Who will win?

[Tiberius]

...and why should people's behaviours be regulated?

[Zhalentine]

...and why should people's behaviours be regulated?

That is a personal opinion which doesn't matter, you didn't answer my question though.

[Tiberius]

Well it does matter if you want to talk about taxes. As for your question, I've taken no courses at educational establishments. I have however done my own research online, and have discussed it with economics students.

[Tiberius]

Frankly, I think it would be a good thing to hang a couple of fucking bankers and CEOs just to scare the rest of the cocksuckers straight.

...and people honestly are shocked when I tell them that Socialism leads to oppression and death? Thanks for confirming it for me.

[downbeatplumb]

Socialism is NOT about opression and death, some so called socialist regimes have been oppressive but is only because they used the promise of socialism to gain power, once in power they emulated the aristocratic regimes they replaced, (i'm thinking of China and Russia here) with the new leader becoming in effect the new tzar or emperor.
A real socialist regime has not been allowed to flower without the destructive attention of America, so it is unfair to judge what is essentially a system of government with a social conscience until such a time as its been given an uninterferred with go.
Capitalism has not had these draw backs and we can see how well they govern when given free reign, who can forget the millions of dead caused by the corrupt missmanagement of the east india company, which as a company, was purely a business and therefore capitalist venture.
Oppression death and yes taxes are an inevitable part of a capitalist system, which is geared to towards the detriment of the less able/poorest of society to the advantage of rich wankers like Paris hilton.

[Minimalist]

Frankly, I think it would be a good thing to hang a couple of fucking bankers and CEOs just to scare the rest of the cocksuckers straight.

...and people honestly are shocked when I tell them that Socialism leads to oppression and death? Thanks for confirming it for me.

Adrian, cut the bullshit. You libertarians would willingly stand by watching people starve to death in the streets so you didn't have to pay "taxes" for food stamps.


I keep waiting for you guys to provide a "model" of when this glorious idea of yours was ever tried and worked.

[Tiberius]

No we wouldn't. That's why charity plays an important and vital role in a Libertarian society. As for you wanting us to provide a "model", I'll just steal the common socialist argument (which downbeatplumb used a post earlier): Nobody has let us try it yet.

[Minimalist]

I'm going to make the assumption that you will consider the Libertarian Party.org web site to be an authoritative source for all things "libertarian?" If not, feel free to distance yourself from them.

http://www.lp.org/issues/poverty-and-welfare

We should eliminate the entire social welfare system. This includes eliminating AFDC, food stamps, subsidized housing, and all the rest. Individuals who are unable to fully support themselves and their families through the job market must, once again, learn to rely on supportive family, church, community, or private charity to bridge the gap.
2. Establish a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for contributions to private charity

If the federal government's attempt at charity has been a dismal failure, private efforts have been much more successful. America is the most generous nation on earth. We already contribute more than $125 billion annually to charity. However, as we phase out inefficient government welfare, private charities must be able to step up and fill the void.

So once again, what we see is that what the libertarians really want is a free ride. "We'll be "charitable as long as it doesn't fucking cost us anything."


As far as your second point Lenin blamed the hostility of the western powers for the fact that the state never "withered away." Everybody with an "ism" always has some half-assed excuse why their "ism" never worked. It's usually someone else's fault.

[fr0d0]

@ Adrian: So we aren't all socialists... and so need big government to impose that upon us.... (as you said in chat) but we're all charitable capitalist piggies™ by nature?

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

It was on the news here with that Scottish commentator who sounds like Mrs Doubtfire.

I was fascinated with the observation that Gordon Brown could come third and still be PM.

Do I care? Well no, not really. I stopped caring about all election results when I realised the outcome is unlikely to make any noticeable difference to my daily life.

It seems to me the aphorism "a country gets the government it deserves" is especially true of the UK, US and Australia. Here we have a centre right party which used to be The Labor Party in charge . A case of the bland leading the blind.