The protest you are referring to is a worldwide phenomenon, whilst it is
obvious that some/most protests attract a fringe element of "anarchists" etc
it is the media's role to give balanced coverage of all the issue's; many of
the protestors are there because they feel the present system of 3rd world
loans, environmental damage, child labour in less developed countries is a
poor quality system and every other legitemate means of expressing their
views goes unheard, unreported and at the very least misrepresented.
What of capitalism's other failure's, children shooting teacher's,
children massacring their classmates, massive drug problem's, ghetto's,
crime through the roof, a large proportion of society scared to leave their
house's for fear of being mugged,car-jacked,shot.A massive rise in homeless-
has "trickle down econommics" helped these?
When european countries had governments of a socialist inclination
people weren't forced to do anthing, certainly at gunpoint, how is socialism
automatically equated with a dictatorship? With regards to being forced at
gunpoint didn't "the greatest" government send in tanks and helicopters to
shoot and burn children at waco, it was on CNN?
-----Original Message-----
From: Ascmjk@aol.com [mailto:Ascmjk@aol.com]
Sent: 23 May 2001 06:21
To: moq_discuss@moq.org
Subject: Re: MD Free Markets
In a message dated 5/22/2001 2:15:59 PM Central Daylight Time,
pholden@cbvnol.net writes:
Those who see terrible problems in the free market system seem to
have no solutions other than some form of totalitarianism. The last
century saw the results of that course of action. Any other ideas?
Platt is right. While the anarchist movement seems to be growing, attracting
more and more young people who want to fight "Corporate America" and "the
System" (the riots in Seattle over the WTO, for example), they can't come to
ANY coherent consensus regarding a *solution*.
When anarchists are directly questioned about what the substitue for
Capitalism should be, they become evasive. I think the reason for this is
that anarchists don't focus on solutions. They focus on tearing things down.
To tear down America's current system without offering any blueprints for
rebuilding is just plain destructive.
The main reason they don't want to talk very much about the solution is, I
personally believe, because most of them think Socialism is the ultimate
solution. They truly believe Socialism would be good for America, although
most won't come right out and admit it. They know instinctively that using
the "S" word (and the even more dreaded "C" word) causes a knee-jerk
reaction
among the majority of "uninformed" Americans who feel Socialism is a
horrible, even evil, thing. So they stay tight-lipped when it comes to the
question of solutions.
When presented with the fact of Socialism's worldwide failures, in
particular
the former Soviet Union, they say "Well, it wasn't done the right way there.
If it's done the right way, it would work, etc, etc"
There's a reason it wasn't done the right way in the Soviet Union, and
there's a reason Socialism will NEVER be done the "right" way. Because
humans
are human. Socialism would work, of course, in a perfect world. But this
isn't a perfect world. The things people hate about Capitalism---greed,
treachery, etc---is the product of human nature. You can put humans into a
system but you can but a system into humans.
It doesn't matter if a country is Capitalistic or Socialistic---human nature
remains the same within any system, and thus any system is susceptible to
corruption. I'd much rather live in a corrupted Capitalistic society than a
corrupted Socialistic society. The reasons for this should be obvious. Yes,
a
Capitalistic society does influence us to wear certain clothes through slick
advertising, and it's a grossly unfair system in many ways.
But in a Capitalistic country, you are only influneced to do certain things.
That's the key. In a Socialistic country OTOH you aren't just
influenced....you are FORCED. Sometimes at gunpoint. In some countries,
quite
*often* at gunpoint.
So every system is corruptible, and every system will continue to be
corrupted as long as humans are humans. The thing to do is pick the system
that, once corrupted, removes the least amount of personal freedom from out
everyday lives, and leaves as many people as possible with the chance to do
whatever they want with their lives. IMO the USA is the greatest nation on
earth for this reason. Flawed, corrupted, but still the greatest.
One analogy for Socialism I guess would be marriage. You could say Socialism
is like arranged marriages. The marriage is indeed arranged with the best
possible intentions in mind for the two partners. And likewise people who
advocate Socialism indeed have good intentions. But I'd rather have the
freedom to marry whoever I want, even if other people don't approve of who I
want to marry. And this is why our system is superior to others around the
world: In America, we can marry who every we want.
The above analogy about marriage is purely metaphorical of course....but
it's
a good enough metaphor, I believe, for the effect Socialism has on people's
destinies and their everyday lives. I want to take the path I want to
take....I don't want Society telling me which way to go. I may get lured in
some particular direction by slick advertising, but the choice is still
mine.
Another analogy/metaphor. America is a multiple choice test; pass or fail,
it's the result of your own personal choice. Socialistic countries give out
tests too, but the grades are on a curve; they decided ahead of time how
many
people will get A's, C's, F's ahead of time.
And if America is so bad, why do we have more people immigrate to here than
any other country?
Jon
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