Originally Posted by
John Pennekamp
Paladin, how do you feel about paying $3.00+ for gas? Or 30% of your take home pay on healthcare? In "laissez faire capitalism" only the wealthy prosper. The middle class dies, and the poor continue to live off the system. Clearly, you are not a "working man". Spare us your elitist anti-union rant.
If socialism is so bad, how do you explain the high standard for quality of life in countries like Britain, Canada, France, Italy, etc. Why haven't they dumped their socialist systems? Bear in mind, we're talking socialism here, not communism. You do know the difference, don't you?
I get a lot of question's about how I "feel" about certain issues. It is irrelevant how I feel. Feelings are not part of the method of logic, they are not evidence of a conclusion. The fact that a person has feelings is only evidence that, through some kind of process they earlier came to some kind of idea, which completely leaves open the question of the idea's relationship to the reality of the situation. $3.00 a gal. gas and high medical cost are the result of misguided governmental policies not capitalism.
Life under "laissez faire capitalism" the middle class would thrive. The only people who would suffer would be those who tried to live off the producers. Those who choose not to work would be dependent on the benevolence of others. Not like the current system where taxes are expropriated and a person's need becomes a claim on what another earns.
Yes I know the difference between socialism and communism and fundamentally their isn't much. Socialism may be established by force, as in the former Soviet Union or by vote in what was once Nazi Germany. The degree of which may be total as in the former Soviet Union or partial as in the UK or France. The differences are superficial, the basic principle is the same. Its goals are the abolition of private property, general prosperity, progress and peace, but the results have been disasterous.
I have visited the countries of which you speak and I will take USA's standard of living hands down. This discussion is going far afield of the scope of this forum and better left to another venue.