[Rhodes22-list] March of the Wooden Soldiers - Political Reply -

Wed Mar 26 15:55:39 EDT 2008

Thanks Dave,
                    If we run around putting labels on people to justify our
positions rather than rely on the objective truth we all loose.  It is no
more correct to paint those opposed the status quo as socialists than to say
we have a right wing fascist government.  Use 30's Italy and Franco's Spain
along with Hitler's Germany as yardsticks.

Chris G
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Bradley" <dwbrad at gmail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] March of the Wooden Soldiers - Political
Reply -

Herb and Ed,

With all due respect to your thoughtful posts, your consistent
characterization of the liberal half of the country as socialists is
nonsense.  Shifting the priorities and policies of the country, both
domestically and internationally, is not a change in form of
government.  It's something that generally happens every 4 or 8 years.

>From Merriam-Webster...

so·cial·ism

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating
collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means
of production and distribution of goods
2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private
property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of
production are owned and controlled by the state
3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between
capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of
goods and pay according to work done

So the oil companies are an easy target.  Wah.  They've cleaned up for
8 years.  They may have lower return on assets than less
captial-intensive businesses, but it's about earnings growth.  It's a
strategic industry - maybe they can put their windfall profits to work
on new technology.

Health Care is another strategic industry that needs to be protected
while the badly broken health care payments industry gets fixed.
Providers are being squeezed and choked because the system is wrong.
I'm not worried about socialized health care becoming the standard in
the US - it'll never happen - just don't want some large percentage of
health care dollars going into the bureacratic black hole that
currently exists.  A little regulation might be in order - will see
what they actually come up with.

None of these examples is anything close to socialism - they are the
levers of democracy and are also spelled out in the Constitution
(along with national security).

Dave

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 8:17 AM, Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com>
wrote:
> Again, I think he was speaking specifically to the advocates of the
> current candidates. But that's just me reading things in context.
>
> And, the current Democratic candidates are most definitely advocating
> socialism. When one candidate plays the populous song of taking money
> from the oil companies and giving it to causes of her choice, that's
> socialism, at its worst. The oil companies make less money per invested
> dollar than most other companies, and less money per gallon than the
> government. Of course, those facts are easy to ignore, when you want to
> pound the drum agains the "evil big companies".
>
>
> David Bradley wrote:
> > Herb, the statement, "the advocates of 'The focus is on change' should
> > move to Cuba, Russia, etc." is broadly inclusive in my interpretation.
> >  I disagree with painting anyone who believes in somthing other than
> > what he believes in as being part of an inferior philosophy and
> > couching it in quasi-historical stereotypes.  I also would like to
> > defend the use of soundbites, as I don't have as much time as some
> > others  -)
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 11:23 AM, Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com>
wrote:
> >
> >> I don't think Ed actually said "anyone"... I think he was addressing
> >> specifics of the candidates involved. With what part do you disagree
> >> with him?
> >>
> >>
> >> David Bradley wrote:
> >>
> >>> So, Ed, anyone who wants change from the current state of the union is
> >>> an "ist" of some sort?  Color me an optimist.  I'll happily take
> >>> Hillary or Barack and hope like hell we can get onto a sustainable
> >>> path in the world in which we supposedly play a leadership role.
> >>>
> >>> Dave
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 9:28 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> So the slogan is "The focus is on change", from Americanism to
Socialism.
> >>>> Yes play Robin Hood, albeit in a perverse way, that is steal from
workers to
> >>>> pay for your favorite charities.  "The focus is on change" advocates
espouse
> >>>> their "Five year Plan" as envisioned in the Soviet Empire.
Socialism,
> >>>> Communism, or the current National Democratic Party want you.  And
the
> >>>> wooden soldiers march to their drumbeat.
> >>>>
> >>>> They blame Repulicans for racism, yet have espoused the welfare state
to
> >>>> enslave not only blacks, but all.  Socialism is just individual
enslavement
> >>>> to beauracrats with the enventual destruction of a good standard of
living
> >>>> for all.  Yes, support your Marxist advocates yelling "The focus is
on
> >>>> change".
> >>>>
> >>>> As I have said before, the advocates of "The focus is on change"
should move
> >>>> to Cuba, Russia, etc.
> >>>>
> >>>> The fifth column marches its wooden soldiers on... to the drumbeat of
"The
> >>>> focus is on change".
> >>>>
> >>>> http://www.nabble.com/file/p16277595/judgement.gif judgement.gif
> >>>>
> >>>> Slim, will you post the rest of the lyrics and music for the song,
"The
> >>>> focus is on change".  And do tell us the words to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th
> >>>> stanzas...  I want to compare it to, "L'Internationale"
> >>>>
> >>>> Slim, listen here:
> >>>>
http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B000002H8C/ref=pd_krex_listen_dp_img?ie=UTF8&refTagSuffix=dp_img
> >>>>
> >>>> Ed K
> >>>> Greenville, SC, USA
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> View this message in context:
http://www.nabble.com/March-of-the-Wooden-Soldiers---Political-Reply---tp16277595p16277595.html
> >>>> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >>>>
> >>>> __________________________________________________
> >>>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> __________________________________________________
> >> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>

-- 
David Bradley
+1.206.234.3977
dwbrad at gmail.com
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