of our choosing, but a war just the same, with a little tiny bug.
To begin with I must provide a more comprehensive standard definition of socialism than I did earlier Here it is: Socialism is both an economic system and an ideology ( a set of fundamental political beliefs and principles) A socialist economy feature public/social and often state ownership of the means of production and organises the operation of the economy by central planning as opposed to market forces. As a political ideology, Socialism is grounded on a number of fundamental tenets, so in order to keep the post as brief as possible, I will only discuss principle which is most important and that is egalitarianism (and I will do that at the end of this post).
The state motto of New Hampshire is ""LIVE FREE OR DIE"" The FREEDOM of the rational individual to act in accordance with his (moral) duty is the supreme value; it trumps justice because justice is contingent upon liberty.
Besides, how would the "fair trader" determine what is truly fair/just ? How would a shop keeper calculate what is the FAIR PRICE to charge Mrs Smith when she wishes to purchase a pound of his pork sausages ?
The free market manages to determine fair prices for commodities very well.
No, it does not. That only happens when everybody is honest and looking out for one another in the spirit of friendship and the bonds of fellow citizenship.
The free market is all fine and well as long as everyone who participates is considerate of others. And that is ridiculously naive. It's not going to happen. There are greedy people in the free market who would sooner rip you off than sneeze.
The free market is often not free at all. It is a 'rigged market.' It is rigged by people and groups of people who are powerful enough to rig it. They have zero problem with rigging it against you. And there are as many ways to rig the market as there are ideas. Powerful greedy people are constantly coming up with new ways to rig the market.
If everybody just wanted to make an honest buck the 'free market' would be wonderful and we should just leave it alone and keep government out of it.
But we know better.
(And) a free market, capitalist economy can be relied upon to competently regulate itself MOST of the time. But, unfortunately, the system is not PERFECT; it is vulnerable to human and natural factors that can, in the worst case scenario, precipitate a destructive financial crisis. However such catastrophic financial crises as the Stock Market crash of 1929 (and the ensuing Great Depression), the Global Financial Crisis that was triggered in the US in 2008, and the havoc that the COVID19 virus pandemic could POTENTIALLY bring to bear in the US, are relatively rare.
But bad things do occur from time to time. That is why we need a big powerful government ready to come to the rescue. We, as a society, pool our resources together to create this power. We understand that society needs this from time to time. Our common social needs are dealt with using a massive centralized organization of society. At these times our government is our savior, which is why we must not hate it, but care for it, build it up, so it is strong enough to take care of us in our time of need. The last thing we need at a time like this is a minimal government.
When this kind of "shit happens", i.e; a major economic crisis/disaster strikes, having the government TEMPORARILY intervene to help treat the financial wounds that have been inflicted until they are properly healed and the market can get back up on its feet is certainly not "socialism on the march." I mean, because President Trump dispenses a financial stimulus to help a US economy that is battling the spread of a deadly virus (COVID-19), are you seriously suggesting that this means Trump is actually a socialist ?
Well, it is certainly not 'rugged individualism.'
That all the years he spent working as businessman and making lots of money were just a clever covert he used to disguise the fact that he was really a crazy Marxist, a - "Red under the bed", determined to bring down the American government , etc ?
This is the same guy who campaigned on the concept of cutting government back, making it smaller, less powerful, less able to help us in our time of need. Reduced taxes, reduced revenue, smaller government, doing less. Not what we need now!
Generally speaking, free - market capitalism in the modern-era has been a tremendously successful economic system.
Only in good times and for the most powerful.
Over the past century It has helped lift countless millions of individuals (from all over the world, in particular, from the Developing World) out of poverty and dramatically improved their prospects in all of the major domains of life activity: educational, occupational, social, etc. Likewise, in the West - let me use England as an example - life in the Victorian era was very harsh for the common, working man. The later was paid literally just a penny or two a day by his employer and in consequence, every aspect of his life was a gruelling struggle. For he and his family, there were no comforts or luxuries to be had;, purchases were strictly limited to just the bare, essential basics of: food; clothing; footwear and such like. Today, however, in the year 2020 thanks to capitalism, even a relatively lowly paid Blue-Collar worker in the West is able to buy advanced technology like: iPhones and lap-top computers; labour-saving domestic appliances such as microwave cookers and washing machines; he can also afford a reliable car or motorcycle; likewise entertainments like pop music concerts or the goods required for hobbies like, say, off-road, Mountain Bike riding or skiing or painting are affordable for use in his spare time; good , cheap food can be bought from an amazing range of restaurants, especially in America, and so on. In short, compared to his 19th - century. Victorian counterpart in England, the modern American working man of 2020 has a far, far greater quality of life. And this was all due to capitalism NOT socialism !
That is all fine and well for the working able-bodied, clear-minded citizen. But what of the sad and miserable under-advantaged bad luck case? Born under a bad sign, wrong time, wrong place, wrong circumstances? No parents, single parent, messed up, dysfunctional parent(s)?
Cross-generational poverty is not the fault of those born into it, whose parents have no solution, are unable to raise and teach their children how to be successful because success eludes THEM. For whatever reason, there are millions of Americans which have been overlooked by the wonders of capitalism. If they make it to adulthood without messing up their lives with drugs or youthful impoverished childbirth, they have no role model to show them the way. They can try to work, but are often discriminated against and find no opportunity to get ahead. Instead they are taken advantage of by ruthless greedy capitalists who use them and use them up. Ruthless greedy capitalists (not all capitalists) actually plan to exploit the under advantaged. They plan and finance businesses which depend on taking advantage of the downtrodden.
Capitalism is not a perfect, fail-proof economic system, I know that. Moreover, since 1980 the dominant economic ideology in the West has been a rapacious version of capitalism called neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism (or Market Fundamentalism) is an extreme economic doctrine which argues that the market can be trusted to competently regulate itself, and should be allowed to do so free from any intrusive government regulations. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 proved that that the theory of Neo-liberalism was profoundly flawed. Neo-liberalism is also responsible for generating the monumental income disparities that exist in the US between the so-called (super-rich/wealthy) "1%" and the average American citizen.
Because capitalism is not perfect, that is the main reason we must have a big powerful government to regulate it and to stand ready to step in when capitalism fails. We would be fools to place all of our trust, our entire economy in capitalism. Capitalism is a wonderful and powerful engine of creativity and ingenuity. But like any engine, it cannot be allowed to run at max power indefinitely or it will self-destruct. We must have a big powerful government to complement our capitalism, to stand ready when capitalism cannot deliver for us. We must have a blend of capitalism and socialism, just as we have had since the 1930's.
Our challenge is not to choose between capitalism and socialism. It is to strike the correct balance between the two. The goal is to get the best of both worlds. We want the creativity, ingenuity and freedom of capitalism, but we also want the security and reliability of socialism.
Our best economic system is a hybrid mixture of capitalism and socialism combined in the correct balance of each.
Aint his money, & giving away a trillion + of our great grandchildren's money for his reelection?? Such a small price for them/the country to pay to ensure hi sregime continues legally..
