Thread: A Key Question About Socialism

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

(Universal Mind)

I will never understand the Republican Party... You think they oppose authoritarian government by wanting to prioritize the military and the police and implementing discriminatory policies which remove human rights to women, LGBT people, visible minorities, those people who want to assemble and protest? Before they can claim to be for freedom, they should do the bare minimum. Is it possible you don't think these things are important for a free nation? You want a state that is all military and then you expect it to protect you? Why you? Why not itself? You are being way optimist if you think a militarized state will serve the people.

I don't at all support a militarized state. I support fighting crime by ending drug prohibition and the welfare state and by keeping major victimizers locked up. Republicans typically do not support a militarized state, though they do support drug prohibition and have majorly neglected 4th Amendment (search and seizure) problems that have been outrageous for many decades. What discriminatory policies do you think Republicans have implemented?

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

(Universal Mind)
You think taxes are theft? Do you think that government should stop being funded by taxes but increase it's dependence on those individuals that have most of the wealth (thus creating conflicts of interest), and by continuing to criminalize poverty (and making prisons a profitable business)?

I'm not on board with any of that. People who are against all taxation are generally anarchists. There are anarchist libertarians, but I am a minarchist. I am against abusive taxation and spending. We have to have a government, but it has to be funded with some degree of respect for people's property. The left doesn't feel that way. I question whether we could have a GoFundMe-funded government. We would have to stop giving military welfare to other countries and drop a lot of federal programs, most of which we don't need.

If you want to see something hilarious, use a desktop to search "united states federal agencies" on Wikipedia. When you get to the page, scroll all the way down slowly. You will see just how outrageously big the U.S. federal government is. I support some of it, but there is so much waste that it is laughable. We need the FBI, CIA, DHS, and other agencies, but not projects that spend millions of dollars testing the mating habits of blue lizards. The Postal Service could very easily be privatized, and so could a great deal of other agencies.

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

Do you work a hard 40 hours a week job that you don't like? And money gets you through it? Welcome to capitalism! I worked a hard 60 hours a week job for no money (I had a scholarship that did not reward working more hours) I worked more because I wanted to. I was privileged to have that work, the equipment, those responsibilities. I will always miss it... In the end, I stopped, like all my colleagues, because our supervisor was obsessed with profit and production. The life quality was just bad. What you describe as working capitalism is actually what destroys ambition. I now work in a big profitable business that has some "socialist" values (take this with a grain of salt) such as selling shares to its employees. We have way better life quality and my colleagues have all stayed here for 10 and above years, because it's good here. Meanwhile, I miss what I did at the other place, but I'd rather live in this environment now. Thank god.

I do work a 40-hours-a-week job. I have been on furlough lately because of the COVID-1984 craziness, but the furlough is about to end. Would I be working the job for free? Absolutely not. Do you honestly work for free? Seriously, what motivates you to work your job? Is it all about purpose, compassion, altruism, etc., or are you working the job to pay for food, utilities, and a little bit of fun? Can you get away with slacking off all the time at work?

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

Is the evil power that the democratic power gives itself is to educate and heal it's citizens? I'm sure it's better when the government gives itself the power to stop protest.

By "protest," do you mean "burning down cities, blocking traffic, and assaulting random innocent people?"

Originally Posted by Occipitalred

(Universal Mind)
I agree that we should be cautious of any party becoming totalitarian but are you really worried about a leftist movement toward totalitarianism right now? As a Canadian, I imagine the US moving left would lead to universal health care possibly eventually, like us, not toward a world where consumerism doesn't exist. I know it's tricky because the US is not Canada, but I live in the most socialist province (I heard) of Canada and we are doing fine. There is a lot to improve but we are not impoverished or under some authoritarian regime. I am very privileged.

I am very concerned about where your government is headed. "Free" healthcare took your country in a dangerous direction. Now your government gets to decide what medications fit budget concerns and whose lives are worthy of meeting budget constraints. You better hope you don't end up with a serious medical condition. You will be waiting a dangerously long time to get major procedures. You also can't count on much medical innovation. The big medical technological breakthroughs will not be happening in Canada under the current system. That expansion of government power is what led to constraints on speech. You can be arrested and jailed for using the "wrong gender pronoun." What's next? Horrible precedents have already been set because of too much government control of the people in Canada. If things do not turn around, you will most likely be living in a totalitarian police state in 20 years.