You guys crack me up!
Nothing like discussing the elements of Sssssocialism as compared to capitalism and everything else. Sheesh! Hey everybody! Here's the deal from my end (try reading this as if narrated by Eric Idle):
Capitalism is essentially an institutionalised extention of natural law. Money (be it colored pieces of paper or shiny metal objects) are a means to an end, and only serve as a universal source of worth (you know, so we don't have to keep trading goats and all that anymore). Granted, such a "dog eat cat eat mouse" system DOES kinda suck if you are the mouse, but what do you expect? Nature did this billions of years ago, we just gave it a name.
Regardless, capitalism IS as good as it gets, being that it is based upon value and worth, be it what you already have or what you are able to acquire and/or develop (hence going to school to learn photography, film making, accounting, medicine, etc. so one can get ye high-paying career and get laid by beautiful ladies even if one looks like Russ Meyer).
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Socialism (and every variant thereof: communism, feudalism, etc) are only as good as the homo sapiens who guide/control the belief. Hence, it is only a matter of time before said systems collapse in on their own weight or become uber-corrupt (ie: like the Romans), due to the lack of accountability and self-imposed morality. Either the morality becomes too high, thus Jihads and Crusades and mass exterminations... er, cleansings, or the morality itself becomes an enemy and thus the society becomes self-serving and animalistic, whereupon you have crusades against the crusaders and mass exterm... er, cleansings once again (ie: again, the Romans).
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It all comes down to ANIMAL NATURE (or what Christians would call "original sin"... so yes, even Christians acknowledge evolution in a roundabout way) versus HUMAN THOUGHT.
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Socialists always LUV to spout such platitudes such as "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one", or "steal from the rich to give to the poor". Okay, fair enough. But who is going to DEFINE the words in these arguments, much less the arguments themselves? What "needs" need to be taken from the one to benefit the many? Just who are the rich, and who are the poor? And who in bloody hell is going to be the %@^^#@@ to decide who is who and do the stealing? Isn't it always interesting that the middle man/woman doing the stealing and giving SOME (if any) of what they stole to the poor are usually pretty damn rich themselves (John Kerry AND George Bush.. hell, ALL of them for that matter)?
This is why Socialism always fails. Sooner or later animal nature WILL get the better of anyone who has damn near omnipotent power without any limits other than what they impose on themselves. Being that most people are inherently selfish (hence their hatred for Capitalism UNTIL they win the lottery that is), the poor will naturally flock towards socialism because they have nothing to lose, and the rich will flock towards socialism (as well as the high minded) because they see it as a means of controlling the poor and keep them from using the same methods THEY used to become rich (hence, Ben Affleck knocks down Harrison Ford, who knocks down Charlton Heston, who knocks down Tyrone Power). In other words: cut through the BS high-mindedness, and it all comes down to SELF-PRESERVATION.
(a good example of this are movies like THE FAMILY MAN, SWEET HOME ALABAMA, etc where the story is: successful middle-aged man/woman finds success soulless and has a chance to go back to their "fly-over country" roots and start anew, where family means more than money and they live happily ever after. Translation: all you po-dunk *beep* have it good changing tires, etc. and Hollywood/ Wall Street isn't what it is cracked up to be so STAY WHERE YOU ARE BECAUSE YOU DON'T REALIZE JUST HOW GOOD YOU GOT IT. Awwww, how sweet).
Most Socialist states revolve around freedom of pleasure and freedom from pain, hence "free healthcare", "complete privacy of drug/sex/video game use", "free food", "free room and board", etc (you know, benevolent NAZIsm.. like STAR TREK - dig those red and black uniforms!). Problem is: NONE OF IT IS FREE! Everything always has a price, and if you aren't paying for it, then someone else is. And this is even before anyone begins to QUESTION anything. That is when the fun begins, isn't it my fellow Socialists?
Say what you will, such fights over "the Fifteen (CRASH)... Ten..Ten Commandments" and "the Pledge of Allegiance" aren't really over these things being "offensive" now is it? How can GOD be offensive, whether you believe in such a being or not (you know, human face given to sum-total of GOODNESS... you know, as in NOT EVIL)? It seems to me that it is competition itself that disturbs socialists, especially when one competes/questions socialism itself. I mean, if you're all going to get this upset over something that has been a part of the US culture for 50 years or longer with no visibly negative side effect AND something so insignificant as the TEN (not 10,000) commandments and pledge of allegiance, then one can only imagine what socialists would do to someone who REFUSED to pay taxes to a corrupt socialist government (being that taxes aren't exactly a CAPITALIST idea, you know).
Oh, wait a minute.. we DO know what you do. You put those people in jail. So much for freedom of choice and all that.
So dare to dream, my fellow socialites. Such a system will never work as long as we are made of flesh and blood.
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now computers on the other hand....