Yes it is a deep shame that America "The Land of the Free" has so much rent seeking going on and the non-stop creation of additional barriers of entry through governmental crony capitalism. The sad/funny story is that cartels and monopolies typically form because of government as opposed to free enterprise.Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Is this thread supposed to be about the failures of socialism or governments? Since it's already been noted that "pure" capitalism doesn't exist in practice, and democracies are a mix of regulated capitalism plus some degree of social welfare....sounds to me like you should be complaining about campaign financing, and a dysfunctional two-party system dominating the US.
It's one thing to critique policies or corruption in Venezuela, but as Timbuk said -- boiling it down to SSSocialism vs Capitalism (or Freee Enterprise) is too simplistic. Can you say the US has 'shameful' rent-seeking and entry barriers without admitting our political process operates like a cartel/monopoly?
It requires a ton of money to run for elected office in "The Land of the Free". Since money is speech and "Corporations are People", it's no surprise that every candidate has a wealthy Party, Super Pac, or a billionaire or two financing their campaigns. But Shame on the US didn't sound like a good thread title, huh.
Since I'm in favor of free speech I wouldn't be in favor of restrictions on political speech.Is this thread supposed to be about the failures of socialism or governments? Since it's already been noted that "pure" capitalism doesn't exist in practice, and democracies are a mix of regulated capitalism plus some degree of social welfare....sounds to me like you should be complaining about campaign financing, and a dysfunctional two-party system dominating the US.
It's one thing to critique policies or corruption in Venezuela, but as Timbuk said -- boiling it down to SSSocialism vs Capitalism (or Freee Enterprise) is too simplistic. Can you say the US has 'shameful' rent-seeking and entry barriers without admitting our political process operates like a cartel/monopoly?
It requires a ton of money to run for elected office in "The Land of the Free". Since money is speech and "Corporations are People", it's no surprise that every candidate has a wealthy Party, Super Pac, or a billionaire or two financing their campaigns. But Shame on the US didn't sound like a good thread title, huh.
Your problem is you want speech to be evaluated on weather or not it 'hurts' or 'helps' society as a whole. Things that cause more harm than good in your eyes should be restricted. I reject that idea completely.
Bullshit, just the other week or something you replied to me that you didn't mind the FBI etc. targeting people critical of the government (at best you called it overzealous, which shows you didn't mind the principle). You only favour free speech you agree with, it seems.
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Keeping an eye on people who are sympathizing with the enemy isn't a bad thing. Especially given the context of the situation where we knew there were communist spies working in the government and in other places. Now if someone was jailed just for a political viewpoint THAT would be a restriction on speech. It is not a restriction on speech if the government pays attention to people today that like to talk about how ISIS should take over.
That is all well and good when you agree with who the government deems to be an enemy of the state, but maybe not so much if you don't. Was it okay for the government to spy on Martin Luther King Jr.? Was he really the kind of enemy we needed to worry about?
That would depend on what evidence there was at the time they decided to investigate. The idea that 100% of the people investigated must have been our enemies is an impossible standard and is not reasonable.
The weather has nothing to do with it, but the corruption of political speech does.
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